👩‍🎓🛒👨‍🎓 Do You Know how to Handle Returns and Cancelations?

Do we like it or not, the rate of returns and cancelations is quite high in Ecommerce, especially in consumer goods and fashion categories.

Order can also be canceled by a seller if no stock is available or delivery is not possible. The customer needs to be notified and issued a refund.

Despite its importance, the research has found that the return processes cause most usability issues.

Clearly specifying steps in the return process and the next step to take, as shown in the examples here, removes confusion, reduces support costs, and develops customer loyalty. If some products cannot be returned, it should be specified in the return policy and on the order details page.

With more than 30% of all products purchased online being returned*, returns are an integral part of digital commerce You need to decide how your commerce operations will handle returns. While some shops allow returns of any products, no questions asked, others require customers to obtain return authorization before sending goods back, and some businesses don’t accept returns at all.

Let’s see what the process looks like from the merchant’s perspective. This diagram shows the necessary steps for the return process.

RMA stands for Return Merchandise Authorization.

• Buyer creates return request.
• The seller records the return request and generates a shipping return label using integration with the shipping carrier.
• The customer prints return slips and sends returned goods
• The retailer receives returned products and logs and inspects them
• If goods can be resold, inventory is updated
• Order status is updated, and a refund is issued
• The customer is notified by email about the completion of the return process.

Let’s look at a bit more complex scenario that includes warranty and exchange for faulty products.

Suppose you sell complicated equipment, and want to avoid cases when customers return items just because they don’t know how to use them correctly. Also, you want to establish an efficient process for handling warranty events. You can have the following process:

1. A buyer creates a reclamation for items that have issues. He can do it from the Order Details page in the Storefront.
2. Customer support receives the reclamation and
3. Contacts the customer to clarify the details of the claim.
4. If the reclamation is resolved without the return, the reclamation request is closed.
5. The next step is to decide if the merchant wants the customer to return the broken item.
6. If no return is required, the customer gets a refund, or a new item is sent.
7. Otherwise, CS creates the return based on the reclamation.
8. The return slip is sent to the Buyer
9. The Buyer prints it, adheres to the box, and ships the items back.
10. The shop receives returned items and processes them
11. The seller issues a refund or sends a replacement if needed Sometimes it is cheaper for merchants to refund than process returns