The moment I had my first refund request on my dropshipping
store, I panicked. I didn’t know what to do because the product came directly
from my supplier.
After some research, I found out that handling refunds and
returns is not that hard when you’re dropshipping in 2022. I will give you a
short answer below to then dive deep into this subject!
The best way to handle refunds and returns when dropshipping
is to look to see if it’s cheaper to let your customer keep the product and to
just send a new product. Otherwise, let your customer send it back to your
supplier. You only have to decide if you pay for the return costs or not.
Recognize the products that might not
require returns at all
Before learning about the different kind of refund requests
and how to handle all these refunds and returns in your own dropshipping store,
it’s important to know that some products might not be worth returning to your
dropshipping supplier at all.
Some products can cost more with return shipping than
sending a replacement to your customer. Furthermore, some dropshipping
suppliers charge a restocking fee for products that are getting returned.
For example, a customer bought a bracelet worth $3, but it
doesn’t fit well. Now, this customer wants to return.
You’re not at fault here. In such a case, you can simply
offer your customer to send the replacement and let them keep the original
product as well.
This would be much easier than taking care of the full
returns process.
And it’s not only easier…
If you follow the example of the bracelet, it would be
cheaper as well. Just let your customer keep the wrong one and just send a new
bracelet.
Furthermore, this small act may have converted your customer
into a repeat customer for your dropshipping store.
Common causes of refund requests when
dropshipping
Learning about the most common causes of refund requests is
a great way to get fewer refunds.
You will know what to focus on and where to double-check.
The product doesn’t
match your store’s description
Common causes of refund requests when dropshipping: The
product doesn\’t match your store\’s description
One of the most common reasons for refund requests is that
the product your customer got delivered doesn’t match your store’s description.
Say that your store’s description states that the product is
5 cm by 5 cm, but the product is like ten times bigger. Or that you say that
the product color is coffee brown, but the real color is blacker.
This would be either your fault by copying the data from
your supplier wrong onto your store’s description, or your supplier’s fault by
giving you the wrong data or sending out the wrong product.
You should double check the data your supplier supplied you
with.
Like the example above, say that you checked again and it
definitely says the color is coffee brown, this would be your supplier’s fault.
If you think it’s your supplier’s fault, what you should do
is directly send an email (or AliExpress message if you use AliExpress) to your
supplier asking about this problem.
Ask him/her to send your customer a replacement or give you
a refund (if they are at fault).
The product doesn’t
fit right or they ordered the wrong size
This could always happen when you have something like
clothes or jewelry in your dropshipping store.
You can’t try things on when shopping online.
Maybe you’ve had this happen before as well when you were
shopping online. Like you ordered some pants or t-shirts, and they didn’t quite
fit as expected.
When this happens, your supplier likely won’t cover the
return costs. Unless, of course, they’re great.
Knowing your supplier’s policy about refunds and returns is
going to make all the difference.
If you don’t know your supplier’s refund and return policy
then you should ask about it.
In this situation, I recommend you allow returns regardless
of your supplier’s policy.
Why?
This kind of customer service will give you lifetime
customers.
But first check if the product is worth returning at all.
Check if it might be cheaper to send a new one to your customer and to let the
customer keep the product they have now.
Otherwise, I would just ask that the customer pays for
return shipping since the mistake wasn’t on your end.
Clothing has one of the biggest
return rates online
Clothes have a 40% return rate. So it’s not uncommon to get
a refund request when you’re dropshipping clothes.
One thing you should make sure of is that you have a sizing
guide on your dropshipping store’s description. This could dramatically
decrease refund requests because your customers can double check if the sizing
is correct for them.
Also, make sure that the sizing guide is in the sizing of
the country you want to dropship to and does not contain the Chinese sizing
which tends to be smaller.
How do I respond to a refund request?
The best tip I can give you for writing the first response
is to not mention a refund yet because this will mean that you lose all your
profits from that customer.
This doesn’t mean you should never refund, but if they
accept to wait for a replacement, this would almost always be better for you
profit-wise.
So what to say then?
First, check if it’s cheaper for you to let your customer
return the product to your supplier or to let your customer keep the product
and just send a new one. You learned this at the beginning of this article!
If you’ve figured out that it’s cheaper for you to send a
new product to your customer then what I like to do is write something like this
to your customer:
“
Hello “First name of the customer”,
I’m so sorry to hear that your bracelet was not the same as
it was described in our description.
What I can do for you is send you the correct bracelet, free
of charge. You won’t have to send back the bracelet you got from us now!
Let me know if that would be alright for you.
Kind regards,
“Your information”
What if your customer still wants a
refund?
If your customer replies negatively to your email offering
them a replacement then in your second email offer them a refund.
Of course, you should not forget about the lifetime value of
your customer.
This means that even though your customer raised a refund
request, you can still make that customer come back to your dropshipping store
again.
How?
Just make sure your customer service is on point and that
you did everything you could to solve the problem for your customer. Even
though maybe, in the end, you still gave a refund.
You now have a chance that that customer will come back
again to you because they have good past memories with you.
Keep reading to learn more things you can do; things you can
add to your refund or apology email so that your customer is more likely to
come back!