Return policy examples: 10 clauses to copy, and what each one misses

Return policy examples are most useful when someone points out the gaps, so that's what this page does. Each of the ten clauses below comes from an example store we invented for this guide (the names are made up), written the way real small stores tend to write them. They're based on patterns from our automated October 2026 review of 90 UK and Irish Shopify stores (hand-checked on a sample), 71 of which had a published refund policy.

Each clause comes with a note on what it does well and where it falls short. A template that pulls the good parts together is at the end.

Clauses that set the basics#

1. A fashion store's return window#

Nobody reading this knows who pays for the label or how long the refund takes, and those are the first two questions a customer has once the parcel's in the post. In the UK and EU, if you don't tell customers before they buy that they'll pay return postage, you pay it (UK regulation 35).

The rest is solid. The window counts from delivery, the same way the UK and EU count the legal 14 days, and it's longer than the minimum.

2. A shoe store's refund timing#

This is the clause most policies are missing. In our review, about 6 in 10 didn't say how fast refunds arrive. It gives a number and warns about the bank delay before anyone has to ask.

Watch the legal deadline, though. For an EU cancellation the refund is due within 14 days of the customer telling you, and you can only hold it back until the shoes arrive or the customer sends proof of postage (Directive 2011/83, Article 13). "5 working days after arrival" is fine as long as the parcel turns up quickly. So add "or proof of postage, if that comes first" to stay on the right side of it.

3. A homeware store's return postage#

It says who pays, and it splits change-of-mind from damage. That's the right split: in the UK the customer can be asked to pay for a change-of-mind return if they were told up front, but for rejected faulty goods the trader bears the reasonable cost of getting them back (Consumer Rights Act section 20).

What's missing is the timing. Telling people the collection cost "before you book it" is after they've bought, and the rule is that the customer has to know they'll pay return costs before the contract is made. I'd put the cost, or how it's worked out, on the product page.

Clauses about exceptions#

4. A jewellery store's personalised items#

Short, and it uses an exception the law actually allows: goods made to the customer's specifications or clearly personalised (UK regulation 28(1)(b)). The "unless they're faulty" carve-out matters, because personalised items keep their faulty-goods rights. The one gap is earrings: pierced earrings in sealed packaging can be excluded once the seal's broken (as long as they were sealed to begin with), and customers will assume they can send them back unless the policy says so.

5. A skincare store's hygiene rule#

The instinct's right. Cosmetics are the textbook hygiene exception, and customers understand why.

The wording's a bit too broad. The UK and EU exception covers sealed goods that aren't suitable for return for health or hygiene reasons once they've been unsealed after delivery (UK regulation 28(3)(a), EU Article 16(e)). A jar with no seal doesn't qualify just because the lid's been turned. Ship products sealed and say "once the seal is broken". And add a line for reactions and faulty items, which should go to a person.

6. A cheese shop's perishables#

Goods that go off quickly are on the legal exceptions list (UK regulation 28(1)(c)), so the first sentence holds. The second treats spoiled goods as faulty, which they are.

The 48 hours is fine as a request. As a hard cut-off it doesn't work in the UK, because a term that restricts the customer's statutory rights on faulty goods isn't binding (Consumer Rights Act section 31). For perishables the short-term right to reject already ends sooner, when the goods could reasonably be expected to perish (section 22), so you don't need the deadline. Say "please let us know as soon as you can" instead.

7. An outdoor store's sale items#

For US customers this is fine. There's no federal right to return something bought online because you changed your mind (FTC).

For UK customers it's wrong twice. Sale items bought online still carry the 14-day right to cancel, because "on sale" isn't one of the legal exceptions. And "can't be refunded" can't cover faulty goods. If you sell in both markets, write "Sale items can't be returned if you change your mind (UK and EU customers have 14 days), but faulty items are always covered."

Clauses about the refund itself#

8. A children's store's store credit#

Store credit keeps the money in the business, and plenty of customers are happy with it. Offering it is fine.

Making it the only option isn't, at least for UK and EU cancellations. A refund under the 14-day right goes back the way the customer paid unless they agree otherwise (UK regulation 34, EU Article 13). Offer credit first, maybe with a small bonus on top, and keep the refund available.

9. An EU ceramics studio's withdrawal button#

Nothing here tells the customer what happens after they press the button... how long they have to send the item back, or who pays the postage. And because this studio sells some pieces made to order, it should say those are excluded.

The button part is up to date. Since 19 June 2026, any store selling online to EU customers has had to give them a withdrawal function labelled "withdraw from contract here" or something equally clear, available for the whole withdrawal period (Directive 2023/2673). Pointing to it helps people find it.

10. A US candle shop's no-returns line#

A lawful no-returns policy for a US store that still looks after customers whose candle arrives broken. What it skips is late or lost orders. Under the FTC's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule, if you can't ship within the time you stated (or 30 days, if you didn't state one), you have to offer the customer the choice to wait or cancel for a prompt refund. A line about that saves a lot of where is my order? emails. If the shop sells to California, the state's Civil Code section 1723 expects a no-refunds policy to be displayed conspicuously, so put it on the product page as well as the policy page.

A return policy template built from the good parts#

This combines the clauses that worked. It's written for a store selling to the UK, the EU and the US. For a longer version with a worked example, see how to write a refund policy. If you want to refuse change-of-mind returns, start with the no refund policy guide.

The bit the policy page can't do#

Every example above has the same weakness: it's a page. It doesn't know whether order 4417 was engraved, or whether the parcel left the courier depot yesterday. Someone still has to check, every time a customer asks.

A policy page is the start. Hay.chat turns it into rules an AI agent follows: check the order, apply the window, draft the refund reply for approval. It looks the order up itself, so the customer doesn't have to dig out an order number or an RMA number twice.

Hay.chat

Online

Hi, where's order #4417? It's been a week.

Checking fulfilment on #4417. Left the courier depot yesterday

It's on its way. It left the courier depot yesterday and should be with you tomorrow.

Thanks. If I don't like it, can I send it back?

Reading your returns policy. Engraved pieces excluded unless faulty

Most things can come back within 30 days, but engraved pieces can't, unless they arrive faulty. If anything's wrong when it lands, send me a photo and I'll put it right.

Drafted for your approval Approve Reject

Sources#

• UK: Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, regulations 28, 34 and 35
• UK: Consumer Rights Act 2015, sections 20, 22 and 31
• EU: Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU, Articles 9, 13, 14 and 16
• EU: Directive (EU) 2023/2673, new Article 11a (withdrawal function)
• US: FTC, the Cooling-Off Rule; 16 CFR Part 435; California Civil Code section 1723
• Store data: our automated October 2026 review of 90 UK and Irish Shopify stores, hand-checked on a sample (71 had a published refund policy; figures are approximate)