This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Should you fight an unfair refund request or just move on? What do you do when a refund request doesn't follow your policy? What if a customer is potentially taking advantage of you? You have set up this cool business or side hustle and you're excited because you've made a sale but then that customer comes back and asks for a refund and maybe not for a reason that makes sense to you or maybe it seems like, well, they already use the product or service. It seems like they maybe just made this purchase only to ask for the refund. What do you do in these situations? How can you protect your business while keeping
customers happy and also keeping yourself happy? Sometimes it is smarter to just move on so we'll talk about that. Michael, a longtime listener, runs an online store, gets the occasional refund request that doesn't follow his policy like a customer trying to return a well-used item. He doesn't want to encourage bad behavior but he also doesn't want to give in and I understand it. So let's break down what you do in this situation, what you might do, when is it best to stand your ground, how do you do it and when is it best to just move on?
Stay tuned. Detailed question coming right up. Hey, Chris. This is Michael from Anaheim. I run an online store selling premium home office accessories and I've been getting more refund requests lately. Most of them are fine
but every now and then I get one that doesn't follow my refund policy. Like someone wanting a full refund on a product they clearly use for months. I don't want to damage my reputation by refusing refunds but I also don't want to encourage people to take advantage of me. What's the best way to handle refund requests when I don't agree with them? Michael, it's a bummer I know but this happens in almost every business. You've got a refund
policy but customers don't always follow it. The challenge is balancing protecting your business with maintaining good customer relationships and then also just the general principle of life being short. You want to spend your time and energy focused on growing your business and doing other things that are exciting as opposed to just doing these annoying things like fighting a charge back or a complaint or a refund. So basically two ways to handle it, push back a bit, enforce your policy or give the refund and move on. Number one, enforce your policy. So if the refund request clearly violates basically
the policy or norms or rules and you believe that standing back is not going to create a bigger issue, you can in fact push back. So basically you point to the policy professionally. You say like, "Hey, I completely understand your concern. Our policy states that we can only offer refunds within 30 days for unused products or whatever the policy is." Since this order falls outside that window, we're unable to process a refund but I'd love to find another way to help you. Like maybe there's some other way to create recovery in that situation or relationship. Maybe it's a partial refund. Maybe it's a store credit. Maybe it's
a discount on a future order. Maybe it's just a good faith conversation. Sometimes that can help. Other times it won't help. So you could just restate the policy, don't engage in an argument and just kind of leave it at that. That's okay as well.
Option two, obviously give the refund and move on when it's not worth the fight. Maybe ask yourself like, "Is this a one-time issue or do I see a pattern here? Would denying the refund damage my brand's reputation more than the refund is worth?" Or let's say, "Is fighting this out going to cost me more in time and energy than just issuing the refund?" I'm a big fan of the no bad energy rule, like no bad energy in life and work. So sometimes it's best to just move on. Ask yourself though, is there something you can learn from the situation? Is there a way to protect yourself from future issues? Could your refund policy
be clearer, for example? Is it on the checkout page? Could you use some stronger language like final sale if that's what's applicable? Or maybe not. Maybe you're doing everything right and these things just happen. So you deal with them and then you move on and life
has so many other exciting things that you focus on those. Of course, you got to do what's best for you. I'm just here as a sounding board and to give my perspective. Listeners, if you have a question, a comment, an experience, sidehustleschool.com/questions. We'll continue to feature them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch and grow their projects. Thanks for being out there. You're amazing. My name's
Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School. From the Onward Project.
