Product Creators: Offer a refund policy or not?

Well I can't really comment on the WSO side of things but whenever I do a product launch in all cases you need to have a refund policy even if its saying no refunds will be allowed. (This is just to get approval from various merchants) But I would recommend like a 3-7 day refund policy seems to work out well. Would love to hear what others have to say too

You should never worry too much about refunders...

It's just a cost of doing business...

When you get refunds (especially as an affiliate) remove the refunder's from your list (when you have access to their email address).

Now, obviously there are exceptions - but this has worked for me.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Coby

In most cases I would say yes offer a refund policy. Alot of buyers like to see that before they buy. Just realize you'll get refunds and don't stress about it. Just process them and move on. When you expect a certain percentage of refunds it's not a big deal. Like someone else said, it's just the cost of doing business. On our products we offer a 30 day refund policy.

I think its a good idea. If you are confident in your product, then you should have nothing to worry about. But if you want to build customer confidence, then a limited refund is a good idea.

Yes there are those leaches that want the info and then ask for a refund, but I think they are an exception to the rule.

Good Luck to you in the WSO launch.

Definitely offer a refund. Makes your total sales go up, in my experience. And so what if you get some hair-trigger refunders? (Like that phrase, BTW.) Just put them on a separate list and never sell to them again.

For most things, offering a refund within a set amount of time is a good idea. As others have said, it tends to increase sales by more than the amount refunded.

As a general rule, the longer the guarantee the better.

With 7 days, the clock is ticking in people's mind and they'll likely refund sooner rather than later when they realise they're not even going to get beyond the first few pages/videos.

With 30 days, the ticking clock is still there but nowhere near as strong.

60 days and you've probably forgotten you bought it.

25 years (like a kitchen knife set I bought and lost the receipt a lot quicker than the guarantee length) or lifetime and you've got the reassurance that if the guarantee is that long it's bound to be good

1. I have sold thousands of products in the WSO forum and my average refund rate across all products is less than 1%. I'm sure you will agree that's a very low refund rate. So it's not the fact you are selling on the WF that creates high refund rates. It's the quality of the product that matters and how that product lives up to the sales message when people purchased. If you give people more value than you promised them, it will be very unlikely they want to refund. If you under deliver on your promises though, a different story altogether.

2. A 7 day refund policy might look great but a general rule of thumb with refund rates is the LONGER the refund period, the less refunds you will get. Think about it. If I know I only have 7 days to refund a product then I need to make that decision quickly. If I instead know I have 30 or 60 days for a refund, I will give it more time and in most cases I'll end up forgetting about the refund policy altogether. In fact in a lot of cases (unfortunately) buyers will forget about your product altogether as well when they move on to the next magic bullet. Sad but true.

3. I had an indepth chat with Paypal's risk department about half a year ago and one of things he asked about my products was what sort of recourse my customers have if something doesn't work or they are unhappy. That conversation made it pretty clear to me that Paypal like you to have some sort of published refund policy. It doesn't have to be a no questions asked policy, but you should have something that states exactly what the guarantee is so both you and the buyer know your rights.

Refund policies are best practice.

If your product is of high quality, the rates will be extremely low as Will said. I personally offer 60 day money back guarantees.

Hope this helps

I'd say offer a refund policy. Buyers like it when there's a refund policy, not because they intend to get a refund but because it gives them an assurance that they can get their money back if they don't like (or something's wrong with) the product. Of course there are bad buyers, the serial refunders. It's part of the business. There are bad buyers just as there are bad sellers. Like what Coby said, remove the refunder from your list.

Yes, refund, and yes, 30-60 day refund policy in my opinion.

If you are afraid of the "I'm going to download it then say I want a refund and get to keep it for free" customers (which everyone gets), then just state in detail what the product is exactly. Then state in the refund policy you will refund if the product isn't as stated above or if it will not work on your system. There are a lot of people that come to Warrior Forum, and just purchase a WSO when it's first launch and just skim through the sales page then later find out it's not exactly what they want then ask for a refund. Just be VERY detailed of what the product is in your sales copy and if there are any OTO's, explain what they are as well.

Alright, I'll probably go with a 30 day refund policy. Thanks everyone!

Refunds are annoying.

It's definitely something I've given a lot of thought to over the past week.

Firstly, it depends on who you use a payment processor. Some organizations like Clickbank enforce a 60 day refund policy, whereas say, Paypal don't care. It's entirely up to you.

Without babbling on, here's the bottom line.

What you want to do is completely irrelevant.

Refunds or no refunds.

Once a person files a dispute with their banking organization or credit card company, its a matter that's often beyond your control.

Offer the refund, but don't pimp it out like it's the one and only reason someone should buy. I see some members here saying "You won't make sales unless you give refunds", which is ridiculous. That's definitely not the type of buyer you want.

You may not "know" what you think you "know."

Digital downloads don't qualify for PayPal disputes. It is not "easy" to file a dispute and get your money back. Anything but.

As a WSO seller if you don't offer a refund policy the buyer is not going to get a refund unless you voluntarily agree.

.

You might find some great input in this thread...

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post7392674

I sell WSO's. I have a 30 day, no questions asked, refund policy. I have very few problems with refunds. This serial refunder thing seems to be blown out of proportion as far as I'm concerned OR maybe I'm just lucky.

Offer a good product and have a refund policy and you'll have no problems.

I've been offering WSO since it was free to post one
and I've only had 2 refund requests. I don't offer
refunds on specials (buy at the normal price if you
want that guarantee) but I granted those two
because the sales letter didn't include a refund
policy. Now I've corrected that.

As far as I am concerned, a special deal/price
should not include a refund because you are
already getting a deal. But so many WSOs these
days don't have the accompanying "normal" price
product for sale. It is a WSO on its own.

-Ray Edwards

I have never sold anything in a WSO and probably never will because internet marketing is not my field, but at my sites I give a 60 days money back guarantee.

I never buy anything without having the chance to have my money back if the product is not what I was looking for.

I believe that most people are like me, unless they are very ignorant newbies.

I always make sure to offer a refund guarantee, and I think everyone should. It's really to the point where everyone expects a money back guarantee, but if you choose not to offer one, I suggest at least outlining what your policy is.

Very first thing... Are you confident enough about your product ?
if yes then why not, offer a refund. as per stats analysis if your product is good and you offer refund then your sales increase which is comparatively much high profitable. (sad to say but don't count serial refund seekers)

There will be some bad apples anyway. I wouldn't buy if there's no refund guarantee. So do your math about how much money you keep without refund policy as well as how much money you will lose by scaring the prospects.

A key distinction you need to consider

If you are selling to Internet Marketers or where people consider themselves to be IM 'savvy,' some people will buy with the intention of refunding. They've made the decision before even buying your product.

If your item is aimed at price-shoppers...the same applies.

If you're targeting the groups above, your refund policy will impact your sales numbers.

Selling Outside of the IM Community?

Refunds is not a major problem at all =, so including it provides a re-assurance to your potential buyers. Exclude it and the reverse it the case.

I also agree with one of the comments that when you sell high-ticket items, refunds is much, much less of a consideration.

Above all, your product needs to offer value as this also affects your success.

It doesn't matter at all what our "opinions" are regarding REFUND policies

The only 2 things that matter are what the LAWS as well as the Visa/MC/AMEX policies are in the jurisdiction in which you do business.

I'm in the USA and here's a post I did awhile back telling the story of what happened to ME when I made some poor choices regarding refunds....

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-180-days.html

I can understand that.
There are some sellers that previously offered refunds, but changed it to no-refunds later because of serial refunders.

I that case, I suggest you make an analysis and compare the few number of people who would buy your service with a no-refund policy vs the number of people who will buy with a refund policy without asking for refund.

Why wouldnt you offer a refund? Do let this put you off - everything you buy wether it be digital or not should have a refund policy in place. Sure, you will get the odd refund here and there but your product will have more value if you offer a refund. You will sell more too. I would recommend the standard 30-day refund, if your product is great it will not matter!

BanX63 makes a great point. If you put out great content in your products and you support your customers well, the refund period shouldn't make a difference. Longer periods increase conversions.

And as far as paypal goes, paypal doesn't support digital products so the refund period in relation to paypal doesn't matter.

It's a matter of industry common practice, like 3 or 5 year guarantee in the car industry. Not offering a refund policy (regardless of whether it's a 7 day, 30 day or 60 days), is basically going against the common practice and that might raise some flags in your prospects' minds.

Actually, if you're selling a digital product it's impossible for somebody to get a refund through Paypal as long as you don't have too many complaints.

In contrary to your belief,
It is advisable to give longer period of refund policy.
The longer the better, 60 - 90 days will be ideal.
The longer the period, the higher chance that the buyers forget to refund.
There will be poor sales if there is no refund policy in place.

Test it if you don't believe. It has been statically proven.

Our industry is the ideal place to prove guarantee policy as
our cost is much lower compared to other industries such as retails, construction.
Let's make use of this to our advantage.

I would say definitely go for refund policy! Simply because that way your readers will trust you more and this will boost your sales. With regard to refunds - there are always serial tire-kickers, you can't avoid them, but if your product is really good their percentage is usually small like 3-5%. Besides, as you correctly noticed, even if you won't have refund policy - there is still a way to raise paypal dispute and get the refund. Rest assured that serial tire-kickers will get their refund anyway. So why scare away 'good' customers but not offering refund policy??? Go for it!

Always offer a refund policy for digital products and always give prompt refunds when requested. That's my policy, but some vendors like to drag it out and make it difficult getting refunds. Big mistake imo.

I would say you should definitely have a refund policy. Of course you will have people who take advantage of refunds but the refund policy will most likely push more people to make a buying decision than people who get refunds...

In any case, you can test out your sales material with and without the guarantee