How Can You Manage Return of Products in Your Dropshipping Store

At the exact moment when you receive a request for a refund, you panic. This is the reaction experienced by a range of dropshipping business owners. Firstly, because you don’t know what to do with a return order. Secondly, because you don’t have a refund policy and you don’t know what to say to the customer. Lastly, because you are a bit disheartened.

Therefore, to save you from this turmoil and help you manage returns, we have created a guide. Read on and receive more details.

Returns in Dropshipping

In your dropshipping business, you are going to face returns at some point. In a world of the digital revolution, it is not possible to stop customers from returning products. Therefore, the only option that you have is to prepare for such a situation.

So, for this, understand what type of issues you can face in the return process before moving forward:

• Since you are directly shipping the product from the seller to the customer, you have to know what the seller is asking for in return. Many sellers take a charge for return and as a dropshipping business, you can’t charge anything. That is just rude and won’t be acceptable to the customer.
• A crucial part of dropshipping returns is the inability to manage damaged products. You can evaluate the quality of products once or twice, but you can’t completely control if a defective product reaches the customer. So, you have to take these returns gracefully.
• If there is no issue and still the customer expects to send the product back, you can take a minimal charge for the return fee. But, if you have to stand out by offering free returns, this can be your chance.

Why Allow Dropshipping Returns

All this while, you may be wondering why offer dropshipping returns? You can simply create a policy of no refunds and returns. Easy, right?

Not so much.

Today, customers trust the process but partly because they have an option to return the product if it is not good. If you fail to give this option, you may end up losing many customers.

And think about it, if the customer’s experience has been spoiled because the product was not good, shouldn’t you remedy that? You will end up losing the customer if you fail to offer a refund and return.

What A Hassle-Free Dropshipping Return Process Looks Like?

If you were to offer the perfect dropshipping returns, then this is how the process will look like:

1. The user who has purchased a product will file a refund or return on the website or send you an email.
2. On receiving the notification, you may ask them the reason.
3. If the reason seems valid, you can return, refund, or exchange the product accordingly.
4. If the reason doesn’t valid, you can deny a return or refund.
5. If the product got lost in shipment, you can open your dropshipping tool like DSers and check the status.
6. Depending on the further request by the customer, you can ask for photos and other proof.
7. On receiving the above, process return.
8. Refund the amount once the product is received back.

What You Should Know

You are a dropshipping business owner. You can modify this process a bit. For example, you can offer a refund without taking a return. Check below things to create your own refund or return process depending on your dropshipping feasibility.

1. Clear Expectations

Regardless of how you manage returns at your end, you need to set clear expectations of dropshipping returns for your customers. This means even if you are bearing a loss by offering a refund or sending a new product at no additional costs, you need to offer a clear process of the same to the user.

Here are some things you can add to your website or product page:

• roducts that won’t be included in the return or refund policy. For example, intimates or hygiene products
• Charge of dropshipping returns on your website
• Charge of exchanging products on your website
• From which region you won’t accept returns
• Till what time period you will consider returns?
• Do you reserve the right to deny return or refund?

2. Have a Return Policy

Once you have stored all of the above things, you need to keep these in mind and create a return policy. Now, a return policy allows customers to shop without hassle. They can read the terms of purchase before paying. This way your customers will know what they are getting into.

How can you create a dropshipping return policy?

• The best method is to check competitor websites. Scan their policy and curate your own.
• Don’t forget to check the return and refund policy of the seller on AliExpress. If these terms are flexible, you can offer a flexible dropshipping return policy.
• Lastly, add some terms and conditions you feel are necessary.

Your policy should be a perfect mix of all of the above.

3. Understand the Impact

When you have to manage returns, you need to know the impact of every return or refund.

Firstly, you can’t tell your customers that you are dropshipping and you can’t offer returns or refunds because of the same. Your customers don’t like the idea of dropshipping and many don’t even know about it.

Secondly, if you have to say no, then you need to say it before any customer purchases a product. If the customer still reaches out with a genuine issue, consider taking the loss and sending a new product without any charge. This will build your goodwill.

Lastly, calculate what type of impact this decision will have on your financials and overall revenue.

Track Products

One thing that you should never ignore is tracking your products. Until you are able to track down the order of a customer, it will be easier for you to manage a return or refund if it happens.

An easy option to track your dropshipping process is to use the DSers dropshipping tools. It is an amazing software helping you integrate your dropshipping businesses in one place. You can get every detail in one place with this tool. Check how:

• On AliExpress, dropshippers love finding products, but one drawback is that you need to find the most feasible seller to maximize your profits. Fortunately, the DSers tool makes it simpler for you. It has a seller optimization smart engine to help you find the right seller for an order.
• You can place all those bulk orders at once. There’s no need to go through the hassle of placing every order separately.
• You can integrate AliExpress and map every variant on your website to AliExpress without showing any changes on the website,
• Once you have placed all the pending orders, these will sync with your DSers dashboard. This will help you track your orders in one place and resolve your customer queries at the earliest.
• It is possible to update a pricing policy rule and it will automatically get updated once you add a product to your website.

Additional Tips

• Whenever a user places a refund request, humbly responds to dropshipping return requests. The first step is to ask for issues and understand why the user needs to return this product.
• If after this query, the user still wants a refund, then you can manage returns by offering a new product without taking the old one back, without a payment. This will help you customer build trust in your brand.
• Offer a coupon for the bad experience. This will help you build a community of users who trust your dropshipping brand.
• Manage returns by offering store credit in place of a refund.

Conclusion

As a dropshipping business owner, you have to very carefully handle dropshipping returns. This means catering to the needs of the customers to avoid losing the customer. Think about it, if you end up losing a customer every time they have a dropshipping return request, then you will lose so many customers. You need to think about customer experience and calculate these setbacks when calculating the price of the product to minimize damage.

Try using the DSers tool to easily manage dropshipping orders. This tool will help you check order status and update without any hassle to keep a close customer connect thus ensuring a good shopping experience. Check more details of our tool on our website.