Return eligibility rules enable you to tailor your return policy to your store’s needs. Define your own combination of eligibility rules to determine when a return request is eligible.
What are Return Eligibility Rules?
Return eligibility rules are the sections of your eCommerce return policy that define the conditions under which items are eligible to be returned.
You define your eligibility rules as part of your return policy, and then the return portal shows customers the relevant resolutions based on how the customer and order information relates to the eligibility rules you defined.
Return eligibility rules are made up of three elements: Result – Condition – Logic
Result – Whether the return request will be eligible or not
Condition – Properties to be checked
Logic – Connects multiple conditions (and/or)
ReturnGO offers one of the most flexible return policy settings on the market, with over 25 different types of return eligibility rules you can define, in any combination.
Why Are Return Eligibility Rules Important?
Return eligibility rules are important so that you only receive return requests that are eligible and so that customers can see what’s eligible and what’s not, without any miscommunications or complications.
When you have return eligibility rules set up in your return policy, you can be confident that your returns process flows the way you want it to, based on your store’s requirements.
Several important aspects of your eCommerce return policy are defined in its eligibility rules:
- How long customers have to return items
- Which items are eligible
- How many times an item can be exchanged
- And much more
For example, you can define return eligibility conditions for different return windows, categories of items, or return reasons.
Setting Up Return Eligibility Rules
Define return eligibility rules based on a wide range of criteria ranging from order creation date to payment type, customer location, item price, and more.
When setting up your return policy, you can define return eligibility rules to determine when each return policy rule applies. You can define any number of combinations of eligibility conditions to create a comprehensive return policy that fits your needs.
For example, if you want customers to be able to return items only if they live in California, purchased the items less than 30 days ago for less than $100, and returned them with the return reason “Does not fit” – the return eligibility rules are where you can define all of that.
You can set up any combination of return eligibility rules, to automate even the most complex return policies.
What Types of Eligibility Rules Can You Set Up?
There are 4 types of return eligibility rules you can define, each based on different criteria.
Order-Level
Order-level eligibility rules are conditions the order must meet in order for the return request to be eligible.
Return eligibility rules that apply to the order help you limit which orders are eligible to be returned.
For example, you can have an eligibility rule that states that orders that have been created within 30 days are eligible to be returned, and that orders that were paid for using store credit are not eligible to be returned.
Customer-Level
Customer-level eligibility rules are conditions customers must meet in order for their return request to be eligible.
Eligibility rules based on customer information let you limit return requests by customer; you may want to offer different return methods for customers depending on their location, or offer different types of refunds depending on customer tags.
For example, you can have an eligibility rule that states that customers are only eligible to return items if they have created less than 3 return requests in the past. Limiting the number of times customers return items can be useful for preventing return fraud.
Item-Level
Item-level eligibility rules are conditions that items must meet in order to be eligible for return.
You may want specific items to be ineligible for return due to hygiene reasons, or you might want to allow returns only for items under a certain price. Item eligibility rules let you limit which items are eligible to be returned.
A unique feature that ReturnGO has is the ability to limit the number of times an item can be returned – for instance, you can decide that an item cannot be returned if it has previously been exchanged, or only exchanged once, etc.
RMA-Level
RMA-level eligibility rules are conditions that return requests, otherwise known as RMAs (Return Merchandise Authorizations) must meet in order to be eligible for return.
For example, you can limit the number of items that are being returned at once, or define that items over a certain weight are ineligible. This helps you control which items are returned.
Use Eligibility Rules to Define Your Returns Process
Well-defined return eligibility rules are what makes your return policy effective. Every store has different needs and different conditions that must be met in order for a return request to be eligible.
Using the many combinations of return eligibility rules you can create, you can automate even the most complex return policies.
Whether you want to allow returns only for damaged items, or you want to give your customers a longer return window, ReturnGO enables you to build your own combination of eligibility rules to fit your store’s requirements.
