Decisions 1–3: the window, the condition, and the category exceptions
The first three decisions define what can come back at all. The return window is a number of days from delivery, not from order, and it must be stated as such. The required condition says whether items must be unworn, unopened, tagged or in original packaging. The category exceptions name what cannot be returned or has a different window: perishables, custom items, intimates, sale items, and anything else the store decides.
- Window: verify the customer page and the internal rule both say the same number of days and both count from delivery.
- Condition: verify the condition is stated in words a customer can check against the item in their hands.
- Exceptions: verify every non-returnable category is named on the customer page and marked on the product page.
Decisions 4–6: who pays return shipping, the refund method and timing, and the exchange rules
The next three decisions define the money. Who pays return shipping, always the store, always the customer, or the store only for its own errors, is the question customers ask most and the one most policies leave vague. The refund method says whether the original payment method or store credit is the default and how many days after receipt the refund is issued. The exchange rules say whether an exchange is offered first, for what, and whether the new item ships before the old one is received.
- Shipping: verify one sentence answers who pays, in every case the store distinguishes.
- Refund: verify the method and the day count after receipt are stated, and that the day count is one the store actually meets.
- Exchange: verify the rule says what can be exchanged for what and when the replacement ships.
Decisions 7–8: the damaged-item rule and the lost-parcel rule
The damaged-item and lost-parcel rules are the ones most often missing, and the ones improvised most expensively. The damaged-item rule says what evidence the store asks for, usually a photo, whether it replaces without a return, and within how many days of delivery a claim is accepted. The lost-parcel rule says how many days past the carrier estimate the store waits, what it does then, replacement or refund, and how a 'delivered but not received' scan is handled, including whether the store asks the customer to check with neighbours or the carrier first.
- Damaged: verify the evidence asked for, the replace-without-return decision and the claim window are all written.
- Lost: verify the day count past estimate, the remedy, and the delivered-not-received procedure are all written.
Decisions 9–11: the limits, the repeat-claim rule, and what always escalates
The last three decisions are the ones a Digital FTE cannot work without and a team applies inconsistently without. The refund limit and the goodwill limit are the amounts a support agent, human or FTE, may resolve without a manager. The repeat-claim rule says what happens when the same customer or address claims a second time in a period. The always-escalate list names the situations that go to a named person regardless of amount: legal language, safety, chargebacks, abuse, and anything the owner adds.
- Limits: verify both amounts are written and that the internal tool enforces them rather than relying on memory.
- Repeat claims: verify the period and the action are stated, and that the help desk can see prior claims per address.
- Escalation: verify the list is written, names the person, and that every agent and the FTE can see it.
How should the checklist be run and kept current?
The checklist should be run by reading the customer-facing returns page and the internal rule side by side for each of the eleven decisions and marking each as written and matching, written but mismatched, or missing. Mismatches are the dangerous case: a customer page that promises free returns and an internal rule that charges them produces a dispute every time. Missing rules are found fastest by asking the support team what they did the last time each case came up.
Keep the document as the single source, and change the customer page from it, never the other way round. Re-run the checklist after any policy change and before every peak season, when volume turns every ambiguity into a queue.
What does the Order Support FTE do with the policy?
The Order Support FTE on ftes.ai works from exactly these eleven decisions, entered in Setup, and applies them to every ticket: it checks the window from the delivery date, offers the exchange the rules allow, applies the damaged and lost rules with their day counts, resolves inside the limits and escalates above them, and sends every situation on the always-escalate list to the named person with the evidence. A case the document does not cover is escalated with a note saying which decision is missing, which is how the document gets completed.
It does not write the policy and it does not invent an exception. Its consistency is only as good as the document, which is the reason to run this checklist before it starts.