Etsy Shop Policies! What’s It All About?

Something that many sellers overlook when setting up their Etsy shop is filling in their shop policies. This is a great way to connect to your existing and potential customers and let them know what to expect from you. Include information about your shipping policies, your returns, exchanges and payment policies to name a few. If you haven’t filled in your shop policies, this is costing you sales. Customers look at your store policies and make a judgement of what kind of customer service you offer and what to expect if they purchase from you.

To edit or complete your shop policies;

ON DESKTOP: Go to your shop and click edit shop. Scroll down to your shop policies and add or update there.

ON MOBILE: In the seller app, click on More bottom right and then settings. You can add or update in Shop Settings.

Here are some things to consider when adding or updating your shop policies.

About

This is a great place to tell the world about you and what you do. This is your time to shine, convey and share your passion for what you do and adds that personal touch to your shop.

Around The Web

Take this opportunity to add the links to your social media platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter.

Shipping

• Add information about processing times.
• Include shipping estimate times for your country of origin and different regions around the world as this varies dramatically. Etsy have made this easy as you can add individual countries with your own estimates.
• Do you ship Internationally?
• If you do International shipping include information on customs and import taxes which varies for different regions around the world. I simply say “Buyers are responsible for any customs and import taxes that may apply. I am not responsible for delays due to customs”.
• Add information about how your items are packaged and if you offer gift wrapping.
• Let your customers know what shipping company you use and the options you have made available with regards to insurance or faster shipping.

Payment Options

• State what methods of payment you will take (PayPal, cheque etc).
• If you offer PayPal as a method of payment, add a brief description of how to pay with PayPal. Lots of people don’t realise they can use this method to pay with their credit or debit card without having to sign up for a PayPal account. It helps to explain how they can do this.
• State that you will not send packages until payments have cleared.
• Encourage buyers to contact you if they are having any problems with making their payment.

Refunds and Exchanges

• If you don’t want to do refunds and exchanges then put it politely. Something like “I’m sorry but at this time [insert shop name here] I cannot accept refunds or exchanges, please purchase carefully” comes across a lot better than “No exchanges or refunds accepted”.
• If you are going to offer refunds and/or exchanges then put your terms and conditions here. How long after receiving an item can people ask you for an exchange or refund? Will you refund only the cost of the item or the shipping as well? If a buyer returns an item to you who is responsible for the return postal costs?
• Etsy have set up some information you can click and turn on easily in this section and customise it to suit your terms.

Privacy Policy

As a business owner that collects personal information on name, address, email etc we are obligated to keep their information protected. If you want to find out more about a privacy policy and how to write one and include it in your shop policies then this is a good article to read How to Write On-Point Privacy Policies

Frequently Asked Questions

Etsy have provided some extra available space to add frequently asked questions that may apply specifically to your shop and the type of items you sell. If you find yourself being asked the same questions over and over again think about adding this to your FAQ section. Some things you could add are:

• The process you take to complete custom orders.
• An estimate of how long orders may take.
• For custom orders when do you require payment, do you need payment up front or is a 50% deposit the green light to begin work.
• Do you provide gift wrapping and what is included.
• Special discounts you might have running at the moment.
• What happens if my item is damaged in transit.

I hope this information has been helpful to you. I think it is best to have something in your shop policies then not at all so make a start on it, you can always add to it as time goes on and new ideas or issues arise that you can address in your policies.

As I am an Etsy Seller, most of my posts are geared to Etsy Success although any of my guides and tutorials will be useful for if you use other platforms to sell your products. You can visit my Etsy Store at Rhinestone Mumma

If you are interested, here are some additional guides and tutorials worth a read.

Instagram Product Tagging! What’s It All About?

Pinterest! What’s It All About?

Etsy SEO! What’s It All About?

How To Get More Etsy Sales

Etsy Hyperlinks! What’s It All About?

If you want to join our community on Facebook Etsy Sellers Promote & Help we would love to have you on board. We are always discussing ways to improve our Etsy experience and grow our sales.

Have a great day 🙂

 

 

Advertisement