Letting Your Online Customers Know How You Do Business

Arts and Craft Ecommerce Business Policy Page
By Maire Loughran, About.com Guide

I do a lot of my shopping via the Web. Whenever I'm tempted to purchase from an unfamiliar online vendor, my first step is to check out their policies page. I like to know all the details of how they process orders and most importantly, the shop's return policy. While Ecommerce has been popular for about the last 15 years, I still run across vendors with an incomplete or non-existent policy page - a fact that I am sure is costing them sales.

Now, turning the table around and looking at it from the business savvy vendor's point of view: having a good policy page reduces unnecessary customer emails. Not being a grouch, but any email correspondence I can reduce by answering my potential customer's questions before they have to ask it is more time that I can use building my business. Additionally I want my customer to be happy and confident while placing an order with my business.

If you sell your arts and crafts online, here is a sample of the type of items you should be addressing in your arts and crafts policy page. Obviously, the type of product you sell will dictate if you need to state your policies on additional issues.

Payment Processing

Tailor these to whatever payment forms you accept. I personally find it too much work to accept checks. You have to hold onto the order for a certain number of days (I suggest 14 business after you've deposited the check) to make sure it clears. PayPal is so easy and stress-free to use, I can't see why anyone wanting to conduct an online transaction would want to use a paper payment.

Here's my payment processing policy:

Maire Loughran accepts the following forms of payment:

* MasterCard
* VISA
* American Express
* Discover
* PayPal

We do not accept payment by check, money order or send orders COD. All payments are processed through our shopping cart using state-of-the-art SSL encryption.

Returns

I have never handcrafted anything that couldn’t be returned for health and safety reasons or because it was customized, so I’ve always had a no questions asked return policy. If your shop policies differ, you have to make sure your customer is well aware of that fact.

Here’s my return policy:

MAIRE LOUGHRAN HAS A NO QUESTIONS ASKED RETURN POLICY IF WITHIN FOURTEEN DAYS OF RECEIPT, VERIFIED THROUGH UPS, FEDEX OR USPS TRACKING, YOU RETURN YOUR PURCHASE.

Our returns address:

Maire Loughran P.O. Box XXXX Chicago, IL 31839

We do recommend however that you ship it back via USPS with Delivery Confirmation. This is done at www.usps.com. As soon as we receive your order (in its originally shipped condition), you will receive a full refund less the amount Maire Loughran originally paid for shipping. Refunds will be processed in the same manner as the original payment.

After fourteen days and up to thirty days you may return your order for shop credit – also less Maire Loughran’s hard cost for shipping.

We do not accept returns after thirty days.

Shipping

Finally, I also like to let my customers know how I ship. Some customers prefer their purchase to be shipped by a certain carrier. If that's the case, then they can email me to make different arrangements. Remember, it's all about making the customer happy and confident so they'll press that "Place Order" button!

Here is my shipping policy:

To United States addresses:

Free shipping to United States addresses - All items are shipped UPS Ground, FEDEX Ground or USPS Priority Mail within four days of order at no additional charge to you. Please email me at maire@maireloughran.com for any special shipping arrangements.

Other than United States ship-to addresses and for expedited shipping: Email maire@maireloughran.com for more information on cost and availability.

Sales Tax
Ah - the contentenious sales tax issue. Right now, online vendors don't have to collect sales tax for any purchase shipped to a state in which they don't have a physical presence. (Although, please verify that with your state Department of Revenue to make sure they haven't changed the rules). If my business is located in Illinois, I collect and remit sales tax for any purchases shipped to Illinois addresses only. I build this tax into my sales price.

Here is my sales tax policy:

Maire Loughran is responsible for this tax and remits it to all affected states at the appropriate rate.

Privacy Policy
This is very important. Your customers want to know that their personal information is safe and that you won't be selling it to any other vendors.

Here is my privacy policy:

Contact information including email address, telephone number, address, etc. which is provided by the user is used solely for completing the order. This includes information pertaining to gift recipients.

We do not use this information to compile a mailing list nor do we sell the information. Once your order is shipped, your order information is securely filed for tax return purposes and shredded after three years.

Of course, these policies are just suggestions. Modify and add to them as you see fit for your arts and crafts business.