Protect Yourself Against Chargebacks

On occasion, a customer may file a chargeback for their purchase. This means that they are claiming that you did not provide them with the promised product or service and want their money back.

Adding a refund policy and terms of service to your store can help you protect yourself against chargebacks. In this article, we'll show you how to do that on Payhip.

Add a refund policy and terms of service to your store

If customers have agreed to your refund policy and terms of service before they make their purchase and they then put through a chargeback, you should be protected. You can let the company who is handling the chargeback know that the customer was made aware of your terms. It may even discourage customers from putting through chargebacks in the first place.

Here’s how to add a refund policy and terms of service to your store:

Step 1. Create custom pages

The first step is to add some custom pages to your store. To do that:

1. Launch the store builder by going to Store in the top navigation bar, then clicking Launch Your Store Builder (or by clicking Account > Store Builder).
2. Click Add > Custom Page.
3. Give your page a title (e.g., “Refund policy”) and click Add.
4. Add your content to the page - the first type of text section will work well for this purpose.
5. Repeat points 3-5 to add a terms of service and a refund policy.
6. Publish your changes.

While we don’t have a sample terms and refund policy that we can give you, there are free generators online that you can use. Just search for, e.g., “terms of service generator.”

Step 2. Get the links to your custom pages

Next, you’ll want to grab the URLs for your custom pages so you can link to them from your checkout form. To do that:

1. While on the custom page, click the cog icon and choose Page Settings.
2. Make a note of the URL that appears in the pop-up.

(Optional) Step 3. Add navigation links to your custom pages

While you’re in the store builder you can add navigation links to your terms and refund policy if you’d like to. That way, customers will be able to review them  before starting checkout.

As links like this are more commonly found in the footer of a website, we cover that below (you can find how to add a link to your store header here).

To add a link to your store footer:

1. From any page in the store builder, click Footer, then click Add Footer Column > Navigation Links.
2. If you'd like, you can give the footer a column title, then click Edit Navigation Links > Add Link.
3. Enter the link name (e.g., “Refund policy”).
4. Click into the Link field and select the correct custom page from the dropdown list that appears.
5. Click Add Navigation Link.
6. Drag and drop the links to reorder them if you’d like to.
7. Publish your changes.

Step 4. Add a checkbox to your checkout form

The final step is to add a checkbox to your checkout form so that customers have to agree to your terms and refund policy before they can make their purchase. To do that:

1. Exit the store builder by clicking the menu icon, followed by Exit store builder.
2. Go to Account > Settings > Advanced Settings and scroll down to Checkout Settings.
3. Select the checkbox for “Display your own questions for customers to answer during checkout” if it’s not already selected.
4. Click Add checkout question, and a pop-up will appear.
5. Choose which of your products you’d like the refund policy and terms to appear for, and click Continue. (Select specific products if, for example, you’d like different terms for different types of products.)
6. Click Add first question - you’ll want to select the Legal option.
7. Type in your text; for example, “I agree to the refund policy and terms of service”.
8. Highlight the text you want to link (e.g. “refund policy) and click the # icon.
9. Paste in the link that you got in Step 2.
10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 to link to your other custom page.

Find the checkout question response

If a dispute does arise and you want to show that the customer agreed to your terms and refund policy, you can find that on your Customers page:

1. Click Customers in the top navigation bar.
2. Search for the customer in question by clicking on Filter Orders.
3. Once you've found the customer, click View order details.
   
   
   A pop-up will appear showing you the details of the order, including the customer's response to your checkout question.

Add an FAQ to your store

Another way to protect yourself against chargebacks is to have a frequently asked questions (FAQ) section on your store (e.g., on your product sales page).

It’s good practice to have an FAQ, particularly for higher-priced items, as you can also address any other concerns the customer may have before purchasing.

To add an FAQ section to a page:

1. While viewing your page in the store builder, click Add section and scroll down to select FAQs.
2. Choose the FAQ design you’d like to use (with or without +s). The section will automatically be populated with three items.
3. Click on an item to edit it and add your own heading and text.
4. If you need more than three questions, click Add item. Or, to remove a question, click Remove item.
5. Drag and drop the items to rearrange them.
6. Publish your changes.

Here’s an example of a question you could add in to protect yourself against chargebacks:

Heading:
Can I get a refund after purchasing the product?

Text:
Unfortunately, we’re not able to offer refunds for our products. Please check out the product description carefully before making a purchase. If you have any doubts or questions about the product, feel free to get in touch with us before buying by clicking “Contact” at the top of the page. If you file a chargeback without contacting us first, we will have to dispute it. We work hard to offer you the best products and services, and we appreciate your support and understanding.

Hopefully that helps! If you have any other questions about chargebacks, feel free to reach out to us at contact@payhip.com.