Recipe

Refund Policy Design

A battle-tested refund policy template for SaaS products selling digital goods — clear terms, chargeback defense, and customer trust in one page.

Why This Matters

Digital products are delivered instantly. Without a crisp refund policy, you bleed revenue to friendly fraud and payment processor chargebacks. A well-written policy sets expectations before the sale and gives you ammunition when disputes land.

The Template

// refund-policy.txt

1. Digital products are non-refundable by default — once delivered, the license is consumed.

2. Exceptions: duplicate purchase (same email, same product within 48h) — auto-approved.

3. Exceptions: product materially not as described — reviewed case-by-case within 7 days.

4. Chargebacks filed before contacting support forfeit any refund eligibility and result in immediate license revocation.

5. Refunds processed within 5-10 business days to original payment method.

Implementation Notes

  • Host this at /refunds and link it in your checkout footer and post-purchase email.
  • Log every refund request with timestamp, email, and reason — SellAuth webhooks make this trivial.
  • For chargeback defense, store IP + user-agent at purchase time. Stripe and PayPal both accept this as compelling evidence.
  • Never argue with customers publicly. Point to the policy, offer the exception path, and move on.

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