Rethinking your returns policy before Black Friday
A Black Friday purchase may come back long after the promotion has ended. A gift is the wrong size, the customer requests a return in December, and the retailer must honor the terms offered in November.
Free return shipping and extended return windows carry costs that need to be understood before the first offer goes live.
In our previous article, we examined the EU handling fee and the import costs that can remain after a return. For Black Friday, the next step is translating those costs into clear return terms that your teams can deliver.
What your current policy costs
Look at orders from last year’s busiest sales period to see what returns cost your business in each market. Separate orders returned in full from those where customers returned only some items. Add up the shipping, processing and import costs your business paid. Your finance team and customs adviser can check which duties, taxes and fees you can recover.
For this year’s campaign, also account for the Union handling fee, which is expected to apply from November 1, 2026. The Commission’s customs guidance says that, once the fee applies, customs will not refund it after accepting the import declaration. What you can charge a customer or deduct from their refund is a separate legal question. Have any proposed charges or deductions checked against the consumer rules in each market before introducing them.
Each policy change needs a commercial objective and a way to assess the result. If you change which orders qualify for free return shipping, review the cost alongside the number of orders, returns and repeat purchases after the campaign. If you set a minimum order value, base it on your own profit margins and customers’ buying habits.
Who qualifies for free return shipping
One option is to offer free return shipping above a chosen order value in a selected market. Another is to offer it to an existing customer group. The choice depends on your commercial objective, with eligibility terms made clear before purchase.
The nShift Returns rule engine can use the order value recorded in the data you send to nShift to decide which return terms apply. It can also use customer groups if you send that information with the order and have it set up as a custom field. The return shipping charge and any fee deducted from a refund are separate settings. Both need to match any promise of free returns.
For a minimum order value to work as intended, discounts and currencies need to appear correctly in the order data sent to nShift. Test orders below, exactly at and above that amount. If you use customer groups, also test an order with that information missing. Decide how your team will handle cases where the data does not match the benefit promised to the customer.
Return windows for gifting purchases
An early Black Friday purchase may not be opened until the holidays. A longer commercial return period can give gift buyers more time, provided the eligible purchase dates are clear before the offer is advertised.
In nShift Returns, a rule can use the order creation date supplied with the order to identify campaign purchases and give customers more days to start a return. Check that the number of days you set gives customers the deadline you advertise.
The customer also needs to know what the deadline means. A deadline to request a return and a deadline to send goods back are different instructions. Test an order placed on the first and last days of the campaign. Check that customers see the promised extension when they start a return after the sales campaign has ended.
The extra time you offer is a commercial benefit. It must not reduce customers’ legal rights to cancel a purchase or have a problem with faulty goods resolved.
Faulty items and exchanges
A customer who orders the wrong size and a customer who receives a faulty item need different treatment. EU consumer guidance explains that customers may have to pay change-of-mind return postage if they were told before buying and the retailer has not agreed to cover it. The retailer is responsible for the cost of returning defective goods.
nShift Returns lets you set separate fees and time limits for returns, claims and exchanges. These settings need to reflect the policy you intend to offer. A time limit in the returns portal must not take away a customer’s legal rights.
The route for reporting a fault needs to work for both the customer and the team assessing it. Provide a way to contact customer service if the options in the returns portal do not fit the problem. EU legal-guarantee rules provide remedies for faulty goods, with details that vary by country.
For a voluntary size exchange, clarify what you offer, any lawful charges and what happens if the replacement is unavailable. Make sure customers can still find information about their legal rights alongside your exchange options.
Testing the returns policy
The real test is whether the policy offered before purchase matches the return experience. An order may qualify for free return shipping and a longer return window, so overlapping offers need to deliver all the benefits promised.
Place a few test orders and go through the return process as a customer would. The fees, deadlines and refund should match the terms offered when the order was placed. Try returning part of an order, returning something because you have changed your mind, and reporting a faulty item. Decide what should happen in each case and fix any problems before the campaign starts.
A named owner can keep the returns policy and settings up to date during Black Friday. Keep a record of the terms customers were offered when they bought, and make sure customer service knows how to handle exceptions. After the campaign ends, check that qualifying orders still receive the promised benefits and that new purchases follow your usual returns terms.
Talk to nShift about putting your policy into practice with nShift Returns. Bring examples of how you want different returns handled.
