Legal
Do I need a refund policy if I only sell services?
Yes. Even where a deposit is genuinely non-refundable, the policy has to say so, and it has to say what happens if you cannot deliver. Silence is the position that produces disputes, because both parties then argue from what they each assumed.
What a services refund policy should state
- What the deposit covers, and whether it is refundable
- What happens if the client cancels before, during, and after delivery
- What happens if you cannot deliver, for any reason
- How work already completed is valued at the point of cancellation
- The timescale for issuing any refund, and to which payment method
Where consumer law reaches services
Selling to a consumer at a distance generally carries a statutory cancellation period, though it can be waived where the customer expressly asks for the service to begin within it. The rules differ between consumer and business clients, which is a distinction worth making explicitly in the document.
Why it helps you commercially
A stated policy removes the main hesitation of a first-time client who does not know you. Ambiguity reads as something to be nervous about, and the clients most deterred by it are the cautious ones you actually want.
The longer version
This answer is deliberately short. If you want the full treatment, Buying a website: the questions that decide what you actually own covers it in about 5 minutes — free, ungated, written from client work.
Who answered this
Anas Bin Masud builds e-commerce sites and does technical SEO for businesses in the UK, Canada and Pakistan — fifteen live client sites, six of them stores taking real payments. These answers come from those projects rather than from a content brief. More about how I work, or ask me something directly.