Reference
What is Refund policy?
A refund policy states when money is returned and when it is not. Beyond consumer law, it is a published requirement for Google Ads and Merchant Center approval, and its absence is a trust signal working against you.
Also called: returns policy · cancellation policy
What it needs to cover
- The circumstances in which a refund is given
- What is not refundable, and why
- How to request one, and the timescale for a decision and payment
- How consumer statutory rights interact with the policy
- For services, what happens if either party cancels part-way
The commercial argument for making it generous
An unpredictable refund policy costs more in lost enquiries than it ever saves in retained deposits. Buyers read it as a signal of how the whole relationship will go, and they are usually right.
The platform requirement
Google Ads and Merchant Center policy require refund and cancellation terms to be present and reachable on the site. Accounts are refused for missing policy pages more often than for feed errors.
Where this is covered in depth
A definition can only go so far. The 35 types of SEO, explained without the padding covers this properly — 6 minutes, free, no email required.
Who wrote this
Anas Bin Masud builds e-commerce sites and does technical SEO for businesses in the UK, Canada and Pakistan. These definitions come from client work rather than from a content brief — where an entry describes a mistake, it is usually one found on a real site. More about how I work.