Your supplier may ship the product, but customers buy from your store and expect you to resolve delays, damage and refunds. Publish delivery estimates based on observed fulfillment, explain return eligibility and costs clearly, and have a process for stockouts. Verify the rules in each market you sell into; policies cannot override consumer law.
- 01Buyer seesDelivery range, charges, return route
- 02Supplier doesStock, pack, ship, track and accept returns
- 03You ownUpdates, support and remedies
Map the promise to real timestamps
Separate processing time from transit time. If a sample took three days to dispatch and seven to arrive, do not advertise “3-day delivery” because a carrier's ideal route once did. Show the geography the estimate applies to, any relevant cross-border charges, and how tracking reaches the buyer. Shopify describes shipping complexity as a core trade-off of supplier fulfillment.
Write the exception path before the exception happens
Decide who contacts the supplier, how quickly you update the customer, what proof is needed for damage, where a return goes and when a refund is issued. If multiple suppliers fulfill one order, tell buyers when parcels can arrive separately. Keep customer messages under your brand; do not send people to a supplier they never chose.
Check local obligations
In the United States, the FTC's prompt-delivery guidance explains obligations when a seller cannot ship within its promised time, or within the default period when no time was stated. Other markets have different consumer rules. This guide is operational, not legal advice: get market-specific help before publishing terms that affect refunds or cancellations.
A reliable supplier makes a policy easier to keep, but it does not replace the policy. Use the supplier-vetting checklist before writing a confident delivery promise.
Place a sample order to the target market and use its observed processing, transit and exception steps to draft a customer-facing shipping and returns page.