How to handle warranty claims for a small online store

Handle a warranty claim in seven steps: collect the order number, a photo and a description; check the order and the warranty period; decide repair, replacement, refund or no; reply with the reason; send what you promised; log it; and watch for repeats. Write your warranty rules down first so each decision is the same. This isn't legal advice, and warranty rules differ by country and state.

Write the rules before the first claim

Fill these in for your own products. One page is enough.

• How long the warranty lasts, and from when (purchase or delivery).
• What it covers: manufacturing faults such as [seams, zips, buckles].
• What it doesn't: [wear and tear, misuse, damage from storage, repairs by someone else].
• What you offer: [repair / replacement / refund] and who pays to send the item.
• How fast you reply: a number of business days you can actually meet.

The seven steps

1. Ask for the same things every time. The order number, a photo of the fault, and a sentence on what happened. Putting this in your policy or on a contact form means customers send it first time, rather than after three emails.
2. Check the order. Find it in your store, confirm the date and the item, and see whether it's inside your warranty period.
3. Decide. Fault covered or not? If it's covered, pick repair, replacement or refund from your written list. Don't improvise a new remedy for one customer; that becomes the rule everyone expects.
4. Reply with the reason. Say what you decided and why, in a few warm sentences. If the answer is no, say which part of the policy applies, and be kind about it. Never blame the customer.
5. Do what you said. Send the replacement, the label or the refund. Give your usual processing time, not a date you can't control.
6. Write it down. Keep one line per claim: date, order, item, fault, decision. A spreadsheet is enough.
7. Look for repeats. If the same fault shows up on the same product, the problem is the product or the supplier, not the customer.

A reply to copy

Hi [first name], thanks for the photos, and I'm sorry about the [item]. I've checked order [number]: it's within our [length] warranty and the [fault] is the kind of manufacturing fault it covers. We'll [replace / repair / refund] it. [Next step: what you'll send and when, as a processing time, not a promise of arrival.] If anything in this isn't right, just reply and tell me.

Twelve more replies like this, and a fill-in policy, are in the Reply recipes pack, $29.

When this gets heavy

Once you're logging claims by hand every week, an app of your own can do the intake, show the order beside the claim and keep the log for you. A warranty-claims tool is one of the tools in the Dorris library, built on top of the support inbox. To get the replies and a fill-in policy ready made, the Reply recipes pack has a warranty-claim recipe, and three recipes are free on reply recipes.

More replies like this: Where is my order?, Damaged or wrong item and Cancel an order. All twelve, with a fill-in policy, are in the Reply recipes pack.

Last reviewed 2026-10-10.

Want all twelve replies and a fill-in policy? Reply recipes ($29). Want the whole back office built for you? Book a demo.

Tim Haines