The Refund Policy Playbook
A written refund policy you can send in one message: your window, your non-refundable items, your dollar ceiling, and the reply that ends it.
Published Oct 18, 2026
Preview
This guide gives you a refund policy you can write in one sitting and send in one message. When a refund request comes in, you'll already know your window, what you never refund, the dollar amount you'll pay back without arguing, and the exact reply to send. You decide all of it once, while you're calm, rather than while you're annoyed and someone is waiting on your answer.
Set aside about two hours. You'll need your last ten invoices, your contract or terms, and a login to your payment processor.
1. Name the three requests you actually get
Nearly every refund request is one of three types. Each needs a different first response.
That is where the free part ends.
The rest walks the whole thing through, step by step — including the parts people get wrong and what to do when the normal route fails.