Ecommerce return policy template for India, and what the law says you must disclose

A good ecommerce return policy in India states the return window, which items qualify, how to raise a request, who pays reverse shipping, whether you exchange, refund or give store credit, and how fast refunds land. The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 require you to display these terms clearly, along with your grievance officer's name and contact details.

What does Indian law require in an ecommerce return policy?

The rules that matter are the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, notified on 23 July 2020 under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. A D2C brand selling its own stock on its own website is what the rules call an inventory e-commerce entity. Sellers on Amazon or Flipkart have parallel duties as marketplace sellers. The rules don't set a minimum return window. They set what you must disclose and what you cannot refuse.

• Display your terms. Rule 7(1)(a) asks inventory sellers to show accurate return, refund, exchange, warranty, delivery, return-shipping-cost, payment and grievance-redressal information in a clear and accessible manner. Marketplace sellers pass the same details to the marketplace (Rule 6(5)).
• Name a grievance officer. Display their name, designation and contact details. Complaints must be acknowledged within 48 hours and redressed within one month of receipt (Rules 4(4) and 4(5)).
• Issue a ticket number for every complaint so the customer can track its status (Rule 7(1)(f)).
• Take back faulty goods. You cannot refuse a return or refund if goods are defective, deficient, spurious, not as advertised, or delivered late against the stated schedule, unless the delay was due to force majeure (Rule 7(4)).
• No one-sided cancellation charges. You can't charge customers for cancelling a confirmed order unless you bear similar charges when you cancel one yourself (Rule 4(8)).
• Refund within a reasonable period, or as prescribed by the RBI or other applicable law, once a refund request is accepted (Rule 4(10)).

The Department of Consumer Affairs notified amendments in September 2026 that take effect on 1 January 2027. The PIB release says they include giving every complainant a copy of the complaint as recorded by the grievance officer. This article is general information, not legal advice. Have a lawyer check your final policy against the current text of the rules.

What should a D2C return policy cover?

Customers read a return policy after something has gone wrong, so write it for that moment: short sections, plain numbers, and nothing like "at our sole discretion". It should answer:

• How many days the customer has, counted from delivery rather than the order date.
• Which products can't be returned, and why.
• The condition items must be in, and the proof you need for damage claims.
• How to raise a request, and whether you send a reverse pickup or the customer ships it back.
• Who pays the reverse logistics cost.
• What happens after pickup (quality check, then exchange, store credit or refund) and the timeline for each.
• How COD orders are refunded, cancellation rules, and your grievance officer's details.

Return policy template for an Indian online store

Copy this, replace everything in square brackets, and delete clauses that don't apply to you. The numbers are placeholders, not recommendations. Choose your own window and charges using the trade-offs in the next section.

Link the policy from your footer, every product page and the checkout. If you also sell on marketplaces, their own return rules govern those orders, so say on your site that this policy covers orders placed on [your domain].

Which return policy choices cost you the most?

Every clause trades conversion against cost. This is how the main choices usually play out for a D2C brand; change one at a time and watch return rate and repeat purchase together.

Worked example: refund vs exchange

Assume a prepaid ₹1,499 kurta with ₹65 forward freight and a ₹110 reverse pickup. A refund leaves you ₹175 out of pocket on freight with no sale. An exchange costs that ₹175 plus another ₹65 forward shipment, so ₹240, but you keep ₹1,499 of revenue and the customer. Even a ₹75 store-credit bonus is cheaper than losing the order.

How do you cut return costs without a stingy policy?

Shortening the window is the lazy fix. Much of your return cost is decided before the parcel leaves the warehouse, so work through these first.

1. 1Fix fit and description. Publish a size chart in cm with garment measurements, the model's height and size worn, and daylight photos that show true colour. The rules don't let you refuse not-as-described returns, so fix those first. The fashion and apparel page covers size-led returns.
2. 2Tag every return with a reason code (size, quality, damaged, wrong item, changed mind) and review by SKU weekly. One wrong size chart can explain most of a product's returns.
3. 3Put exchange before refund. Make exchange the first button in the return flow, and add a small store-credit bonus for customers who take credit over cash.
4. 4Use QC at pickup on high-value or abuse-prone SKUs. A short checklist (tags intact, unused, correct item, serial number) keeps wrong or used products out of your reverse network.
5. 5Book reverse pickups on the same platform as forward shipments. With both legs in one place you see true freight cost per order and can pick a courier that really services that pincode for pickups.
6. 6Keep returns and RTO apart. An RTO was never delivered and needs different fixes, such as address checks and COD confirmation. See how to reduce RTO.
7. 7Move buyers to prepaid. Prepaid refunds go straight back to the original payment method, with no bank details to collect. See how to convert COD to prepaid with small checkout incentives.

How should refunds work for COD orders?

A COD customer paid cash to the courier, so there is no transaction to reverse. Collect a UPI ID or bank account in the return form (or the customer's consent to store credit), check the account name matches, and share the UTR number once paid. If the courier hasn't remitted that order's COD yet, you are refunding money you haven't received, so budget for it.