About the Return & Refund Policy Generator
A return and refund policy is the single document your customers, your payment processor, your state attorney general, and the EU Consumer Centre will all look at when something goes wrong. It is also the single cheapest insurance policy most small businesses fail to buy properly. Most free generators online reproduce one boilerplate from 2017, paste your business name into five placeholders, and call it done. That template was not written for a world where the FTC Click-to-Cancel Rule was vacated in July 2025, where the EU mandates a dedicated cancellation function from 19 June 2026, where Australian "no refund" signs are unlawful, and where Visa reason code 13.2 decides whether you keep your money on a cancelled subscription.
This generator was rebuilt from scratch for 2026. It starts from eight business-model templates \u2014 physical e-commerce, SaaS, digital products, subscription services, marketplaces, professional services, courses, and mobile apps \u2014 because a refund clause that works for a physical mattress retailer will sink a SaaS company on its first chargeback. You then layer fourteen jurisdictions on top: the EU\u2019s 14-day right of withdrawal (with the full Article 16 exception list and the model withdrawal form), the UK\u2019s Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 and the Consumer Rights Act 2015\u2019s 30-day short-term right to reject, Australia\u2019s non-excludable consumer guarantees, and state-by-state US disclosure rules for California, New York, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Texas.
The compliance scorecard is the part most policy tools skip. It flags the things that actually lose you money: a 10-day window for an EU customer, a restocking fee applied to a statutory withdrawal return, a subscription cancellation that requires a phone call after an online signup, a digital-content exclusion without an express-consent model. Hit 90% before you publish. The output includes not just the full policy but short-form placement copy for the checkout page, product pages, order confirmation emails, and subscription signup flows \u2014 because a clause buried three clicks deep in your footer will not survive a Visa representment.
How each business model is handled
Physical e-commerce. The canonical case. 30-day return window is the US default (CA and NY both set 30 as the fallback when you fail to post a policy). Full refund to original payment method, exchange, and store credit are all offered. Customer pays return shipping unless the item is defective. Restocking fees disclosed upfront, carved out for statutory returns. Condition requirement: unused with original packaging.
SaaS. 14-day window (aligned with EU/UK statutory minimums). Refund methods limited to prorated refund or cancel-no-refund \u2014 SaaS doesn\u2019t "return" in any meaningful sense. Exclusions: digital already accessed, custom implementations, services already rendered. Chargebacks typically come in as 13.2 (cancelled recurring) or 13.3 (not as described); your policy is the documented standard the card network will examine.
Digital products. 14-day window with the express-consent waiver model for EU/UK compliance. You can\u2019t just declare digital downloads non-refundable \u2014 under the EU CRD, that only works if the consumer expressly consented to immediate supply and acknowledged they were losing the withdrawal right. We generate both the policy language and the checkbox copy.
Subscription services. This is where the post-vacate landscape matters. The FTC Click-to-Cancel Rule would have mandated "cancel as easily as you signed up" nationwide. With the Rule vacated, California\u2019s auto-renewal law (Bus. & Prof. \u00A7\u00A717600-17606) has become the de facto US standard, and if you\u2019re selling to CA customers you\u2019re already bound by it. Our subscription template builds in CA-compliant disclosures, affirmative consent, and online cancellation parity \u2014 which means if the FTC re-promulgates the rule, or if other states adopt similar requirements, your policy is already compliant.
Marketplaces. 14-day window; each seller\u2019s own sub-policy supplements the platform policy. Customer pays return shipping (except defective). Standard exclusions plus marketplace-specific platform-level dispute escalation.
Professional services. 14-day window from contract conclusion (not from a delivery date \u2014 services have no delivery). Prorated refund or credit note. Exclusions: services already rendered, custom work product. For EU/UK clients, express consent to immediate performance is required to charge for services performed during the cooling-off period.
Courses and info products. This is where chargebacks cluster. A percent-accessed threshold (e.g., no refund after 25% viewed) paired with an express-consent waiver at checkout gives you a documented policy to show in representment when a customer finishes the course and then disputes. The template handles both the watermarked-threshold model and the full-refund-within-14-days model.
Mobile apps. App-store refunds only. You don\u2019t control the refund \u2014 Apple and Google do, pursuant to their own policies. Your policy says so explicitly, which also answers the chargeback question before it starts: "contact Apple/Google, not us, for IAP refunds" is the representment document.
Frequently asked questions
Is a return policy legally required?
It depends where you sell. In the US there is no federal law requiring stores to accept returns, but roughly a dozen states require you to conspicuously disclose your policy \u2014 California (Civ. Code \u00A71723), Florida (\u00A7501.142), Massachusetts (940 CMR 3.13), Minnesota, New York, Virginia, and others. Miss the disclosure and most of those states impose a default refund window (7 days in FL, 30 days in CA and NY, etc.). In the EU, the Consumer Rights Directive gives consumers a 14-day cooling-off period for distance sales \u2014 this is a statutory right you cannot waive. The UK Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 mirror this. Australia\u2019s ACL requires refunds for major failures regardless of your posted policy. A clear written policy is not just required in many places \u2014 it is also the single cheapest way to avoid disputes, chargebacks, and regulatory complaints.
What happened to the FTC Click-to-Cancel Rule?
The FTC\u2019s Rule Concerning Recurring Subscriptions and Other Negative Option Programs (the "Click-to-Cancel Rule") was finalized on October 16, 2024, but was vacated by the Eighth Circuit on July 8, 2025 on procedural grounds \u2014 the court found the FTC failed to issue a required preliminary regulatory analysis. The Rule is not currently in effect. However, ROSCA (Restore Online Shoppers\u2019 Confidence Act), FTC Act \u00A75, and over 25 state auto-renewal laws still apply. California\u2019s auto-renewal law is now widely treated as the de facto national standard, and at least half a dozen other states have enacted similar requirements. The generator\u2019s subscription templates use California\u2019s rules as a compliance baseline because they are the strictest widely-applicable standard, and that makes policies portable.
How is this different from Termly, TermsFeed, or iubenda\u2019s generators?
Four ways. First, all features are free with no paywalls \u2014 competitors gate jurisdiction packs, subscription-specific clauses, chargeback guidance, and digital-goods exceptions behind $10\u201399/month subscriptions. Second, depth: 8 business-model templates (SaaS, physical e-commerce, digital products, subscriptions, marketplace, services, courses, mobile apps), 14 jurisdictions including state-by-state US disclosure rules, EU withdrawal-right exceptions, UK Consumer Contracts Regulations, ACL major/minor failure framework, chargeback reason-code mapping, and the post-vacate subscription landscape \u2014 most competitors still reference the vacated Click-to-Cancel Rule as if it were in effect. Third, practical output: a policy plus short-form placement copy for checkout, product pages, and order confirmations. Fourth, privacy: runs 100% in your browser, no signup, no account.
Does this cover EU 14-day withdrawal rights and digital goods exceptions?
Yes. The EU templates implement the Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83/EU) as amended by the Omnibus Directive (2019/2161), including the 14-day right of withdrawal for distance contracts, the start dates for goods and services, and the full list of exceptions: perishables, sealed hygiene goods, personalized or made-to-order items, sealed audio/video/software once unsealed, and digital content where the consumer expressly waived the right and acknowledged loss. It also flags the new 19 June 2026 requirement (Directive EU 2023/2673) that online sellers provide a clear "Cancel my contract" function on their e-commerce sites.
Does it handle UK and Australian rules too?
Yes. UK templates implement the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 (14-day cooling-off for distance sales, further 14 days to return, refund within 14 days of notification) alongside the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (30-day short-term right to reject for faulty goods). Australian templates implement the ACL\u2019s consumer-guarantee framework: major failures let the consumer choose between refund, replacement, or repair, while minor failures let the business choose \u2014 and the scorecard flags language that tries to disclaim these guarantees (blanket "no refunds" signs are unlawful under the ACL). Canada (Competition Act + provincial rules) and India (Consumer Protection Act 2019) are also covered.
What about chargebacks \u2014 does the policy address those?
Yes, and this is where most off-the-shelf policies fall short. The generator maps your policy to the most common Visa/Mastercard dispute reason codes: 13.1 (merchandise/services not received), 13.2 (cancelled recurring transaction), 13.3 (not as described or defective), 13.5 (misrepresentation), 13.6 (credit not processed), and 12.4/12.5 (incorrect amount or duplicate). Each clause is drafted to be the documented policy the card network will look at in a representment \u2014 if your policy clearly disclosed the return window, restocking fee, or non-returnable category, you have a documented defense. The scorecard flags gaps that commonly lose representments.
Can I exclude certain items from refunds (final sale, custom, digital)?
Yes, with limits. The generator supports eight common exclusion categories \u2014 final sale, custom/personalized, perishable, intimate/hygiene items, digital downloads after access, gift cards, services already rendered, and items damaged by the buyer \u2014 and adds the correct jurisdictional carve-outs automatically. For example, under the EU CRD and UK CCR you can exclude personalized goods and sealed hygiene products only if you disclose the exclusion before purchase. Under Australia\u2019s ACL you cannot exclude the consumer guarantees for faulty goods even if the item was on final sale. The scorecard warns when an exclusion you set is unenforceable in a jurisdiction you selected.
Can I save my progress and update the policy later?
Yes. Your configuration auto-saves in your browser\u2019s localStorage and persists across sessions on the same device. You can also export your configuration as JSON to back up, transfer, or share with a team or attorney. When rules change \u2014 for example, when the EU\u2019s mandatory cancellation-button requirement takes effect on 19 June 2026, or if the FTC re-promulgates a version of the Click-to-Cancel Rule \u2014 load the JSON, review the affected sections, and re-export.