You can use advanced rules to extend the return window for a specific period, such as for orders created during the Holiday Season.
For the purpose of this article, we will extend the return window from 30 days to 45 days for orders placed in December.
Removing the Standard Return Window for December
With advanced rules, you can define a rule for orders placed between specific dates. Since the default return window is 30 days, you’ll need a rule that removes this for December orders. This ensures that orders placed in December do not default to the 30-day window.
Select “Orders within the date range” from December 1st to December 31st.
For this rule, you’ll set the action to “Return window does not affect this order.” This ensures that the standard return policy does not apply to any orders placed within the defined date range.
Possible adjustments
There are adjustments you can make to this rule to tailor it to your needs:
You can add more conditions to specify which orders this should apply to, such as “Order/Product tagged with” or “Order made with one of the following discount codes”.
The date range can be adjusted to your needs.
Create a Return Window Rule for December
With this rule, we want the return window to extend from the standard 30 days to 45 days for all orders placed in December. We will now create a rule that makes orders older than 45 days ineligible for return.
Set the condition to “Orders within the date range.” For December, this would be from December 1st to December 31st. This ensures that the rule applies only to those orders placed within this time frame.
If you have used more conditions for rule one, use the same conditions in this rule. This will make sure you target the exact same orders as rule 1.
Add another condition for the number of days after the order was created. In this example, you would set this to “Order created X days ago” with a value of ‘greater than 45 days’. This allows the system to calculate eligibility based on when the order was placed.
If more than 45 days have passed since the order date, the action will be “Order is not eligible for return.” This prevents customers from initiating returns after the 45-day window.
Possible adjustments
There are adjustments you can make to this rule to tailor it to your needs:
The 45 days can be changed to any other timeframe
Instead of making returns impossible, you could only allow returns for store credit or exchanges by using the “This order can only be returned for the following types” action.
You can add free postage by using “Return postage is free for this order”
You can change the return postage for this order by using the “Calculate postage fee by multiplying” action
Result
Once both rules are in place:
The first rule prevents the default 30-day return window from applying to orders placed in December.
The second rule prevents the return of orders placed more than 45 days ago.
This could also be set to 47 days to cover the time it takes for the order to ship to the customer.