When you are running a business selling online, it is very important to have a good return policy. There is a lot of competition in internet business and one thing that will get you ahead in the very competitive market is great customer service.

There are many reasons why your customers may be returning products. Lets look at some of the reasons why they may need or want to send goods back and how to handle each situation.

Because many internet stores now do the majority of their stocking through wholesalers, you may not have actual product on hand at your office or home. If this is the case, you will need to deal with your wholesaler on getting new merchandise out.

Most of the time today, wholesale vendors will drop ship products for you. This means that the goods would be shipped from the vendor and not from you.

If this is the case, the customer will need to send the goods back to where they came from and you will have to work out a policy of returns with the actual vendor. Let us consider that you are sending product out directly for the purpose of this discussion.

One of the biggest reasons they may want to make a return is for defective or bad merchandise. Of course in this case, more than others, you want to be expeditious.

It is vitally important to make your customers happy. When they have received a bad product, you must immediately apologize and let them know that you are going to right the situation immediately.

Make sure you have good communication with the people who buy from you. When a customer makes a return because whatever they bought from you did not work right or was broken, find out if the product was indeed malfunctioning or if it was damaged in delivery.

This will help you decide whether or not you have a claim to be made with the manufacturer or with the company who ships your goods.

If someone makes a return and says that something is not as described, try to get as much information as possible on what they think was different. This will help you know how to change the description of the product so that you do not lose money because other customers accidentally purchase the same thing.

If something is being sent back because the customer simply does not want it, thank the customer for their business and try to issue them a credit as opposed to a full refund, first. This will help you keep money within your company. Have a good return policy and you will get return business.