Set clear return and exchange rules for your sales model

The legal risk usually comes from using a one-size-fits-all approach where the underlying facts are more specific than that. A generic policy may not match what you actually sell, how orders are fulfilled, whether goods are customised, or how digital access, subscriptions or memberships work. That mismatch can create customer complaints, inconsistent staff handling and wording that is hard to apply in practice. It can also leave gaps around exclusions, exchange conditions, return shipping, faulty items or how store credit and refunds are dealt with across different sales channels.

It commonly sets out when a customer can request a return or exchange, what conditions apply, how the request process works, what happens with faulty items, whether exchanges, repairs, refunds or store credit may be offered, and any categories that are excluded or treated differently. Depending on the business, it may also need wording for sale items, hygiene-sensitive goods, made-to-order products, digital products, subscriptions or cancellation of recurring services. The aim is to make the customer-facing process clear while keeping the policy aligned with New Zealand consumer law.

The drafting depends on your sales model and the practical way customer requests are handled. We look at what you sell, whether products are physical or digital, whether items are customised, how delivery works, whether you operate through your own website or a third-party platform, and whether your team offers refunds, exchanges, repairs or credits in different situations. If you run subscriptions or memberships, we also need to understand billing cycles, cancellation points and what a customer receives immediately on sign-up, because those facts can change the wording significantly.

After you engage, we collect the key details about your products or services, sales channels and how you currently handle returns or exchanges. Your lawyer then drafts the policy or reviews your existing wording and identifies any areas that need clearer treatment. Timing depends on how quickly instructions are confirmed and how complex the sales model is. For example, a simple retail store is usually more straightforward than a business combining physical goods, digital access and recurring subscriptions. The fixed-fee covers the policy work described on this page, not ongoing representation.

Yes. Those business models often need more careful wording because the customer experience is different from a standard shipped-product sale. A digital download, paid membership or recurring subscription may raise questions about immediate access, partial use, cancellation timing, renewal billing and what happens once content or benefits have already been delivered. We can draft the policy to reflect those commercial realities. If your setup also involves app terms, website terms or platform rules, those documents may need separate review so the wording works together consistently.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Returns And Exchanges Policy service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.