📦 FREE TOOL — NO ACCOUNT NEEDED
No return policy? Etsy buries your listing.
Etsy's own help pages put it plainly: not having a return policy — even “no returns accepted” — may make your listings appear lower in search results. Write one in 30 seconds, with the real rules for your country built in.
United States — you set the terms
No statutory cancellation window applies to online orders, so the terms below are the ones you choose. Etsy still requires every physical listing to carry a policy — even "no returns accepted".
Do you accept returns?
Change-of-mind returns, beyond faulty items
Do you accept exchanges?
Swapping for a different size, colour or design
Does the buyer pay return shipping?
Faulty items are always your cost either way
Personalised or made-to-order items
Names, dates, custom sizing, bespoke commissions
Digital downloads
Printables, SVGs, templates, patterns
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The exemption most handmade sellers never claim
EU and UK law gives online buyers 14 days to cancel an order without giving a reason. Most sellers know that part, and a lot of them quietly accept returns on work they spent hours personalising because they assume the law leaves them no choice.
It does. Both the EU rules and the UK regulations exclude goods made to order or clearly personalised from that cancellation right — the custom names, the dates, the bespoke sizing, the commissions. That is a large share of what sells on Etsy. But the exclusion only protects you if it is written into your policy before the sale, in the right terms. Bolted on after a dispute, it does nothing.
What the exemption does not cover
An item that arrives faulty, damaged or not as described. That has to be put right no matter how personalised it was, and no policy can sign it away. The generator says this explicitly, because a policy that overreaches is the kind that loses a case.
What goes into your policy
⚖️
The right law for your country
EU and UK shops get the 14-day cancellation right with the correct return and refund windows. US shops get their own terms, with no invented legal rights.
✋
Your exemptions, worded properly
Personalised, made-to-order and started digital downloads, excluded in the terms the law actually recognises.
🛠
The faulty-item promise
Separated out from change-of-mind returns, so buyers know where they stand and you are not over-promising.
📮
Who pays return postage
Stated clearly, including the outbound delivery you have to refund in the UK.
Need the other required policy?
A privacy policy is the one buyers in the EU and UK expect alongside this.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my Etsy shop need a return policy?
Yes, and Etsy is explicit about it: if you sell from outside the EU you must set a return policy whenever you create or edit a listing for a physical item — even if that policy is simply "no returns accepted". Etsy also states that not having one may result in your listings appearing lower in Etsy search results, so this is a ranking issue as well as a legal one.
Do I have to accept returns on Etsy?
Outside the EU and UK, no. Each Etsy seller sets their own policy, and "no returns accepted" is a valid choice as long as you state it. What you cannot refuse is an item that arrives faulty, damaged or not as described — that has to be put right regardless of what your policy says. If you sell to buyers in the EU or UK, their consumer law applies to those orders whatever your own country is.
What is the 14-day rule for EU and UK sellers?
Buyers get 14 days from the day they receive the item to cancel without giving any reason. In the UK they then have a further 14 days to send it back, and you refund within 14 days of receiving it — including the standard delivery charge they originally paid. In the EU the return postage is normally the buyer's cost unless you offered to cover it or failed to tell them before they bought.
Are personalised and custom-made items exempt from returns?
Yes, and it is the single most useful thing an Etsy seller can know here. Both EU and UK law exclude goods made to order or clearly personalised from the cancellation right, which covers a great deal of handmade Etsy work — custom names, dates, bespoke sizing, commissions. The exemption does not cover faulty or not-as-described items, which you still have to put right. This generator writes the exclusion properly, so it actually holds.
What about digital downloads?
Once a buyer has started downloading or streaming digital content after expressly agreeing to lose the right of withdrawal, the cancellation right is gone. That is why the generator asks whether you sell downloads: the wording has to be in the policy in advance for the exemption to work, not added afterwards.
Do US sellers have to give a refund window?
No federal cancellation window applies to online orders, so the terms are the ones you choose — 14 days, 30 days, or none at all. Etsy still requires the policy itself to exist on every physical listing. Some US states have their own disclosure rules about how a policy must be displayed, so if you sell at scale it is worth a check.
Where do I put the policy once it is generated?
Shop Manager → Settings → Policies, and then on each physical listing. You can set one policy across all your physical listings or a different one per listing, which is useful if some of your items are personalised and others are not. Copy the generated text straight in.
Is this legal advice?
No. It is a well-researched starting point built from the published rules of the country you select, and it covers what a small Etsy shop normally needs. It is not a substitute for a qualified professional if your situation is unusual — high-value goods, regulated products, or selling at real scale.
Policy sorted —
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