The first return I ever got, I took personally. Then I read something on Taopifa about returns being part of the deal in online selling, and I calmed down. A return is information with a shipping label attached.

The policy came first. I wrote it in plain words and put it near the top of every product page, and I made it shorter than I wanted to. Item unworn, tags still on, a window that is easy to remember, and return shipping on me when the fault is mine. If I had written that last part vaguely, every return would have turned into an argument.

Fast replies did more for my reputation than the policy did. Someone writes at night, worried, and gets an answer before lunch. That person tells other people. I keep a few short replies saved in my notes so I am not composing from scratch at the worst possible moment.

Then the part nobody enjoys. I read the reason field on every return, and after a while the reasons grouped themselves. Sizing. Colour. A broken piece in a box that looked fine from outside. Sizing was the big one, and it was my fault, because my photos made a small thing look generous.

Kind tone is free, and it is the part I control. I do not argue. I do not ask someone to prove they are unhappy. A refund and a short, warm message cost me less than a public complaint, and the person on the other end remembers how it felt.

And the fixing. Every return earns a small edit to the description or the photos, in the same week. If people keep asking whether the fabric stretches, the answer belongs on the page, not in my inbox. I still get returns. I just get fewer of the same one.