Why this matters
Refund and return rules often live in several places: product pages, invoices, receipts, terms pages, booking widgets, PDFs, FAQs, marketplace listings, email macros, and old sales pages. AI answer engines can stitch those sources together and accidentally present stale or unsupported promises as current policy.
STOP PUBLISHING: do not let AI write or summarize refund, return, credit, cancellation, deposit, warranty, or exception promises until a named owner verifies the current source, effective date, exceptions, and customer-safe wording.
Copy/paste policy source card
| Field | What to capture | Review rule |
|---|---|---|
| Current policy source | Canonical URL, terms page, checkout copy, invoice language, marketplace listing, written owner note, or policy document. | One source should be marked canonical; conflicting old sources need redirect, update, or removal. |
| Effective date | Date the policy started, last review date, next review date, and owner responsible. | Old seasonal, launch, or exception language should not keep ranking as current policy. |
| Refund/return conditions | Eligibility, time window, proof required, used/opened/digital-item limits, service-start limits, restocking fees, or non-refundable deposits. | Do not add rights, deadlines, or fee waivers that the owner has not approved. |
| Exception authority | Who can approve exceptions, credits, replacements, warranty reviews, chargeback responses, or cancellation-fee waivers. | AI can draft questions; it cannot approve exceptions. |
| Customer-safe wording | Short public explanation, where to ask questions, and what evidence to provide. | Keep it helpful without legal threats, blame, private facts, or invented guarantees. |
| Surface map | All pages, PDFs, Gumroad/marketplace listings, emails, chat macros, FAQs, and snippets that repeat the policy. | Update or remove every stale copy; do not only fix the homepage. |
| AI no-invent list | Refunds, returns, credits, cancellations, deposits, warranty coverage, legal rights, chargeback outcomes, timelines, and exceptions AI must not invent. | Use exact owner-approved wording or ask for review. |
Safe public wording starter
Refund/return summary: Our current policy is summarized at [canonical URL]. Eligibility depends on [approved condition]. If your situation involves [exception trigger], please contact [owner/team] before assuming a refund, return, credit, cancellation, or replacement is available.Stale-source correction: This page replaced older refund/return language on [date]. If you find a different version in a PDF, marketplace listing, receipt, or email, use [canonical URL] as the current source and ask [owner] to review the conflict.AI audit prompt
Act as a cautious AI-search source-of-truth reviewer for a small business. Use only the policy facts below. Do not invent refund rights, return windows, restocking fees, credit amounts, warranty coverage, cancellation exceptions, legal obligations, chargeback outcomes, or owner approvals. Return: 1) conflicting sources, 2) unsupported promises to remove, 3) missing policy fields, 4) customer-safe wording, 5) surfaces to update, and 6) STOP PUBLISHING items.
Policy facts:
- Canonical policy URL:
- Effective date / last review date:
- Eligible situations:
- Not eligible situations:
- Fees, deposits, credits, or replacement limits:
- Exception owner:
- Surfaces that repeat this policy:
- Do-not-invent wording:
- Next review date:Fast QA before AI or search engines quote it
- Search the site, PDFs, marketplace listings, receipts, email templates, and helpdesk macros for old policy wording.
- Confirm the canonical page links from pricing, checkout, FAQ, terms, product, and support pages.
- Make exception language clear enough for customers but strict enough that AI does not approve edge cases.
- Set a review date whenever pricing, delivery, digital-download files, service areas, warranty terms, or payment processors change.
Related free assets: AI Search Guarantee Page Checklist, Source Expiration Review, and PDF Download Review.
Disclosure: Horizon Flow is Andrew Burton's digital product catalog. This worksheet is useful without purchase; product links are labeled and UTM-tagged. This is an operations/marketing worksheet, not legal advice.