Ecommerce Warranty Policy Generator

Coverage scope is one of the nine items Magnuson-Moss specifically requires. You must describe what is and isn’t covered clearly enough that a reasonable customer can tell which side of the line their problem falls on.

• Materials and manufacturing. The baseline. Covers the product being built or stitched wrong.
• Component materials. Covers premature failure of fabric, leather, plastic, or other materials under normal use.
• Workmanship. Loose seams, misaligned parts, assembly errors that show up after delivery.
• Finishes / hardware. Important when your product has plated hardware, paint, or surface treatments that can fail independently.

Duration is the single most-compared element of any warranty. 365 days from delivery is the most common DTC default. Anything labeled “lifetime” must, per 16 CFR 239.4, define which lifetime: the original owner’s, the product’s expected service life, or a specific component.

• Fixed period. 90 days for accessories, 365 days for most ecommerce products, 2+ years for premium durable goods.
• Lifetime of the original owner. Coverage tied to the original purchaser. Define this in the “Define lifetime” field.
• Lifetime of the product. Coverage for the product’s reasonable service life. The FTC requires this to be explicit, not implied.
• Starts from. Delivery date is fairest to customers and simplest to track. Registration-based start works if you actually run registration.
• Prorate after. Lets you keep coverage long but reduce exposure later. Common for batteries, mattresses, and large appliances.

A warranty without a stated remedy is unenforceable, and customers will interpret silence as “refund.” Listing repair / replace / refund explicitly lets you steer toward the lower-cost remedy when you can.

• Repair. Lowest cost when feasible. Patagonia’s Ironclad Guarantee leans on repair as the default.
• Replacement. Easiest customer experience. Works when you have inventory and the product is reasonably standardized.
• Refund. Required as a fallback for a “Full Warranty” after reasonable repair attempts.
• Store credit. Retains revenue. Pair with replacement for the best operational outcome.
• Who picks. Most brands reserve the choice. If you offer customer choice, expect refunds to dominate.

Exclusions are your main defense against open-ended warranty exposure. Be careful here: post-2024 FTC guidance treats overly broad “warranty void if…” language as a likely Magnuson-Moss violation, especially around third-party parts and repair.

• Wear and tear. Universal exclusion. Without it, a warranty becomes an unlimited replacement program.
• Misuse. Covers use outside the product’s intended purpose.
• Accidental damage. Drops, spills, impact. Different from manufacturing defects.
• Unauthorized modifications. Be careful here. FTC enforcement in 2024 targeted blanket “any third-party part voids the warranty” language. You can exclude damage caused by a modification, not coverage in general.
• Commercial use. Worth listing when you sell consumer-grade goods that fail faster under business use.
• Acts of God. Standard exclusion for fire, flood, lightning, earthquake.

Magnuson-Moss requires a step-by-step claim procedure. Customers will follow whatever path you write, so write the shortest one your operations support.

• Proof of purchase. Standard. For DTC stores, the order number from your storefront is sufficient.
• Photos. Cuts fraud and speeds triage. Most claims are decidable from a single photo plus context.
• Serial number. Useful when you ship multiple SKUs that share a part number and need to identify lots.
• Response time. 3 business days is typical. Customers will anchor to whatever you commit to.

For a “Full Warranty,” shipping is part of the no-cost remedy requirement under Magnuson-Moss. For a “Limited Warranty,” you have more flexibility, but covering shipping on confirmed defects is the strongly expected default.

• We pay both ways. Friendliest. Required for a Full Warranty.
• Customer ships in, we ship out. Most common compromise. Cuts your cost but adds friction at intake.
• Conditional. Mirrors how most brands actually run it: defects are on you, non-defects are on the customer.

Most warranties extend only to the original purchaser. That’s the easiest way to cap exposure. Transferable coverage is a strong loyalty signal for resale-heavy categories (premium furniture, gear, jewelry) but means tracking ownership over time. A Full Warranty under Magnuson-Moss must cover any owner during the term.

Registration without an incentive gets 15–30% completion. With an incentive (extended coverage, exclusive content) it climbs to 40–60%. For DTC where you already have the order record, requiring registration mostly creates friction rather than data. Your storefront already knows who bought what.

EU and UK consumers have statutory rights that apply regardless of what your warranty says. Spelling them out avoids the appearance of overriding them and eliminates a common source of disputes.

• EU (Directive 2019/771). 2-year minimum legal guarantee; defects in the first year are presumed to have existed at delivery.
• UK (Consumer Rights Act 2015). 30-day right to reject faulty goods; 6-month burden-of-proof reversal on defects.

The UCC imposes two implied warranties on merchant sellers: merchantability (the goods will work for ordinary purposes) and fitness for a particular purpose (when the seller knows the buyer is relying on their judgment). Magnuson-Moss prohibits you from disclaiming these entirely if you offer a written warranty. You can only limit their duration to the written warranty period, and even that is barred in several states (CT, ME, MD, MA, MS, NH, VT, WV).

• Limit duration. Standard for limited warranties. The required state-rights notice carves out states that don’t allow it.
• Disclaim merchantability / fitness. Only available when you are not offering a written warranty. Selecting one here when you also offer a written warranty would violate Magnuson-Moss.

Without this, a defective product that causes downstream loss (lost data, damage to other property, missed business) could expose you well beyond the product’s purchase price. Most commercial warranties exclude both, and Magnuson-Moss requires the state-rights notice when you do.

Magnuson-Moss permits informal dispute-resolution mechanisms under 16 CFR Part 703. Most DTC ecommerce brands rely on direct customer service and skip this. Add it only if you actually have a program you intend to use.

This single line is mandatory under Magnuson-Moss for any written limited warranty. Leaving it out is a clean enforcement target. Always include it.

Magnuson-Moss requires warrantor contact information as part of the claim procedure. Repeating it at the close makes the document feel complete and answerable.