Return and Warranty Eligibility Rules

Overview

Return and warranty eligibility rules let you create exceptions or enhancements to your store’s standard return and warranty settings. While your default policies cover most orders, eligibility rules give you the flexibility to adjust policies for specific products, customers, or time periods (like the holiday season).

This article explains what eligibility rules are, how they work, and how to set them up to align with your store’s needs.

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What You Can Expect

With return and warranty eligibility rules, you can:

• Add customized conditions on top of your default return and warranty policies.
• Adjust eligibility windows for refunds, store credit, exchanges, or warranties.
• Offer tailored policies to VIP customers, seasonal shoppers, or specific product groups.
• Override lifetime warranties or default durations when needed.
• Create “final sale” or “ineligible” rules for specific products or promotions.
• Allow customers to submit warranty claims even after the eligibility period has ended.
• Control priority between multiple eligibility rules to ensure the right one applies.

This flexibility helps your team enforce the right policies automatically, reduces manual decision-making, and ensures customers receive consistent experiences.

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Features and Functionality

Default Return and Warranty Settings

• Returns: Set standard windows for refunds, store credit, or exchanges (e.g., 30 days).
• Warranties: Define a standard duration (e.g., lifetime, or a set number of days like 365).

These defaults apply to all orders unless an eligibility rule overrides them.

Creating Eligibility Rules

Eligibility rules are configured through the Automations engine. When creating a new rule:

1. Name the Rule: Give it a clear label such as Holiday Policy 2025.
2. Set Conditions: Choose criteria such as:
   • Order details (purchase date, fulfillment date, etc.)
   • Product details (category, SKU, tags, etc.)
   • Registration details
   • Customer details (VIP, new customer, etc.)
3. Define Eligibility Windows:
   • Refund, gift card, or variant exchange timelines.
   • Warranty durations (override lifetime or set specific terms).
4. Optional: Allow Warranty Claims Outside Eligibility Period: Let customers submit warranty claims for matching items after their warranty window has expired. See Allowing Warranty Claims Outside the Eligibility Period below.
5. Optional Ineligible Footnote: Display a message (e.g., Final Sale or Holiday Sale Item) when items do not qualify.

Example: Holiday Policy

• Condition: Orders placed between October 31 and December 30.
• Policy Adjustment: Extend return window from 30 days to 60 days.
• Footnote: If expired, mark as Holiday Sale and restrict eligibility.

Allowing Warranty Claims Outside the Eligibility Period

By default, once an item is past both its return window and its warranty window, it shows as ineligible (or Final Sale) and the customer can’t submit a claim for it. The Allow Warranty Claims Outside Eligibility Period setting on a Return or Warranty Eligibility rule changes this for items that match the rule’s conditions.

When this setting is enabled:

• Customers can still start a warranty claim for matching items after the warranty eligibility period has ended.
• The claim comes into the Corso Admin as a warranty claim, without a requested resolution, so your team can review it and decide how to resolve it.
• Items that don’t match the rule’s conditions keep following your default settings or any other rules that apply.

This is useful when you want to review late claims case by case instead of turning them away automatically, such as for high-value products, VIP customers, or items with known quality issues.

Example: Late Warranty Claims for VIP Customers

• Condition: Customer is tagged VIP.
• Policy Adjustment: Enable Allow Warranty Claims Outside Eligibility Period.
• Result: VIP customers can submit warranty claims after their warranty has expired, and your team reviews each claim before choosing a resolution.

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Prioritization of Rules

When multiple rules exist, Corso applies them in order of priority:

• Rules can be clicked and dragged to adjust priority.
• The top rule takes precedence if a customer qualifies for multiple rules.
• Use prioritization to ensure the right customers or products get the correct eligibility (e.g., VIP overrides general rules, or “Final Sale” takes precedence).

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Implementation Steps

1. Go to Settings > Automations in your Corso Admin.
2. Select Create Rule and choose Return or Warranty Eligibility.
3. Define your rule name, conditions, and eligibility settings.
4. If you want to accept warranty claims after the warranty window ends, enable Allow Warranty Claims Outside Eligibility Period.
5. Add any ineligible footnotes as needed.
6. Save the rule and adjust its priority in the rules list.

For detailed implementation guidance, see our Eligibility Rule Setup Guide.

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FAQs

Q: Do eligibility rules replace my default settings?
No. They only apply when conditions are met. Otherwise, your defaults remain in effect.

Q: What happens if multiple rules apply to the same order?
The rule with the highest priority in your rules list takes effect.

Q: Can I use eligibility rules for VIP customers?
Yes. You can extend return windows, add warranties, or offer exclusive policies for VIPs or loyalty program members.

Q: Can I create rules for “final sale” items?
Yes. Add a condition tied to product details and mark the item as ineligible with a custom footnote.

Q: Can customers submit warranty claims after their warranty has expired?
Yes, if they match a rule with Allow Warranty Claims Outside Eligibility Period enabled. Those claims come in as warranty claims for your team to review and resolve. Without this setting, expired items show as ineligible.

Q: Do I need technical knowledge to set this up?
No. Rules are created through a no-code interface in the Automations engine.