It's Here! 2023! And With A New Year Comes New Changes

Here it is...a new year, and hopefully new possibilities! What is your plan for this year?

Here at Willow & Ash we are making a few changes, and we have had to establish some new policies as well...

Let me start with why we have had to establish these...we had a larger-than-expected number of people come in after Christmas (a few almost two weeks after) to return items they had purchased for Christmas because they "just did not end up using them" and wanted a refund. (These were in larger dollar amounts and quantity, not just one or two things).

Cue the confusion...We were certainly confused and taken aback by this.

Didn't use it? As in, didn't give it as a gift? In situations like that, most people keep the items in a place - like a drawer or container - to use for gifting at another time as needed. (Trust me, this is REALLY handy!)

Yes, I'm sure many would return items to a store...a large corporation chain store...but it's rare for people to expect to do so at a small locally-owned gift shop owned by a small family.

When a return is processed at a small business, the money we have brought in from the sales comes out of our bank account, (and on a credit or debit card, we are charged an additional return processing fee from merchant processing, and that fee - in addition to the amount being refunded - is then pulled from our bank account. So now for one sale: we have paid a fee to process the initial sale, the processing fee to now return the charge to the credit/debit card, AND the funds from that initial sale that were already deposited will now be removed from our bank account - where the bank will also charge us a transaction fee.)

One or two people, often times we are ok taking the hit...but more than that in a short time period in the course of two weeks not so much. Those fees charged and funds removed add up for a small business and can rise depending on how often we are processing returns/refunds.

We'll be honest, because in many cases people may just now know or be aware:

In December 2022: our merchant card processing fees for sales and returns/refunds totaled over $1400 - AND bank processing fees from that month were also taken out of our bank account (every card transaction incurs a processing fee, and return processing fees are higher than the normal transaction fees... also, many business bank accounts have to pay transaction fees over a certain number of deposits & withdrawals in a calendar month - ours are higher in November and December each year...). These fees are deducted from our account if our deposits don't cover them.

And keep in mind, January is a new year and for tax purposes doing a return on something processed in December is a headache...and on top of that, January is the slowest month of the year with very little sales - so losing more money impacts small businesses more.

If there are two things to take away from this post: 1) Fees are absorbed into our pricing. The higher the fees and more of them, the higher prices can be on products. 2) Please please be mindful when and where items are purchased - and if items don't end up being used for their intended purpose, then perhaps consider creating a gifting drawer. (a place to keep general gifts for those last-minute gift needs).

We never enjoy having to institute a strict return policy, but due to more than anticipated numbers of customers trying to return (not exchange, just return) Christmas gift items they did "not end up using" this year - this became a necessity:

OUR RETURN POLICY

The Small Print

· Eligible Returns/Refunds  - with a receipt -  will be processed for

store credit only,

There are no cash or card refunds processed through our system* 

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No Returns for store credit will be processed after 7 days from purchase date 

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*No Returns/Exchanges will be approved after December 31st of the current

calendar year, even if it falls in the 7-day window.

(we apologize for this inconvenience - but end of the year processing determines this.)

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All Sales of Custom Items & Projects are Final.

All Sales of Holiday Items are Final.

All Sales of *Hats, Candles, *Bath & Body products, Food, and *Earrings are Final*

(*this is a hygiene issue)

All Sales of Fahlo Bracelets are Final

(these are coded packages—so once purchased, cannot be returned for use. If there is an issue with the code, Fahlo customer service must be contacted.)

No exchanges or returns for store credit on these items will accepted

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There will be a $5 Restock Fee for each eligible returned/exchanged item

H.Rhoade Designs LLC, parent company of Willow & Ash, reserves the right to make changes to this policy at any time, and if needed, without notice

~Thank you for your support & understanding~

We appreciate each and every one of you!