Damaged-on-arrival claims are the most-abused refund category in DTC. Some customers legitimately receive damaged product. Others claim damage to get a free product. Without a clear SOP, agents over-correct one way or the other. This SOP balances customer experience with margin protection.
DTC brands with physical products that ship via carrier. Most acute for fragile categories: glass, ceramics, electronics, beauty packaging.
DOA claims are typically 0.5 to 2 percent of orders. At higher rates, you either have a real packaging problem or a fraud problem. This SOP helps you tell them apart and act accordingly.
No exceptions for first-time customers. The photo serves three purposes: verification, carrier dispute, and product feedback to ops.
Product alone doesn't prove arrival condition. Packaging photo shows carrier damage vs warehouse damage.
Default to replacement to retain the customer. Refund as alternative if they ask, but most prefer replacement.
Carrier damage vs warehouse damage vs unknown. Tags power monthly fraud and quality reviews.
UPS, FedEx, USPS have different windows. File within their limit to recover shipping costs.
If a customer has 3+ DOA claims in 6 months, flag for fraud review. Pattern is usually obvious.
If specific products have damage rates above 2 percent, ops needs to investigate packaging or supplier.
Record your screen while running this procedure. ReccordSOP captures every step with screenshots, then alerts you when the actual process drifts from documentation.
Try ReccordSOP freeOffer to refund $5 to their next order if they take and send a photo. This filters legit claims from fraudulent ones at low cost.
Default replace, offer refund. Replacement preserves the customer relationship and lets you collect product photo for quality feedback.
Above 2 percent of orders or when a single customer accounts for 3+ claims in 6 months. Below that, treat as normal CX cost.
I built ReccordSOP after watching too many DTC ops teams lose months to undocumented workflows. These SOPs are battle-tested with Shopify operators running $1M to $50M brands.
Last reviewed June 1, 2026