A return policy can look perfectly reasonable on a page and still fail the moment a customer tries to use it. The problem is usually not the policy sentence itself. It is the gap between what the customer reads, what the team expects and what the store actually permits. Well-designed woocommerce return eligibility rules close that gap before it turns into a queue of exceptions, awkward emails and inconsistent decisions.
This is a practical guide to turning policy boundaries into a testable workflow. It is not legal advice. Your legal obligations depend on where and how you sell, so keep the policy itself under review. The goal here is operational: make the rules understandable, apply them consistently, and know where a human decision is still needed.