Embroidery refund and cancellation policy: what to write and when to keep the money

A custom embroidery order can be canceled for a full refund until you have spent money or time on it. After that, the customer gets back what they paid minus what you already spent on their order. Once stitching starts, there is no refund for a change of mind, because a personalized piece has no second buyer.

That is the whole policy. The rest of this guide is the detail behind each stage, the difference between a customer who changed their mind and a customer who got the wrong thing, and what Etsy, Facebook Marketplace, and card companies do when a customer goes around you.

The four stages of a cancellation

Every refund question gets easier once you ask where the order is. An order moves through four stages. Each stage has its own answer.

When the order is paid but nothing has been bought and no design file exists, refund all of it. Keeping money you have not spent yet costs you more in goodwill than it earns.

When the blank is ordered or the design is digitized, you have real costs. You bought the sweatshirt, paid a digitizer, or spent your own evening building the stitch file. Refund what they paid minus those real costs, and say what each cost was. Keep the design file on record in case they order again later. The setup fee guide covers what digitizing is worth, so I won't repeat the numbers here.

When stitching has started, the name is on the garment. There is no refund for a change of mind at this point. Finish the piece and hand it over, because the customer paid for it and it is theirs.

When the piece is finished and picked up or shipped, it is final sale. The exception is a mistake you made, which is covered below.

If you take deposits instead of full payment, the same stages decide when a deposit stops being refundable. The deposits and payment policies guide is where I keep the deposit rules, including the business-account terms.

Changed their mind versus got the wrong thing

Most refund requests are one of two kinds. The two kinds get opposite answers.

A customer who changed their mind gets the stage answer above. They picked a different color after you stitched, the event got canceled, the gift recipient already has one. None of that is a defect, so the policy decides it and you apply it the same way every time.

A customer who got something different from what they approved gets a remake or a refund, whatever stage the order is in. A misspelled name you typed, the wrong thread color, a design stitched crooked or in the wrong spot: that is on the shop. The remake guide goes through who pays when the proof itself had the typo, and how to tell which side of the line you are on.

A real quality problem after pickup belongs in the second group too. Loose stitches, a jump thread you missed, or lettering that pulls apart in the first wash: fix it or remake it. Embroidery that comes apart is a workmanship problem no matter what the policy page says.

The proof is what separates the two groups. When the customer approved a mockup with the name spelled out, you can point to it. When nobody approved anything in writing, every complaint turns into an argument about what was said.

What to put in writing

The policy has to exist before the order does. A rule you explain for the first time while someone is upset sounds like an excuse. A rule the customer saw before paying sounds like a rule.

Here is the wording I would start from. It fits on an order form, a listing, or the bottom of a quote:

Changes and cancellations. You can cancel for a full refund until I order your blank or start your design. After that, I refund what you paid minus the cost of anything already bought or made for your order. Once stitching begins, your piece is final sale. If I make a mistake, I remake it at no charge.

A few things make it work.

It names the moments instead of a number of days. A two-day window means nothing when you order blanks the same afternoon. "Until I order your blank" is true for every order.

It ends on the promise. A policy that only lists what the customer can't have reads cold. The last line tells them the shop stands behind its work, which is the part that makes "final sale" feel fair.

It doesn't explain why personalized items can't be resold. Saying it out loud sounds like you expect the customer to back out.

Put the same sentence everywhere an order starts: the order form, the listing, plus the message with the payment link. If you take customer-supplied garments, that order needs its own agreement about damage, which is in the customer-supplied garments guide.

What Etsy adds

On Etsy, accepting returns is your choice. Etsy's help article on return policies says accepting returns is "completely optional," every physical listing outside the EU still needs a policy even if it is "no returns accepted," and you can say in your shop FAQ that you don't accept returns of customized or personalized orders (Etsy Help, read November 2026). Since September, every listing in my Etsy shop has been set to no returns or exchanges.

A no-returns policy does not cover everything, though. Etsy's Purchase Protection lets a buyer get a full refund when an order doesn't arrive, arrives damaged, shows up more than 7 days past the estimated delivery window, or "differs significantly from the item description or photos" (Etsy Purchase Protection, read November 2026). Your listing photos and description are part of the promise. A photo of a design in a thread color you don't actually offer is a "not as described" case waiting to happen.

The same help article notes that EU consumer law requires some sellers to offer at least a 14-day return window on orders shipped there. If you ship outside the US, ask a professional what applies to your shop.

What Facebook Marketplace adds

For most custom orders, Facebook adds no protection at all. Facebook's Purchase Protection covers some purchases made with shipping or checkout on Marketplace. Facebook's help page says local pickups and deals done in Messenger don't qualify (Facebook Help, read November 2026).

Most custom embroidery sold on Marketplace is a Messenger conversation and a porch pickup. That means your written policy is the only policy. Nobody else will decide a refund for you. Send it with the payment link, keep the approved mockup, and write down when the piece was picked up. The Facebook Marketplace selling guide covers pricing and pickup.

When a customer disputes the charge instead of asking

A customer who paid by card can skip you and ask their bank to take the payment back. That is a dispute, sometimes called a chargeback. Stripe's documentation says card networks usually give cardholders 120 days from the payment to file one. Stripe takes the disputed amount plus a dispute fee out of your balance right away (Stripe Docs, read November 2026). In the US that fee is $15. You don't get it back even if you win. Contesting the dispute adds another $15, which comes back only if you win (Stripe Support, read November 2026).

So a fair refund you choose is almost always cheaper than a dispute you fight. On a $35 order, refunding the customer costs you the $35. Losing a contested dispute costs you $35 plus $30 in fees.

When you do want to fight one, the evidence is the same things this whole guide keeps pointing to: the approved proof, the messages, the policy the customer saw before paying, plus the pickup or tracking record.

How cancellations and refunds work in Broidry

In Broidry, the customer's order page has a cancel link at the bottom. If they haven't paid anything yet and the order hasn't reached production, it cancels the order outright and you get a notification. Once any money is in, the same link sends you a cancellation request instead. The request shows how much money you are holding. You decide what happens.

On your side, the button at the bottom of the order page reads Cancel and refund this order once the customer has paid. Leave the amount as it is to send everything back, or type a smaller number for the stage refund, add a reason, and confirm. Card money paid through Broidry goes back to their card. Money paid by Venmo, PayPal, cash, or check you send back yourself. The customer gets an email, and their order page shows how much was refunded. On a card refund, the card fee and Broidry's fee on that sale aren't returned to you, so build that into the amount you keep.

Broidry also keeps the approved proof, the message thread, plus the payment record on the order. Those are the things you need when a customer asks you or their bank for the money back.

The short version

Full refund until you spend money on the order. After that, refund what you haven't spent. Once stitching starts, a change of mind gets the finished piece, not a refund. A mistake you made gets a remake whatever the stage.

Write it down before the first order, put it everywhere an order starts, and end it with the promise to fix your own mistakes. On Etsy, your listing photos are part of that promise. On Marketplace, your policy is the only protection anyone has. With card payments, a refund you choose costs less than a dispute you fight.