What to include in a Warranty?
What to include in your warranty really depends on your business and what kind of products you sell.
Here are some of the most common and useful sections that are standard to most warranties. They’re a good place to start when putting together your own warranty terms.
Section #1: What does this warranty cover?
The first section of your warranty should include what it covers. For example, note that the warranty:
- Covers any defects in materials used to manufacture your product
- Covers any defects in workmanship under normal use
- Covers any broken components under normal use
Section #2: What will you do to correct problems?
The second section of your warranty should include what you, as a company, will do to correct the problems faced by a customer for products that are still under warranty.
Depending on your business model and what you’d like to include, this section can have any of the following or some different remedy:
- The company will repair the product, at no cost, if the product is still under warranty
- The company will repair any broken parts of a product using new or replacement parts
- The product will be exchanged with a new product
- The price of product will be refunded
Section #3: How long does the coverage last?
The third section of your warranty needs to mention how long the warranty coverage lasts. This will be how many days/years a customer has protection under the warranty.
This section depends on the goods you’re selling and what coverage you want to offer. You may have one flat warranty period (everything gets a 2-year warranty). Or, you may have multiple categories of products that need different periods of coverage. If you have multiple categories, mention the list of products and what warranty period exists for each.
An example can be:
The Warranty Period for Physical Goods purchased from My Company is 180 days from the date of purchase.
You can also address the warranty status of products that have been repaired under warranty. Does a new coverage period begin after the repaired product has shipped, or does the repaired product go back under the original coverage period.
Section #4: What does this warranty not cover?
The fourth section of your warranty can include conditions which are not covered by your company, such as:
- Damage of a product resulting from negligence
- Damage of a product resulting from unauthorized modification of the product
- Damage caused by natural disaster
- Theft or loss of the product
- etc.
Section #5: What do customers need to do to get repairs/service under the warranty?
The last section of your warranty should include information about how a customer can contact you to get service for the products and what conditions must be met during the process. This can include things like:
- If the product must be in returned in its original packaging, or if the customer can send it in any package
- If a Return Merchant Authorization (RMA) is required
- If any documents or accessories that shipped with the product must be included in the package
- How to contact you: by email, by phone or by mail address
- Any nominal fees you charge for shipping, handling, etc.
Section #6: Applicable state laws
Depending on your country, states laws might affect what you write in the warranty.
US businesses include a Consumer Protection section in their warranty disclaimers:
Consumer Protection
Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages or allow limitations on how long an implied warranty lasts, so the above limitations or exclusions may not apply to you. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights that vary by state to state.