In order to be able to offer your customers the Buyer Protection after your shop has been certified, a protection framework must first be defined. The protection framework defines the maximum financial volume of active protection that can be claimed by your clients at any one time. An example may help you to understand precisely what this means:
In your online shop, the Buyer Protection offered by Trusted Shops will be claimed for three orders in January: Customer A secures an order for 500 euros on 1 January, customer B uses the Buyer Protection on 10 January for their order for 1,000 euros and customer C claims a further protection for 500 euros on 16 January. Based on this order data, a different active Buyer Protection volume results for different points in January, which is covered by the Buyer Protection:
- From 1 to 9 January 500 euros are covered (Order A).
- From 10 to 15 January 1,500 euros are covered (Order A and B).
- From 16 to 30 January 2,000 euros are covered (Order A, B and C).
In this example, the protection framework must therefore be at least EUR 2,000 to cover the highest active protection volume. However, since a protection is active for 30 days as standard, after this period has elapsed there is also room for new protections within the protection framework. In our example, this is the case from 31 January onwards. The protection for customer A expires, so that the active Buyer Protection volume is only 1,500 euros.
How is the protection framework determined?
So that your customers are protected in an emergency, Trusted Shops together with our reinsurer will provide surety for the Buyer Protection. For this reason, Trusted Shops and our reinsurer will jointly determine your individual protection framework at the beginning of your membership. In doing so, we are guided primarily by your stated online turnover and the products you offer. Should we need further information from you, we will contact you.
Once the protection framework is defined, it applies per company, and not per online shop. We will inform you about the size of your protection framework by e-mail, as soon as your shop has successfully completed the certification.
As an essential component of the Buyer Protection, the protection framework is a necessary prerequisite for being awarded the trustmark. After all, the Buyer Protection is an important sign to your customers that shopping in your shop is safe – in every respect.
What happens when the protection framework is used up?
Of course, it is possible that at a certain point in time, the protection framework set at the beginning of your membership will no longer be sufficient – for example, because the order volume for your online shop has generally grown or seasonal events such as Black Friday or Christmas drive up your sales.
First of all, the most important thing in this case is that your customers can still of course take out a protection for their order. You don’t need to worry about disadvantaging your customers! Nevertheless, in this case the protection framework must be increased promptly. Together with our reinsurer, we will therefore analyse the situation and define a new, higher protection framework. Should we need further information from you, we will contact you promptly. All information used in this process to check and secure your credit standing is of course not visible to your customers. We will only communicate directly with you on these sensitive issues.