A checkout copy checklist for research suppliers

Checkout is where a buyer commits, and it is one of the first places a payment reviewer looks. The text there should say the same thing as your product pages and policies: who you sell to, what the products are for, what the buyer is agreeing to and what happens next. A mismatch between a careful product page and a casual checkout is easy to spot.

Use this checklist to go through every line of checkout text, from the cart to the last order email. Work through it with the live site in front of you, not your memory of it.

Before you start: collect every screen

Place a test order and capture each screen and message a buyer sees. Most stores have more checkout text than they realize.

• Cart page, including any upsell or cross-sell blocks.
• Checkout form, including field labels, help text and error messages.
• Payment step, including any wallet buttons and their surrounding text.
• Order confirmation page.
• Order confirmation email and payment receipt.
• Shipping, delay, refund and cancellation emails.
• Abandoned cart and review request emails, if you send them.

Product names and line items

• Product names in the cart match the names on product pages exactly.
• Line items carry no effect, benefit or use language, and no nicknames picked up from forums.
• Variant names describe form, size or quantity, not a purpose.
• Upsell blocks do not suggest buying products together for a purpose. "Customers also bought" groupings can read as a recommended combination.
• Prices shown include any taxes and fees before the buyer enters payment details. Stripe's dispute guidance recommends displaying the full price, including taxes, before accepting payment information.

Buyer type and eligibility fields

• Fields ask for the buyer type, organization and ship-to details that your buyer policy actually requires.
• Help text explains why you ask, in one plain sentence.
• Fields are labeled visibly, not only with placeholder text that disappears when the buyer types.
• The message shown when an order does not fit your buyer profile is polite, final and does not explain which answers would pass. See when consumers find your research supply site for wording.

The research-use confirmation

• The confirmation states what the buyer is agreeing to in plain words. For example: "I confirm these products are purchased for laboratory research only, are not for human or animal consumption, and will be handled by qualified personnel."
• The checkbox is not pre-ticked. The buyer has to act.
• The text sits next to the checkbox, not behind a link.
• The wording matches your terms of sale and product pages.
• You know which version of the wording each buyer saw. If you change the wording, record the date and the new version.

The guide on writing a research-use confirmation for checkout covers wording and placement in more depth, and buyer attestations, explained covers what a signed statement can and cannot show.

Policy links and disclosures

• Terms of sale, refund and return policy, shipping policy and privacy policy are linked from checkout.
• If you restrict returns, refunds or cancellations, the policy is disclosed during checkout, before the final step, with a click-to-accept checkbox or similar acknowledgement. Visa's public rules set out this requirement for e-commerce merchants that restrict returns or cancellations, and allow a link if it forms part of the acknowledgement and refers to the policy.
• Consider showing the full policy text on the page or in a pop-up, not only a link. Stripe's dispute guidance notes that issuers may reject a checkbox that contains only a link as evidence the customer saw the policy.
• The country of your business is shown on the checkout screen or within the checkout pages. Visa's rules require this for e-commerce merchants and state that a link to a separate page does not meet the requirement.
• Customer service contact details, an email address or telephone number, are visible.
• Shipping timelines shown at checkout match your shipping policy and what you can actually meet.

The payment step

• The business name shown at payment is the name on your site, your receipts and your Stripe account.
• A short line tells the buyer how the charge will appear on their statement. See statement descriptors, explained.
• If you authorize at checkout and capture after review, the buyer is told that the order may be reviewed before it is confirmed and charged.
• The button label says what it does, for example "Place order", not a vague label.

Confirmation page and receipts

• The confirmation page repeats the order number, the items, the total and what happens next.
• If the order is held for review, the page says so and gives an expected timeframe you can meet.
• Receipts carry your business details. Stripe states that certain contact information is always required on its receipts: legal business name, customer support address, customer support email and a privacy policy URL.
• The merchant name is spelled the same way on the site, the receipt and the card statement. Visa's rules require the name used to identify a merchant to be used consistently, including on transaction receipts.

Order emails after checkout

• Shipping emails include tracking where available and a support contact.
• Delay emails give a revised date and offer a refund if the buyer does not want to wait.
• Review request emails do not ask buyers to describe effects or results. If you cannot word a review request without inviting those, do not send one.
• Cross-sell and newsletter emails go only to buyers who agreed to receive them, and use the same product language as the site.
• No email contains instructions for preparing or using a product, even in a footer or a linked blog post.

Error and edge-case messages

• Payment decline messages are neutral and point to the buyer's bank or another card.
• Out-of-stock messages do not suggest a substitute for a purpose.
• Messages for unsupported destinations state that you do not ship there, without suggesting ways around it.

Keep a record of what checkout said

Checkout copy changes over time. When a processor or a dispute asks what a buyer saw, you need the text as it was on the date of the order. Keep dated screenshots of each checkout screen after every change, and a change log for the confirmation wording and policies.

Claddr's signed attestations are versioned: changing the statement wording creates a new version, and every signature points to the exact text the buyer saw. Signatures, buyer checks and payments are stored against the order, as described on the product page.

What a checklist cannot do

Good checkout copy does not make up for product pages, blog posts or promotions that say something different. It also does not decide how a processor or card network views your business. Use this list as one part of a wider review, alongside preparing your storefront for a processor review, and speak to a qualified lawyer about your business before relying on any policy wording.