Black Friday and Christmas checklist for a UK online shop: stock, postage, returns and cover

The weeks from early November to Christmas bring a small shop its biggest orders and its longest queue of questions. This list is the preparation, in the order it has to happen: stock first, because suppliers need weeks; then prices, postage and the returns wording; then who answers the inbox. It is written for a UK online shop selling to consumers on Shopify, Etsy, eBay or its own site. Black Friday is 27 November 2026. Start the list in October, tick each step as it is done and come back to it each week; the ticks stay in this browser.

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Black Friday and Christmas checklist

Tick each step as it is done. The ticks are kept in this browser only, so you can come back to the list; nothing is sent anywhere.

Stock: six to eight weeks ahead

Recalculate the reorder point for every product you expect to sell in November and December Use each supplier's longest recent lead time, not the one they quote Add up the cash the peak orders tie up before you place them Keep one list of open purchase orders with landing dates, and count it as stock

Prices and offers

Work out each discounted product's profit after VAT, fees, postage and returns before the offer goes live Set the most you will pay in advertising for one sale of each promoted product Show every price with VAT included and the delivery charge clearly before checkout Add up the last 12 months of sales on every channel and compare the total with £90,000

Postage and delivery promises

Review your postage settings against the Royal Mail prices from 5 October 2026 Send anything worth more than a few pounds by a tracked service through the peak Check the cover limit on your service before sending higher-value gifts Look up Royal Mail's last posting dates for Christmas 2026 and put them on your site Put the service and its usual delivery aim in every dispatch email Show a dispatch date on any product that may sell out Selling to the EU: add the €3 duty for each kind of product to the cost of every EU order

Returns wording

Check the returns policy states the 14-day right, who pays return postage and how to cancel If you offer a longer Christmas returns window, write it as an offer on top of the 14 days Take out any line that says sale items cannot be returned or refunded Repeat the key returns lines in the order confirmation email

Customer service cover

Name who checks the payment account for disputes every working day in December Prepare a reply for each of the five where-is-my-order situations, with a date in every one Check what your helpdesk charges for each automated reply before the queue doubles Diary the claim window for every parcel reported missing, on the day the customer first writes

After the rush

Send the review request to every delivered order on one fixed trigger Work each January return from its own delivery date and the window you promised If December took the 12-month total over £90,000, register for VAT or apply for the exception

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A working list, not a certificate and not advice: the rule behind each step, with its source, is set out below.

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Stock: six to eight weeks ahead

Recalculate the reorder point for every product you expect to sell in November and December. Reorder point is daily sales times lead time plus safety days, and the sales rate moves. The shops that go out of stock in November are the ones that worked out their reorder points in June. Source: Standard reorder point formula; our reorder point guide. The working is in Reorder point calculator for a small online shop.

Use each supplier's longest recent lead time, not the one they quote. Lead time runs from the order to the day the stock is on your shelf and sellable. A reorder point built on a quoted two weeks fails on the first order that takes four. Source: Our guide to replacing Stocky. The working is in Stocky has gone.

Add up the cash the peak orders tie up before you place them. Order quantity multiplied by unit cost is the real limit for a shop run on a current account. An order that ties up £400 is a different decision from one that ties up £4,000. Source: Our reorder point guide. The working is in Reorder point calculator for a small online shop.

Keep one list of open purchase orders with landing dates, and count it as stock. Without that list, stock on order is forgotten and the same product is ordered twice, or it is never counted and the reorder point fires again. Source: Our guide to replacing Stocky. The working is in Stocky has gone.

Prices and offers

Work out each discounted product's profit after VAT, fees, postage and returns before the offer goes live. On the example in our margin guide a £24 product makes £6.72 an order after VAT, costs, fees and a 5% return rate, and each £1 on or off the price moves that by 83p after VAT, less fees. Source: Our worked example in the product margin guide. The working is in Product margin calculator for UK online shops.

Set the most you will pay in advertising for one sale of each promoted product. The average profit on an order is the most you can pay to win it. In our example that is £6.72, a return on ad spend of 3.57; a campaign reporting 3 is losing £1.28 on every order. Source: Our worked example in the product margin guide. The working is in Product margin calculator for UK online shops.

Show every price with VAT included and the delivery charge clearly before checkout. Price indications seen by consumers must include VAT and any other compulsory charges. Postage and delivery charges may be shown separately only if they are unambiguous, easily identifiable and clearly legible. Source: Business Companion (Chartered Trading Standards Institute), Providing price information, reviewed April 2026, read 1 October 2026.

Add up the last 12 months of sales on every channel and compare the total with £90,000. The VAT test is £90,000 of taxable turnover in any rolling 12 months across every channel, counted on sales and not payouts. One very good December can push the 12 months over the line. Source: GOV.UK, Register for VAT; HMRC VAT Notice 700/1. The working is in VAT threshold for online sellers.

Postage and delivery promises

Review your postage settings against the Royal Mail prices from 5 October 2026. From 5 October 2026, on eBay UK's summary of the tariff, Tracked 48 bought online is £3.75 for a small parcel up to 1 kg against £4.40 for a 2nd Class stamp. The October change and the peak arrive together. Source: eBay UK summary of the Royal Mail tariff, as read for our postage guide on 1 October 2026. The working is in Royal Mail prices from 5 October 2026.

Send anything worth more than a few pounds by a tracked service through the peak. For a 'product not received' chargeback, proof of delivery to the address on the order is the whole case. An untracked packet has none, and the parcel is at the shop's risk until the customer has it. Source: Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 29; Stripe documentation, Respond to disputes. The working is in Chargebacks for a small online shop.

Check the cover limit on your service before sending higher-value gifts. Royal Mail's business claims page pays a lost Tracked parcel at what the item cost you, up to £150. Evri's terms for parcels booked on evri.com limit standard cover to the lesser of £20 or the value. Source: Royal Mail Business Account Claims Centre; Evri terms and conditions, as read for our lost parcel guide. The working is in Lost parcel claims for a small online shop.

Look up Royal Mail's last posting dates for Christmas 2026 and put them on your site. On 1 October 2026 Royal Mail's page still showed Christmas 2025: 2nd Class by Wednesday 17 December, Tracked 48 by Friday 19 December and Tracked 24 by Sunday 21 December. The 2026 dates were not yet published, so check again before you print a cut-off. Source: Royal Mail, Last Christmas posting dates page, read 1 October 2026.

Put the service and its usual delivery aim in every dispatch email. A line such as 'Tracked 48 usually arrives in two to three working days', with the tracking link, removes most where-is-my-order emails before they are sent. Source: Royal Mail service aims, as read for our where-is-my-order guide. The working is in "Where is my order?" reply template.

Show a dispatch date on any product that may sell out. Unless something else was agreed, you must deliver within 30 days of the order. A product page that shows a dispatch date keeps the sale; hiding the product sends the customer elsewhere. Source: Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 28. The working is in "Where is my order?" reply template.

Selling to the EU: add the €3 duty for each kind of product to the cost of every EU order. Since 1 July 2026 the EU has charged €3 customs duty per item on consignments worth €150 or less, counted per kind of product. From 1 November 2026 product identifiers become mandatory on these declarations. Source: Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382, Article 2; European Commission guidance of 8 June 2026. The working is in EU €3 customs duty on small parcels.

Returns wording

Check the returns policy states the 14-day right, who pays return postage and how to cancel. A policy that does not say the customer pays return postage makes the shop pay it, and a site that never gives the cancellation information extends the 14-day right by 12 months. Source: Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulations 31 and 35(5). The working is in Returns policy template for a UK online shop.

If you offer a longer Christmas returns window, write it as an offer on top of the 14 days. The statutory 14 days remains the floor whatever you add. Written as an offer and not as a right, a longer window can be withdrawn after Christmas with the law unchanged; while it stands you are bound by it. Source: Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013; our returns policy template. The working is in Returns policy template for a UK online shop.

Take out any line that says sale items cannot be returned or refunded. GOV.UK says customers have exactly the same rights to refunds when they buy items in a sale as at full price. A 'no refunds on sale items' line is unlawful for distance sales and is what a card issuer reads in a dispute. Source: GOV.UK, Accepting returns and giving refunds, read 1 October 2026. The working is in Returns policy template for a UK online shop.

Repeat the key returns lines in the order confirmation email. The cancellation right, who pays return postage and the cancellation form are information the regulations require before the contract is made, and card schemes ask whether the policy was shown at checkout when a chargeback is raised. Source: Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, Schedule 2. The working is in Returns policy template for a UK online shop.

Customer service cover

Name who checks the payment account for disputes every working day in December. The response window on a chargeback is 7 to 21 days depending on the card network, and missing it loses the dispute automatically. A shop that checks its email twice a week in December loses chargebacks it would have won. Source: Stripe documentation, Respond to disputes, as read for our chargebacks guide. The working is in Chargebacks for a small online shop.

Prepare a reply for each of the five where-is-my-order situations, with a date in every one. Goods remain at the shop's risk until the customer has them, so each reply names the date by which you will replace or refund. No scan since handover is common with any carrier in peak weeks. Source: Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 29. The working is in "Where is my order?" reply template.

Check what your helpdesk charges for each automated reply before the queue doubles. All four helpdesks we read price automated replies per conversation, not per seat. On Zendesk Suite Team each resolution beyond the allowance was £1.30, and in December the same shop's AI line doubles. Source: Vendor pricing pages, as read for our helpdesk prices guide on 1 October 2026. The working is in E-commerce helpdesk prices.

Diary the claim window for every parcel reported missing, on the day the customer first writes. A Royal Mail Tracked claim opens 7 working days after the due date and must be made within 30 calendar days of that. Evri's terms reject a business claim not made in writing within 28 days of the order. Source: Royal Mail Business Account Claims Centre; Evri terms and conditions, as read for our lost parcel guide. The working is in Lost parcel claims for a small online shop.

After the rush

Send the review request to every delivered order on one fixed trigger. Emailing every customer to ask for a review is not prohibited; choosing only the happy ones is cherry-picking. Use one trigger, such as a fixed number of days after the delivery scan, and do not leave out orders that had a complaint. Source: CMA208, Fake reviews guidance, paragraphs 3.6, 4.3 and 4.5. The working is in How to ask for a customer review without breaking the fake reviews ban.

Work each January return from its own delivery date and the window you promised. The right to cancel ends 14 days after the day the goods reached the customer, and faulty goods can be rejected for 30 days from delivery. If your policy promised a longer window, keep the promise. Source: Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulation 30; Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 22. The working is in Returns rights checker.

If December took the 12-month total over £90,000, register for VAT or apply for the exception. You must register within 30 days of the end of the month you went over. Where a one-off pushed you over, HMRC can grant an exception if taxable supplies will not exceed £88,000 in the next 12 months; you have to apply. Source: GOV.UK, Register for VAT; HMRC VAT Notice 700/1, paragraph 3.7. The working is in VAT threshold for online sellers.

How to use the list

Print the finished list and keep it with the dates you set: the order-by dates, the last posting dates and the name of whoever checks for disputes. In January, go through it once more and note what ran short, which products sold out and which replies you wrote more than ten times. Those notes are the first draft of next year's list. Anything that turned out to be a rule you were missing, such as returns wording that is silent on postage, is worth fixing now and not next November.

A ticked list is a record that the steps were done, not proof that each was done properly. The list covers the points our guides and the official pages named above set out; it is not every duty a firm has. This page is general information, not legal advice.

Overlyft sets up AI assistants for online shops: they prepare drafts for a person to approve. They do not tick off any of these steps for you, and you can do every one without them.