Declining Well
Most applications are declined. How you do it affects your reputation among exactly the businesses you want to attract later.
Where to find it
Architect Panel → Commercial:
- Carts — the cart itself and its options
- Shop Insights — what buyers looked for
- Vendor Approvals — applications waiting on a decision
Architect Panel → Data:
- Datastores — then View Data on a cart table, where most shop administration lives
Architect Panel → Layout & Pages:
- E-mail Templates — the message itself
Be clear that it is a decision
The worst decline is an ambiguous one. If the answer is no, the message should say no — not "we are unable to progress at this time", which people read as "try again next week" and then do, repeatedly.
Distinguish "no" from "not yet"
Two genuinely different outcomes deserving different messages:
- Not yet — something is missing or expired. Say what, and say they may reapply. The platform supports changing that decision to approved later without a fresh application.
- No — they do not fit, or you found something. Be polite, be brief, and do not invite a reapplication you will decline again.
How much reason to give
Enough to be fair, not so much that you are negotiating. For a missing document, say exactly what is missing. For a commercial fit decision, "we are not taking on vendors in this category" is honest and closes the matter.
For anything you found in a check, say less rather than more — and take advice before writing anything that alleges something.
Keep it short
A decline should be three or four sentences. Long ones read as defensive and invite line-by-line rebuttal.
Say what happens to their data
They gave you bank details and documents. Telling them what you will now do with those is both good practice and something you are likely obliged to do.
Which means having decided — a declined application retained indefinitely is a data-protection question waiting to be asked.
Give a route to a person
One address, monitored. Declines generate replies, and an unanswered reply to a decline is how a routine no becomes a complaint.
Send it promptly
The same day the decision is made. A decline three weeks after applying is worse than the decline itself.
Worked example
A marketplace uses two templates: one saying which document is missing and inviting the applicant to send it, and one declining on category fit. Both are four sentences, both say declined applications are deleted after ninety days, and both give a monitored address. The first recovers roughly a third of applicants.
Recommendations
- Say no clearly when it is no.
- Separate "not yet" from "no" with different messages.
- Four sentences is enough.
- State what happens to their data, having decided.