Return policy explainer video for holiday shoppers: avatar, 4-60 s

A return policy explainer is a 20 to 40 second video where one presenter states your window, your conditions and how to start a return, with the key numbers on screen. Sume's avatar talking-video route renders it from a script, 4 to 60 seconds, 9:16 by default. The words must be the policy you actually publish: Sume does not write, check or supply legal policy text.

Take the policy from your store, not from the video

Shopify's Help Center says return rules "determine when customers can request a return" and lets a merchant choose 14, 30 or 90 days, unlimited, or a custom number of days, counted from each item's delivery date or from delivery of the final item in the order. It says a published written policy is shown in the footer of checkout pages, and that merchants are "responsible for following your published policy".

The store-policies page adds that Shopify's templates can be generated only in English and for English checkouts, and tells merchants in other languages to create their own and contact a local legal expert. So the sequence is: write and publish the policy, then script the video from it.

Script and render

Keep the script to the facts your policy states: the window in days, the start of the window, what must be unopened or unused if that is your rule, and where to start a return. Read it against the published text word for word. Holiday-specific extended windows are only worth a line if your policy page says them.

Call POST /v1/avatar-1.0/talking-video with your avatar_handle and a script; Sume estimates the duration and accepts 4 to 60 seconds. Optional inline captions burn the spoken words onto the final video and are an add-on on the avatar estimate, not a separate caption job. Inline captions are rejected above 60 seconds; cost and limits are compared in inline vs standalone captions.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/avatar-1.0/talking-video \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: returns-explainer-001" \
  -d '{
    "avatar_handle": "your_avatar_handle",
    "aspect_ratio": "9:16",
    "script": "You can return most items within 30 days of delivery. Start a return from your order page. Full terms are linked below.",
    "captions": {"enabled": true, "style": "slam"}
  }'

What Sume does not do

Sume does not decide your window, check it against consumer law, or keep the video in sync when you change the policy. If the policy changes, re-render. If you would rather not use an avatar, the same facts work as cues over a product clip with the standalone caption job at $0.20 per video up to 60 seconds.