01Which customer questions a bot can answer, and which it cannot
A store's customer service is a short list of questions asked again and again: how long does delivery take, what does shipping cost, can I send it back, will it fit, what is in it. The answers sit in your policies and product pages, so a chatbot can give them at two in the morning, in the customer's own language. PROOF48's AI assistant page says the assistant works from what you give it: your product list, your policies, your FAQ. "Where is my order?" is a different kind of question. It needs the live status of one parcel. PROOF48's site lists no order lookup inside AUTOMATE, so do not assume it, ask us first.
- Answerable from text you write once: delivery times, shipping costs, return window, payment methods
- Answerable from your product pages: sizes, materials, ingredients, care instructions
- Needs a live lookup: where is my order. Not listed, so ask before you assume it
- Needs a person: damaged goods, wrong item, complaints, anything about one customer's money
02Returns and refunds: where the bot stops
The EU rule is simple, and your chatbot should repeat your policy, not interpret it. On its Your Europe pages the European Commission says you can cancel an online purchase within 14 days without giving a reason, and for goods those 14 days run from delivery. Return postage is normally the buyer's cost, unless the seller offered to pay or did not say so before the sale. A bot can state your return window in plain words and link to the policy page. It should not decide whether one particular item qualifies, approve a refund, or explain the law to a customer. That is a person's call, and a lawyer's if you are unsure what applies to your shop.
- EU rule: 14 days to cancel an online purchase of goods, no reason needed, counted from delivery, with exceptions such as perishable or made-to-order goods (Your Europe)
- The bot states your policy and links to the full page
- The bot does not approve refunds or judge a particular return
- Damaged, wrong or missing items go to a person with the whole conversation attached
03The bot is only as careful as the text you approve
Anything a chatbot says about your products is a statement your business has made. In a category with strict claims rules, such as cosmetics, food or supplements, that matters more than the tone of the replies. Load the bot with the wording you have already approved for the product pages, and nothing else. Add a short list of questions it must never attempt: allergies, pregnancy, medication, skin conditions. Those go to a person, who can read the label and answer for the business. PROOF48's AI assistant page lists medical diagnosis, legal advice and financial recommendations as not a good fit, for the same reason.
- One source of approved wording for every product claim
- A never-answer list: allergies, pregnancy, medication, skin conditions
- Those questions go to a person who can read the label
- Read what the bot actually said, every week
04How to start without rebuilding anything
Take your last 50 customer emails and messages and sort them by question. You will probably find the same few coming back. Write one clear answer for each, in your own words and with the real numbers: days, prices, conditions. That sheet is the bot's knowledge base, and it improves your FAQ page as well. Then decide the handoff: who receives a conversation, during which hours, and what the customer is told while they wait. PROOF48's assistant page describes the same order of work. Map the message types first, build second, test against real scenarios, then review the conversations every week. The first month is learning. After that, escalations drop.
- Sort the last 50 messages by question
- Write one answer per question, with the real numbers
- Name who takes the handoff, and in which hours
- Test the bot on old questions, including the angry ones
- Read the transcripts weekly and fix the gaps
05Where PROOF48 is the wrong choice
AUTOMATE costs 2,997 EUR a month. It includes an AI website chatbot that qualifies and books, AI DM and email auto-responders, booking automation, a CRM and two custom automations a month. It does not cover WhatsApp or phone, so if most of your customers reach you there, it is the wrong plan. If you get a handful of questions a week, a clear delivery and returns page costs less and does most of the job. The AI assistant is the product here. We do not ship a store in 48 hours: stores cost 2,500 to 4,500 EUR on their own timeline, and our terms say larger or custom projects may require a deposit as agreed. We also have no chatbot case study for a store.
- AUTOMATE, 2,997 EUR a month: website chatbot, DM and email auto-responders, booking automation, CRM
- WhatsApp and phone are not covered by AUTOMATE
- A handful of questions a week: a clear delivery and returns page is cheaper
- A store build is 2,500 to 4,500 EUR on its own timeline, never 48 hours
- No store chatbot case study yet, and no figure for how many questions a bot resolves
Korean Cosmetics: the approved wording a support bot would have to repeat
Korean Cosmetics is the closest build we have to this problem, and it is not a chatbot build. PROOF48 delivered a store and an app in 12 languages for K Cosmetics Beauty SRL. The case study records that every product claim was rewritten for EU cosmetics regulation and that one product was pulled from sale for exceeding an EU ingredient limit. It lists no chatbot, so we do not call it chatbot work. What it shows is the input a support bot depends on: one approved set of statements about each product. The store is live in pre-launch, taking preorders with no payment up front, so there is no order history or support volume to quote, and we publish none.
See the build: Korean CosmeticsQuestions, answered
Can the chatbot tell a customer where their order is?
Not as a listed feature. AUTOMATE lists an AI website chatbot that qualifies and books, and our assistant page says it answers from your product list, policies and FAQ. We have not published a live order lookup, so ask us before you plan on it. Until then the bot can state the delivery window and point to the tracking or confirmation message your store already sends.
Can the chatbot approve a refund?
No, and it should not try. It can state your return policy and link to it. Approving a refund, judging a damaged item or answering a complaint goes to a person, with the conversation attached.
Does the chatbot work on WhatsApp or the phone?
Not in AUTOMATE. The plan covers website chat, DM and email auto-responders, booking automation and a CRM. Our AI assistant page describes a WhatsApp or voice assistant as a separate custom build, priced on request.
Is the store built in 48 hours so the chatbot can go on it?
No. The 48-hour offer is for a business website of up to about five pages. Stores are 2,500 to 4,500 EUR with their own timeline, agreed before we start, and our terms say larger or custom projects may require a deposit as agreed.
How do I know a chatbot is worth it for my store?
Count how many of last month's messages were the same few questions. If it is a handful a week, fix your delivery and returns pages first. We have no measured resolution rate to quote for any client.
Where PROOF48 fits
A chatbot earns its place in an online store by answering the repeated questions from text you have approved: delivery, shipping costs, return rules, product facts. Order status needs a live lookup that PROOF48 does not list in AUTOMATE, and refunds, damaged goods and health questions go to a person. AUTOMATE costs 2,997 EUR a month and covers website chat, DM and email, not WhatsApp or phone. A store build is a separate project at 2,500 to 4,500 EUR, never 48 hours.
Cosmin Tiu · Founder, PROOF48
Cosmin has worked in online marketing and software development since 2018, and has built with AI every day since January 2023. He still writes code from scratch daily, in Python, React, Rust and C#. PROOF48 ships business websites in 48 hours and invoices afterwards, so every opinion on this blog was paid for in real builds, not in theory.