Processing and managing returns

After you receive and inspect the items that your customer sent back, you can process the return, issue a refund or collect payment, and fulfill any exchange items. You can also correct a return after you create it by removing items that never arrived, or by canceling, opening, and closing the return.

To create a return and send return shipping information to your customer, refer to Creating returns and exchanges.

Plan requirement

If you're on the Shopify Plus plan, then you can activate exchanges and return enhancements using the feature test drive.

Process a return

After you receive and inspect your return items, you need to process your return. You can process a return either partially or all at the same time, depending on which return or exchange items you're ready to process.

When you process a return, the restocking fee is calculated by how many items you choose to process in a return. The return shipping fee is applied the first time you process the return.

When you process a return, you can issue a refund immediately or choose to issue a refund later. If the return results in an amount to collect, then you can send an invoice when processing the return or collect payment from the customer after you process the return, by using the payment card on the order page.

Steps:

Desktop

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.

2. Click the order that you want to process a return for.

3. In the Return in progress section where you want to process a return, click Process return.

4. Review the return items that you expect to receive:

   1. In the Return items to receive section, select the return items that you want to process.
   2. Optional: To restock a return item, select Restock at, and then choose a location where you want to restock your return item.

5. In the Exchange items to release section, select the exchange items that you want to release.

6. Optional: To refund shipping, in the Refund shipping section, select Shipping, and then enter the amount that you want to refund for shipping.

7. Depending on the adjustment to your order, issue a refund or collect payment:

   • If you owe money to your customer, then in the Issue refund section, choose whether to issue a refund now or later:
     • To issue a refund now, select Now, and then click Process and refund.
     • To issue a refund later, select Later, and then click Process return. You can issue a refund later separately.
   • If your customer owes you money, then you can send an invoice when processing the return or collect payment from the payment card on the order page after you process.

8. Optional: Fulfill your exchange items:

   1. Optional: If you await payment for exchange items, then they're put on hold. You can wait for payment or click Release fulfillment to release the fulfillment before you receive payment from your customer.
   2. In the Unfulfilled section where you want to fulfill exchange items, fulfill the exchange items the same way that you fulfill your regular orders.

Mobile

1. From the Shopify app, tap the icon .
2. Tap the order that you want to process a return for.
3. In the Return in progress section where you want to process a return, tap Process return.
4. Review the return items that you expect to receive:
   1. In the Return items to receive section, select the return items that you want to process.
   2. Optional: To restock a return item, select Restock at, and then choose a location where you want to restock your return item.
5. In the Exchange items to release section, select the exchange items that you want to release.
6. Optional: To refund shipping, in the Refund shipping section, select Shipping, and then enter the amount that you want to refund for shipping.
7. Depending on the adjustment to your order, issue a refund or collect payment:
   • If you owe money to your customer, then in the Issue refund section, choose whether to issue a refund now or later:
     • To issue a refund now, select Now, and then tap Process and refund.
     • To issue a refund later, select Later, and then tap Process return. You can issue a refund later separately.
   • If your customer owes you money, then you can send an invoice when processing the return or collect payment from the payment card on the order page after you process.
8. Optional: Fulfill your exchange items:
   1. Optional: If you await payment for exchange items, then they're put on hold. You can wait for payment or tap Release fulfillment to release the fulfillment before you receive payment from your customer.
   2. In the Unfulfilled section where you want to fulfill exchange items, fulfill the exchange items the same way that you fulfill your regular orders.

Issue a refund for return items

You can issue a refund for return items when you process a return or issue a refund separately at a later time.

If you owe money to your customer, then a banner with outstanding balance is displayed on your order. The amount that you owe your customer is automatically added to the Refund amount field when issuing a refund. If the refund screen allows only a limited amount after store credit was previously issued, then refer to limited refund amount after issuing store credit.

Staff permissions

If you don't have both the Refund to original payment and Refund to store credit permissions, then the Refund method section isn't displayed, and the Refund amount section displays only the method that you have permission to refund to.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.

2. Click the order that you want to issue a refund for.

3. Click Refund.

4. Review the items that you want to refund.

5. Optional: To refund shipping, in the Refund shipping section, select Shipping, and then enter the amount that you want to refund for shipping.

6. Optional: Adjust the refund details:

   • In the Reason for refund section, enter a reason for issuing a refund.
   • If you don't want to send a notification to your customer when you issue the refund, then deselect Send notification once refund is finalized. This option is selected by default.

7. In the Refund method drop-down menu, select Original payment, Store credit, or Original payment & store credit, depending how you want to refund the order.

8. In the Refund amount section, review the refund amount that you want to issue. If you're refunding to store credit, then click the icon to choose whether the store credit expires, and set an expiry date if applicable.

9. Click Refund to refund the customer's order.

Remove return items from a return

If a customer doesn't send a return package or an item is missing from a returned package, then you can remove the item from the return. After you remove a return item, your order balance is adjusted accordingly.

You can't remove items that have already been refunded or restocked from a return.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.

2. Click the order that you want to remove return items from.

3. In the Return in progress section, click .

4. Click Remove return items.

5. Select the items that you want to remove from a return.

6. Click Remove item, and then click Remove item to confirm.

Cancel a return

Canceling a return removes a return that you created. This is different from canceling an order, which halts order processing before items ship.

If you create a return by mistake or your customer has changed their mind about requesting a return, then you can cancel the return. To cancel a return with exchange items, you need to cancel a return, and then edit the order to remove the unfulfilled exchange items.

You can cancel a return only in the following scenarios:

• The return isn't refunded.
• The return isn't restocked.
• The return is open and not Marked as returned.
• The return doesn't have a return label.
• The fulfillment for the return isn't canceled.

After you cancel a return, you can't reopen it, but you can create a new return.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.

2. Click the order for the return that you want to cancel.

3. On the Return in progress card, click , and then click Cancel return.

4. Click Cancel return to confirm.

Open a return

If you have any outstanding tasks to complete for a return, then you can open a return. You can't open a return that you canceled.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.

2. Click the order for the return that you want to open.

3. On the Returned card, click , and then click Open return.

Close a return

After you complete all outstanding tasks for the return, you can close the return. The return closes automatically when every item is processed and every return item is restocked. When exchanging items, you don't need to refund every item unless you owe money to your customer.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.

2. Click the order that you want to close a return for.

3. On the Return in progress card, click , and then click Close return.