Returns & exchanges
How a return moves from the shopper’s request to a refund, store credit or exchange, and where you step in.
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How a return starts
A shopper starts a return from a block on your store or from their customer account — see Customer portal & theme setup. They pick the items and a reason. If the reason needs photos, they add them.
Before a refund, Eturns offers an exchange or store credit. Store credit comes with a 10% bonus unless you change the store-credit bonus in Policies. The shopper chooses; a refund is always there when your policy allows one.
Eturns then checks the request against your policies, the order and the customer’s history. If everything is in policy and within your limits — and Who decides allows it — Eturns handles it. Otherwise it prepares the case and it waits for you in Decisions.
Photo evidence
You choose which return reasons need photos, and how many, in Policies → Who decides → Custom evidence & risk. Eturns checks each photo against the reason given. When a photo is missing or unclear, your Missing evidence setting decides what happens: Request once asks the shopper one more time, and Escalate to Decisions sends the case straight to you.
| Plan | What you get |
|---|---|
| Free | Standard queue |
| Starter | Standard queue |
| Growth | Standard queue |
| Scale | Standard queue |
| Brand | Priority queue |
Return labels
Eturns opens the return in Shopify. The label or pickup comes from Shopify Shipping or the shipping app you already use — or you attach one you made yourself. As soon as a label arrives, Eturns emails it to your customer and shows it on their return page.
To attach your own label to an approved return:
- Open the case in Decisions and find Attach a return label.
- Paste the Label URL (a link starting with https://), the Tracking number and the Carrier. The tracking URL is optional.
- Choose Attach label. Eturns adds it to the Shopify return and your customer’s return page.
When the parcel arrives
What happens when a return reaches you depends on your plan:
| Plan | What you get |
|---|---|
| Free | Auto-process on receipt |
| Starter | Auto-process on receipt |
| Growth | Auto, with an optional hold above your limit |
| Scale | Auto with optional hold · bulk inspect |
| Brand | You inspect; chosen return reasons can auto-process |
Returns that wait for you appear in Decisions under Waiting for inspection. Mark each one Restock, Damaged or Discard — one at a time or several at once — and Eturns finishes the refund, credit or exchange.
Exchanges
When an exchange is approved, Eturns creates the exchange order in Shopify. The exchange order appears in your Shopify Orders list. Fulfil it there, or your connected fulfilment app picks it up as it does any order.
Your customer hears that the exchange is being prepared, and only hears it has shipped once Shopify records a real fulfilment. If the new item is out of stock, Eturns follows your choice in How returns run: offer store credit, add the customer to a waitlist, or refund.
In-store returns
Shoppers can bring a return to your shop, and your team receives it in Shopify POS. Beta How to set it up: Returns at the counter.
Refunds and store credit
- Refunds go back to the original payment method through Shopify.
- Store credit is issued to the customer’s Shopify store credit. Where store credit isn’t available, Eturns issues a Shopify gift card instead.
- You choose when money moves in How returns run: straight away, when the parcel is received, or when it has been inspected.
Anything above your approval limit waits for you in Decisions, however confident Eturns is. See Your approval limit.
Still stuck? Email contact@eturns.app.