How to Refund Store Credits by Issuing a Gift Card
Plans: Essentials, Premium, Enterprise Platforms: Shopify and Bigcommerce
AfterShip Returns offers merchants the option to provide their customers refunds in the form of store credits as a way to retain revenue while allowing customers to spend their refund amount on other items from the store catalog. Activating the option to issue refunds to store credits for customers on the returns portal is pretty straightforward. It can be done under General return policy > Resolutions in AfterShip Returns admin.
In this article, we will show you:
Demo
Enable refund to store credit
RMA management
Gift cards on Shopify
Customize Shopify email notifications
Go to Refunds and exchanges under Return policy in AfterShip Returns admin
Move to Refund Resolutions
Shift the toggle to the right for Refund to store credit and add a small preview text (Description) to give extra information on the resolution method
Click Save
To use this feature, you must update Shopify store permissions. Shopify stores without permission to read and write gift cards generated in AfterShip Returns will get an error issuing a gift card on the RMA detail page while issuing a gift card as well as the option to update permissions in Shopify on the General return policy page
To update permissions in Shopify,
Only users who don’t have permission to read and write gift card scope in Shopify will see this message while enabling the Refund to store credit resolution method in AfterShip Returns admin
Go back to General return policy in AfterShip Returns admin
Move down to Resolutions > Refund resolution > Refund to store credit
Click Update Now
You will be directed to Apps and sales channel in Shopify settings
Select AfterShip Returns app
Click on Update app on the bottom right corner of the page. If you already have the permission, you will see the option to Delete app
Once Shopify store permissions are updated, issuing a gift card with AfterShip Returns would be a cakewalk.
Once you receive a returns request with a refund to store credit as a resolution, you first need to approve the RMA request and then Issue a gift card through the returns management dashboard. The process is as follows
Go to Returns in AfterShip Returns admin
On the returns management dashboard, select the RMA request with the refund to store credit resolution
You can sort and filter RMA data by RMA no., request date, status resolution, shipping status, customer, country/ region, and item tag to help you quickly find the requests you are looking for.
Once the RMA request is selected, you will land on the RMA detail page, Approve or Reject the request based on your returns policy. You can see the Refund to store credit alongside the Resolution field
Once the RMA request is approved, you can either Mark as received or Refund it
Proceed with Refund
A side panel with all the details to issue a gift card will open. Audit all the information and click Issue gift card
Click Submit to confirm
A gift card code with a total gift card value (the exact amount of the return) will be generated under the Refunded section
The gift card with the exact value of the return will be automatically emailed to the customer at the time of creation
The email notification will be triggered by Shopify . You can customize the gift card email template to match your brand style. Checkout the section Shopify notification template customization to know more
As soon as the request for the refund to store credit is approved and the gift card is issued in AfterShip Returns admin, the gift card code with the total value of the return will be automatically generated in Shopify under the Gift cards section.
Go to Products > Gift cards in the Shopify admin
Find and open the gift card code from the list ending with the digits as same as the one generated in AfterShip Returns
Under Gift Card Details, you will see
A timeline with all the changelogs from when a gift card is issued until an email with the gift card is sent via Shopify
A note on the right-hand side explaining the issuer of the gift card (AfterShip Returns), RMA (#WRZZXEMA) against which the gift card is generated, and the original order number (#1046)
Ensure you’re logged in as an admin to Shopify
Go to Shopify Settings > Notifications
To customize the look and feel of the email notification, click Customize email template. Keep pushing the forward arrow button till you reach the template for the Gift card created
From the right-hand side panel, change the brand logo and CTA button color as per your brand style
To customize the email layout and message, move down to the Gift card created template under Orders on the main Notifications template dashboard
Click on it. You will be directed to the Email and SMS preview page for the Gift card created notification
Click on Edit code to open the HTML editor page for the Gift card created template
Edit the email subject and body per your requirements and click Save
If you have any questions, please contact our support team for quick assistance.
Overview
AfterShip Returns offers merchants the option to provide their customers refunds in the form of store credits as a way to retain revenue while allowing customers to spend their refund amount on other items from the store catalog. Activating the option to issue refunds to store credits for customers on the returns portal is pretty straightforward. It can be done under General return policy > Resolutions in AfterShip Returns admin.
📢 What you’ll learn
In this article, we will show you:
Demo
Enable refund to store credit
RMA management
Gift cards on Shopify
Customize Shopify email notifications
Demo
Enable refund to store credit
Go to Refunds and exchanges under Return policy in AfterShip Returns admin
Move to Refund Resolutions
Shift the toggle to the right for Refund to store credit and add a small preview text (Description) to give extra information on the resolution method
Click Save
To use this feature, you must update Shopify store permissions. Shopify stores without permission to read and write gift cards generated in AfterShip Returns will get an error issuing a gift card on the RMA detail page while issuing a gift card as well as the option to update permissions in Shopify on the General return policy page
To update permissions in Shopify,
Only users who don’t have permission to read and write gift card scope in Shopify will see this message while enabling the Refund to store credit resolution method in AfterShip Returns admin
Go back to General return policy in AfterShip Returns admin
Move down to Resolutions > Refund resolution > Refund to store credit
Click Update Now
You will be directed to Apps and sales channel in Shopify settings
Select AfterShip Returns app
Click on Update app on the bottom right corner of the page. If you already have the permission, you will see the option to Delete app
Once Shopify store permissions are updated, issuing a gift card with AfterShip Returns would be a cakewalk.
RMA management
Once you receive a returns request with a refund to store credit as a resolution, you first need to approve the RMA request and then Issue a gift card through the returns management dashboard. The process is as follows
Go to Returns in AfterShip Returns admin
On the returns management dashboard, select the RMA request with the refund to store credit resolution
You can sort and filter RMA data by RMA no., request date, status resolution, shipping status, customer, country/ region, and item tag to help you quickly find the requests you are looking for.
Once the RMA request is selected, you will land on the RMA detail page, Approve or Reject the request based on your returns policy. You can see the Refund to store credit alongside the Resolution field
Once the RMA request is approved, you can either Mark as received or Refund it
Proceed with Refund
A side panel with all the details to issue a gift card will open. Audit all the information and click Issue gift card
Click Submit to confirm
A gift card code with a total gift card value (the exact amount of the return) will be generated under the Refunded section
The gift card with the exact value of the return will be automatically emailed to the customer at the time of creation
The email notification will be triggered by Shopify . You can customize the gift card email template to match your brand style. Checkout the section Shopify notification template customization to know more
Gift cards on Shopify
As soon as the request for the refund to store credit is approved and the gift card is issued in AfterShip Returns admin, the gift card code with the total value of the return will be automatically generated in Shopify under the Gift cards section.
Go to Products > Gift cards in the Shopify admin
Find and open the gift card code from the list ending with the digits as same as the one generated in AfterShip Returns
Under Gift Card Details, you will see
A timeline with all the changelogs from when a gift card is issued until an email with the gift card is sent via Shopify
A note on the right-hand side explaining the issuer of the gift card (AfterShip Returns), RMA (#WRZZXEMA) against which the gift card is generated, and the original order number (#1046)
Customize Shopify email notifications
Ensure you’re logged in as an admin to Shopify
Go to Shopify Settings > Notifications
To customize the look and feel of the email notification, click Customize email template. Keep pushing the forward arrow button till you reach the template for the Gift card created
From the right-hand side panel, change the brand logo and CTA button color as per your brand style
To customize the email layout and message, move down to the Gift card created template under Orders on the main Notifications template dashboard
Click on it. You will be directed to the Email and SMS preview page for the Gift card created notification
Click on Edit code to open the HTML editor page for the Gift card created template
Edit the email subject and body per your requirements and click Save
If you have any questions, please contact our support team for quick assistance.
Updated on: 25/07/2023
Thank you!