Articles on: Refunds and exchanges

Set Up Automation Rules for Auto-Refunds

Plans: Premium, Enterprise more Platforms: Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and more

Overview



Shoppers always expect a faster refund after returning an item, and it’s the merchant’s responsibility to keep a close eye on all the shipments and release the order amount asap.

With AfterShip Tracking and AfterShip Returns, you can easily address your pain points related to shipment tracking and returns management. Let’s learn how:

Enable automation rules for auto-refund





Go to the Automation Rules section in the AfterShip Returns admin.
Shift the toggle to the right to enable Automatically refund feature
Once Auto-refund is enabled, you’ll see two settings based on which you can automate refund initiation for the return items

1. Shipping status


This defines the shipping status of the return items based on which the refund will be initiated automatically

In transit: Carrier has accepted or picked up shipment(return package) from the customer. The shipment is on the way to the seller/merchant/warehouse.
Delivered: When the return item is sent back to merchant and the shipment is delivered.
Marked as received: When the return items are received by the warehouse/seller/merchant.

2. Resolution method


This defines the resolution method selected by the customer at the time of submitting the return request.

Refund to original payment: The funds will be returned to whatever payment method (credit card, bank account) that the payer initially used to make the payment.
Refund to store credit: Refund will be issued as a gift voucher, credit points, or promo code for returns to the customer.
Exchange for other items - when a refund is needed: Refund will be initiated when a customer opts to exchange an item for another item from your store which is lower in value than the value of the original product.

Select the Shipping status and Resolution method to initiate the refunds automatically
By default, Marked as received, Refund to original payment and Exchange for other items - when a refund is needed option would be enabled. You can change the trigger as per your choice.

3. Green returns


Select the checkbox for Automatically refund for “Green returns” to automatically initiate refund when the request is approved where customers choose “Green returns” as their return method.



Mark returns as Received



You can either mark returns as received manually or make the process automatic.

1. Auto-mark as received


For this, please ensure that the AfterShip Tracking is installed and enabled.

Move the toggle to the right to enable the Auto-marked as received rule

Select Delay status update by x days after the return is delivered and input the number of days by which you would like to delay the status update. Learn more

The return will be marked as received automatically when the shipping status is updated to delivered in AfterShip Tracking admin.

If you have selected Marked as received as shipping status in auto-refund settings, the refund will be automatically initiated to the selected mode of payment once the return is auto-marked as received.



2. Manually mark as Received


In this case, you need to manually click on “Mark as received” on the RMA detail page to trigger the “received” rule for automatic refunds (AfterShip tracking service is not required in this case).



Additional considerations



Auto-refund only works when you select either the Refund to original payment method, Refund to store credit, or Exchange for other items option in your AfterShip Returns admin.
The refund amount won’t include the shipping fee charged.

Supported plans and platforms



Manual and auto-refund rule is available for Premium and Enterprise plan users
Manual or auto-marked as received rule is available for Essentials, Premium and Enterprise plan users
Auto-refund rule for refund to original payment works with Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Shoplazza
Auto-refund rule for refund to store credit works with Shopify and BigCommerce.
Auto-refund rule for Exchange for other items - when a refund is needed works only with Shopify.

In case you have any questions regarding these automation rules, our support team would love to hear them.

Updated on: 15/12/2023

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