The Returns screen (in the Orders group) is where you process customers' return requests. It has two tabs: Requests - the returns themselves, and Policy - your shop's return rules. Money is refunded only after the goods physically come back and you inspect them - this protects your shop from abuse.
A return is the logistics and the money. The statutory withdrawal from the contract is a separate statement from the customer, sent through the "Withdraw from contract here" link on your site - it always works, whatever the return policy below says (see Withdrawal from the contract).
A return created from a withdrawal - by you with "Create return" in Orders → Contract withdrawals, or by the customer on the "Withdrawal received" page - carries the link "From withdrawal № 0042". It is statutory: the return window of the policy does not apply, items with a possible Art. 57 exception are included (you decide at inspection), and a withdrawal of the whole order also refunds the delivery, whatever the setting below says. On a partial withdrawal you decide how much of the delivery to refund (see below). One you create is approved at once; for cash on delivery, ask the customer for an IBAN if they have not entered one.
How a return flows
- Requested - the customer asked to return one or more items from their order and gave a reason. For cash-on-delivery, bank-transfer or on-account orders, the customer entered an IBAN to receive the refund.
- Approved - you press Approve return. For an order delivered with Econt or Speedy, the system issues a return label and emails it to the customer, who uses it to ship the parcel back. With the other couriers approval does not go through yet - see the next section. No money moves at this stage.
- Received - you press Mark received when the parcel arrives at the shop.
- Refunded / Rejected - after inspecting the goods: if they are fine, you issue the refund (to the card for card orders, or by bank transfer to the customer's IBAN for cash-on-delivery, bank-transfer and on-account orders); if they are damaged, you reject the return with a reason.
A deduction at inspection
Issue refund lists every item with its amount. If the customer handled the goods beyond what was needed to establish their nature, characteristics and functioning (Art. 55 of the Consumer Protection Act), press Add a deduction beside the item and enter how much value was lost and why - for example €80 shoes worn outside: deduction €30, you refund €50. A deduction cannot exceed the item's amount, and the reason is required, because the customer sees it in the "Return refunded" email together with every deduction.
The delivery refund (on a full-order return) can be lowered to the cheapest standard delivery you offered for the order (Art. 54(3)) - for example the customer chose home delivery for €8 while office delivery cost €4.50. That lowest figure is remembered with the order: the price of the chosen delivery and the rate-table prices of the other couriers you offer (no extra courier requests, and not store pickup). For orders from before this feature we do not know the cheapest delivery - you then answer for a lower figure. The reason is pre-filled; you can change it.
A partial withdrawal - the customer withdraws from only part of the order. The law makes no general exception for the delivery on a partial return, so you decide at inspection: the Delivery refund field starts at €0 and you can enter up to the paid delivery not yet refunded - for example a €6.90 delivery, the customer returns one of two T-shirts, and you decide to refund €2. No reason is required. When the customer returns the rest too, that return carries only what is left of the delivery (€4.90), so the delivery is never refunded twice.
The total refund updates as you type, and the line under it shows how it was reached - for example "€80.00 - deductions €30.00". When the return comes from a withdrawal from the contract, the window also names the withdrawal under its title (for example "Withdrawal № 0042 · the goods are back"). For a card payment exactly that goes back to the card (if the deductions cover everything, no payment is sent); for cash on delivery and bank transfer, transfer it and confirm. If a card refund does not confirm (the connection to the payment provider drops, say), the figures stay locked: a retry sends the same amount, and the provider never refunds twice.
Which couriers support returns
For now only Econt and Speedy support courier returns.
- Sameday, BOX NOW and Pigeon Express do not support returns yet. For an order delivered with one of them, Approve return shows the error "The return action could not be completed." and the return stays Requested. Receiving, refunding and rejecting all come after approval, so for now such a return cannot be completed from this screen - arrange the return with the customer directly.
- An order without courier delivery (for example, picked up from the shop) is approved straight away - you arrange getting the goods back with the customer.
- If Econt or Speedy refuses the return shipment (for example, your sender details are missing), the return also stays Requested and you can approve it again once the cause is fixed.
With automatic approval switched on (see Policy below), the customer's request still goes through, but if the approval fails the return stays Requested and waits for you.
Partial returns
A customer can return part of an order and, later, the rest. Each return refunds only its own amount: for a card order, only the returned items go back to the card, never the whole order.
For a product with quantity pricing, the returned pieces are refunded at what was paid for them, and the pieces kept are not re-priced: of 12 pcs at €3.50 with 6 returned, €21.00 is refunded and the other 6 stay at €3.50.
On an order with a discount (a promotion, a code or the 2% bank-transfer discount) each item is refunded at what was paid for it: the discount is spread over the items by their price. For example €100 shoes and €10 socks with €20 off, paid by bank transfer: the customer paid €88.20 for the goods. Only the socks come back - €8.02 is refunded, not €10; later the shoes too - €80.18. All the returns of one order together never exceed what was paid for the goods. The discount never reduces the delivery.
An order's payment status becomes Refunded only once every item from it has come back. Until then it stays paid, and the refunded amounts are shown on its returns. That is why the Refunded filter in Reports → Orders lists only fully refunded orders.
Once an order has an item return, a card refund request for the whole amount is no longer accepted for it - the money goes back through the return itself.
A business client's order with only part of it returned stays on the summary invoice in full - see Business clients.
Policy
Your return rules live on this screen's Policy tab:
- Accept returns - the self-service return form on the customer's order. When off, customers cannot request a return there; the statutory "Withdraw from contract here" function stays on either way.
- Who pays return shipping - the customer or the shop.
- How the customer sends it back - a courier collects from their address, they drop it at a courier office, or they choose.
- Return approval - you approve each return by hand, or in-policy returns are approved automatically (Econt and Speedy only - see above).
- Free return window - days from delivery, never below the statutory 14 days.
- Goodwill returns after the window - accept returns past your window on your own terms.
- Refund original delivery on a goodwill return of the whole order. A return created from a withdrawal does not follow this setting: a full withdrawal always refunds the delivery, and on a partial one you decide at inspection.
- Return reasons - the list the customer picks from.
The statutory 14-day withdrawal window (Consumer Protection Act) always applies as a minimum - you cannot switch it off. Turning off delivery refunds shows a note that it affects goodwill returns only.
Your return window and who pays for the return are published automatically in your site's Terms. Extend the window to 30 days and the Terms will say 30 days too. You can still edit the text by hand in Online store → Legal pages.
Who can return
Items with an "Exception to the right of withdrawal (Art. 57)" set - on the product's Selling tab or its category's Basics tab (custom-made, perishable, sealed hygiene goods and so on) - cannot be requested through the return form. In the online withdrawal the customer can still name them - they are flagged as a possible exception and the decision is yours (see Withdrawal from the contract).
Next step
If you accept card payments, refund requests are handled on their own screen, covered right after this one. Otherwise carry on to the people behind the orders - see Customers.