Can I exchange products on Shopify after fulfillment?

MegT
Tourist
9 0 3

Most of my products are the same price.

After my customer placed an order, she asked me to change it to other item after I already fulfilled on the system.

I couldn't find anywhere to process that request.

I ended up just manually adding/ reducing inventory.

Am I missing something?

I use debut.

My website is 

www.megsmasks.com

 

Thank you!

Meg 

Replies 28 (28)

Miles
Shopify Staff (Retired)
480 68 156

Hi, @MegT!

 

I'm Miles from the Social Care team at Shopify. Great question!

 

Once an order is marked as fulfilled, it's not able to be edited, however, you can always unfulfil it which will make the order editable again. To unfulfill an order, and edit it, follow these steps:

 

  1. Check the order is not archived by going into the order and clicking "More Actions" next to "Edit". 24-49-egqfn-zoczt 
  2. Click "Unarchive" if the order is archived.
  3. Click "More" underneath the fulfilled products and then click "Cancel Fulfillment". 24-51-lmkbe-v5hs0
  4. Now the order is unfulfilled, you're able to click edit at the top of the order to replace the item with a new one.

There are a couple of things to be aware of when editing orders, such as keeping an eye on the shipping and discounts on the order, as they may also need manual intervention when editing an order. You can learn more about that here.

Thanks again for the question.

Have a great day.

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

BLKPNTS1
Excursionist
21 0 15

Hi @Miles,

Is there any plan for the future for Online exchanges to be able to be processed the same way as POS - Return one item (-1) and sell one item (+1).

It is quite ridiculous to not have a simple refund receipt or exchange procedure for online stores when you must be aware of the number of exchanges arising from online sales.
This would eliminate numerous problems especially with the work around most people are using by return the stock but not refunding the money and they selling the new item at $0.00. Stock is correct but profit margins on items are very skewed.

Miles
Shopify Staff (Retired)
480 68 156

Hi, @BLKPNTS1!

Thanks for your feedback on this. We do have some feedback on this provided by other merchants, so I'll add in the points you've raised as well. At this stage, I can't guarantee it's something Shopify will implement, but I can tell you that it's being actively looked at at the moment. I totally agree that it's a feature that's worth adding in, so hopefully we can get something going for you.

In the meantime, there are some workarounds that you can use while we look into the functionality for you. I've listed them below, but feel free to let me know if they're not suitable.

  • Refund + restock, then have customer repurchase or send them a draft order
  • Issue gift cards as store credit
  • Use Shopify POS for store credit
  • Discount codes can be created for a customer
  • "reward" apps like Loyalty Lion or Swell Rewards

I understand these workarounds aren't ideal, but as I mentioned above, we are aware this feature is widely requested and are working on if it's something we can include in the platform.

We're here 24/7 if you have any questions at all.

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

BLKPNTS1
Excursionist
21 0 15

Hi @Miles,

Thank you for the ideas - however my current workaround doesn't involve the customer having to do anymore work than just sending the product back to me, which is the goal, the easiest customer experience I can provide. As I don't have bricks and mortar store so our online experience is all they have. It would also be preferable to send them a new invoice showing he return of the previous item and the purchase of the new item. A record of the whole transaction.
I am just trying to reduce manual work, extra steps, and more opportunity for errors while increasing the accuracy of my reports.

Miles
Shopify Staff (Retired)
480 68 156

Hey, @BLKPNTS1!

I come to you today with some news. Shopify is launching online returns for merchants without physical stores on October 19! We're still working on adding public help guides to our Help Center, but I thought I would let you know in advance as you brought up this concern last week, but remember it won't be available until October 19. The return workflow is available for orders that have at least 1 fulfilled line item that has not been refunded. If no line items have been fulfilled, the order should be refunded and/or restocked instead. Creating a return will be a non-reversible action.

After the launch, I'll reply to this thread once more with some more specific instructions on how to process returns, but I hope this new process will be helpful to you!

As always, please let me know if you have any questions at all.

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

BLKPNTS1
Excursionist
21 0 15

Hey @Miles,

Very exciting news! I will be excited to see how it works on the 19th. Thank you for letting me know.

Miles
Shopify Staff (Retired)
480 68 156

Hi, @BLKPNTS1!

Just wanted to send you a quick note to say that the new feature is now rolling out on Wednesday, so I will be in touch then!

Thanks!

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

BLKPNTS1
Excursionist
21 0 15

@MilesI cant wait!

BLKPNTS1
Excursionist
21 0 15

@Miles, is there any updates?

 

Miles
Shopify Staff (Retired)
480 68 156

Hi, @BLKPNTS1!

My apologies for the delay in getting back to you. I'm waiting to hear an update on this as we speak. As it's Sunday, I don't expect to receive a reply today, but it was pushed slightly due to the release of the new Shopify Admin last week. There were a couple of hiccups with that release, but now they've been ironed out, we're just waiting on the green light.

I'm excited to share the changes with you, and you'll be the first to know as soon as I've got some solid information.

Thanks so much for your patience!

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

Miles
Shopify Staff (Retired)
480 68 156

Hi @BLKPNTS1!

Today is the day! Below, I've outlined a little about what returns will look like for online orders. I just want to note, we are doing a gradual roll-out this week, so it may not be live just yet in your store. This is also a very new release, so feedback is essential. If something isn't working as planned, please let me know so I can provide the feedback to our team for you so we can keep making the process better and better.

You can create a return from an existing order that has at least one fulfilled line item that has not yet been refunded. If no line items have been fulfilled, then you should refund and restock the order instead. If your order has been archived, it must be unarchived before you can create the return.

After you create a return, you can send any return shipping information to your customer and track the return. Use the Orders page to manage all of your returns by filtering on the return status. After you receive and inspect the items, you can issue a refund, and restock applicable items.

You can't cancel returns.

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.
  2. Click the order that you want to refund.
  3. Click Return items. If the order is archived, then you're prompted to unarchive the order before proceeding.
  4. Enter the quantity of items in the order that are being returned.
  5. In the Return shipping options section, select one of the following options:
    • Select Create return label to create a return shipping label for your customer. This option is only available if your primary location and customer shipping address are both set and in the US.
    • Select Enter tracking information and enter the Tracking number and Shipping carrier if you have this information.
    • Select No return shipping to create a return without any return shipping information.
  6. Click Create return.

If you choose to create a return label, you're prompted to create and send the label. For instructions, refer to creating and sending return labels.

I'm excited to share this new feature with you. As I mentioned earlier, if you have any questions or feedback, please let me know!

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

BLKPNTS1
Excursionist
21 0 15

@Miles,  Oh wow this is disappointing - we must have got our wires crossed i asked to be able to exchnage items the same was POS does - nothing at all about generating return labels - i can very easily return and refund products the issue i have an the original poster have is exchnaging items. 

Miles
Shopify Staff (Retired)
480 68 156

Hi @BLKPNTS1!

Just a quick message to let you know I've not forgotten to reply to you. It seems we did have our wires slightly crossed, so I apologise for that.

In the background, I've been working on testing this feature out for you and tried to process a return item to an order, then add in a new product as an exchange. At the moment, this is not working as it's still requiring the customer to be refunded and then pay for the new item instead of just a simple exchange. I'm currently chatting with our products team to come up with a solution. I cannot guarantee anything just yet, so I'll let you know if I get any headway.

I wanted to leave this message here just so you know I'm not ignoring this and I'm gonna do my best to get this working for your needs. It's something a lot of merchants are asking about for sure.

Thanks!

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

Jake211
Tourist
3 0 3

Hi @Miles,


Thanks for following up the product exchange feature request, this is something we are also interested in.

 

Is there a dedicated feature request/forum for this that we can 'vote' or show our support for?

 

Thanks

Miles
Shopify Staff (Retired)
480 68 156

Hi, @Jake211!

Our feature request program is an internal process we use here at Shopify. We don't currently have a public version, but that in itself is a great idea. In the meantime, I'll raise this as it's own request to our developers.

In regards to the exchange feature, I'll keep you in the loop as well with any updates I get on this. I don't anticipate to have much movement on it this week, so keep an eye peeled next for an update, even if the update is that there are none.

I appreciate you tagging onto this thread. Please feel free to browse around the community and add in any feedback you're interested in seeing implemented. Many hands make light work, so it's awesome to see you on board.

Cheers!

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

BLKPNTS1
Excursionist
21 0 15

Thanks @Miles , I look forward to hearing from you eventually!

Miles
Shopify Staff (Retired)
480 68 156

Hi @BLKPNTS1 and @Jake211!

Thanks so much for your patience while I looked into this for you both. At this stage, manual returns is not an option we're able to add just yet. I've added both your details to the feedback so our team can look at this in future.

In the meantime, I've had a look at some potential workarounds for you. We have a few different apps in the Shopify App Store that may be useful. I've narrowed down 2 that might be of some interest to you though.

  • AfterShip Returns Center

    • Free plan available
    • Customers submit returns in just a few clicks without emailing your customer support.
    • Notify customers of acceptance, rejection, exchange and/or refund in a timely manner.
  • Returnly

    • From $29/month. 14-day free trial.
    • Provide customers with an easy way to initiate returns and exchanges through a fully branded and customizable returns portal.
    • Track and monitor return reasons, real-time feedback and user engagement to build better experiences at every stage.

I understand extra cost can be hard, but one of those apps does have a free option for up to 3 returns per month, so depending on your volume of returns, it may be useful.

If you have any questions at all, please let me know.

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

Jake211
Tourist
3 0 3

Thanks @Miles,

 

Appreciate the info and support.

 

It would be fantastic if Shopify eventually offered a stand-alone solution; I look forward to any future updates.

BLKPNTS1
Excursionist
21 0 15

@ miles,
I already have a work around - in actual fact it works really well.
- I use the existing return product feature in shopify but rather than refund for 0.00 I just refund 0.01, then it registers it as a refund (0.00 refunds don't sync to my main system so the stock wasn't being registered a being returned there) and 0.01 is something I can live with and the customers don't question (also allows me to really easily report on the number of exchanges verses refunds i have each month). I then make a second order for the customer and discount the product to 0.00
The biggest problem is I shouldn't have to work around like this, I should be able to return a product and sell a product on the same invoice, especially since the feature is available on POS
Also the fact that shopify doesn't allow negative quantities in the eCommerce side is also the reason why non of the 3rd party apps you suggested will never be able to actually do a better job of working around than my way above.

@Jake211  a place where we could vote for feature and suggest features is an amazing idea, maybe then it would stop multiple discussion request for the same feature and actually highlight what we the users require.

Miles
Shopify Staff (Retired)
480 68 156

Hi, again @BLKPNTS1.

It's great to hear you have found a workaround that's working for you - albeit that it requires more work from you at your end. Please don't get me wrong; I totally agree that a return and exchange feature is something that makes sense. I'm advocating for this change on your behalf, but it is something that requires a bit of work to implement into the platform.

As for a public feature request platform, our community forums are the current solution to that. Community Forums are a great way to moderate content and we are able to pull trends from all posts we receive. Coupled with our 24/7 support, all feedback is recorded and passed on where everything is grouped into topics. From there, the team for each relevant suggestion will look into a solution.

I do appreciate the feedback your passing on. I am sorry I wasn't able to resolve it on this occasion, but please know your feedback has been recorded and if we are in a position to add this feature, I'll let you know.

If you'd like to discuss this further let me know and I'll send you an email. Cheers!

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

BLKPNTS1
Excursionist
21 0 15

Hey @Miles ,
The 3rd party apps always end up requiring more work to ensure that the stock is correctly reflected in my accounting system, and just as much in shopify, I have tried many over the years since joining in 2014.

Also the public community forums are fantastic as is the support but there is a lot of duplication forum discussions when asking for the same features over and over again or there is the opposite - a 38 pg request asking for stackable discounts, so @Jake211 idea of a location to vote on possible features would be great.

Hannahstrunk
Tourist
7 0 4

Hi Miles,

is there any update on this topic? I have a customer wanting to exchange for a different item.

thanks.

Miles
Shopify Staff (Retired)
480 68 156

Hi, @Hannahstrunk!

To create an exchange of products for online sales, you can edit a customers order to remove and add products. You can learn about editing orders here. Below, I've outlined the steps you would need to take to use order editing to exchange an item along with some considerations you'll need to be aware of.

Before you start editing orders, learn more about the possible impacts and decide if you want to edit orders in your store. Editing orders can affect the following areas in your store:

  • Apps
  • Discounts
  • Shipping
  • Fulfillment services
  • Payments

You can create test orders to see if editing orders work with your store.

  1. From your Shopify Admin, head over to Orders and click the order you'd like to edit.
  2. Click "edit".
  3. In the Add product section, enter the name of the product that you want to add to the order, or click Browse to view a list of your store's products and collections.
  4. Select the individual products or variants that you want to add to the order.
  5. Click "Add".
  6. Under the item that you want to remove, click Remove item. If you don’t want to return the item to inventory, then uncheck Restock item. Items that you remove are automatically restocked to their original location.
  7. After you finish editing the order, review and update the order.

If the new item is less than the original order, you'll be able to refund the difference to the customer. If it costs more you can charge the customer again, or discount the new item to bring the total price to the original amount. Under the new item that you want to discount, click Apply discount. You can only apply discounts to new products and custom items that you add to the order.

As you're not able to edit an order that has been fulfilled you'll need to unfulfill the order first in order to make changes. You can unfulfill certain products or the whole order. Orders can also only be edited within 60 days of being placed.

If you exchange an item using the above method instead of refunding the order and asking a customer to place a new order, your customer will need to arrange their own return shipping as well.

I hope this helps, but if you have any questions, please let me know.

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

altactive
Visitor
2 0 1

I am also interested in this process as I offer free exchange for sizing issues etc. 

I can use the existing refund process and then create an order and mark it as paid, but again, this should all be in the one process rather than return then reorder.

It would be as simple as having an exchange button next to the refund button that then opens another tab to add products in, and the difference in cost is calculated, and then if (for example) $9.95 is the balance, it is either invoiced or refunded. all to save money going in and out of Shopify and waiting for funds to clear as payouts, and fees as well. 

This also eliminates the issues with discounts etc, if the initial product was purchased at discount, then the item is no longer on sale, that discount is lost. 

Can you please update this thread as to when this feature will become available.

 

Thanks

ALT Active

vssc
Excursionist
26 0 4

Hi Miles - So what's the best way to exchange an item - I've posted this elsewhere as well, and the Shopify staffer responding there has asked us NOT to unfulfil and edit orders.We can't sell a product at a 100% discount after refunding the old one the tax rate for our product in our region is based on value. Under a INR 1000, it's 5%. Over INR 1000 it's 12%. So what's the way out for us?

BLKPNTS1
Excursionist
21 0 15

Any update on just being able to have a "-1" as a qty so we can quite simply "-1" then "+1" .
This will eliminate
- having to edit an previous order which most likely will not filter through to accounting or fulfillment centers
- return at 0.00, and sell at 0.00, playing all sorts of havoc on our profit margin per line item and taxes
- manually adjust inventory
- a ton of extra manual work that is really disproportionate to the simple exchange a size issue
- it would also allow better tracking to where we may have sizing issues, are people always going up of down in a certain style.

Andreas_Zindel
Excursionist
18 1 14

Not as far as I know. I go back to my original statement that as long as @Shopify can milk us for "features" they will. Work is being done on my end investigating to move to a different platform. Soon enough @Shopify will charge you to log on to the UI or offer a third party app for it.

They keep removing more and more of the basic e-commerce functions only to charge you more. 

Andreas_Zindel
Excursionist
18 1 14

This has been an ongoing issue for years now and it seems that shopify slowly removes one feature at the time so they can bill us more.

You used to be able to exchange products using the POS app, not ideal, but at least you were able to just straight-up process a product exchange for something as simple as "It's to small, can I please exchange for a size XL", without jumping through a ton of hoops. Then Shopify updated their POS app and decided this feature is only available in the pro version which is $89 a month.

Or there are apps for that... which charge anywhere between $9 to $100 a month for something that I argue is one of the most basic functions an online store should support. At the rate at which Shopify is going, I wouldn't be surprised if submitting an order is becomes an "additional" feature for which you have to pay extra. 

 

So please, take the request to be able to process an exchange (to a larger/smaller size or whatever) to your product managers and let them know this is one of the most basic functions any online retailer performs. And let your PMM's know that they can't charge for everything, or better said there is a limit. Cross that line and it might blow up in your face without recourse for reconciliation. 

 

The fact that Shopify forces me into paying extra for a very basic function pisses me off enough to consider moving on and using a different platform to build out my website. @Shopify Don't push your luck! I might just be one person, but I know that a lot of people are extremely pissed off about this very issue (even though shopify made quite an effort to delete all the complaints from the help forum). 

 

 

The workaround to issue a $0 refund on the existing order and then creating a $0 (100% discount) order to send and process the exchange item creates a very interesting tax situation as far as I can tell. Cu'z you'll be reporting all the exchanged items as a discount on your gross sales. 

You sold one pant for $50, they got returned to be exchanged for a larger size. You refund $0 on order #1 (So you still have your $50). You now create a new order to send the larger size for $50, but you discount the $50 (since you got the money from order #1 you don't care that it is a 100% discount). But as far as taxes are concerned you sold $100 worth of stuff, even if you discounted $50. 

Gross sales = $100

Discounts = $50

Net sales = $50

Even though your gross sales was only $50 to begin with, but because of that $50, but 100% discount order, you have $100 gross sales now. 

Please someone correct me if I am wrong.