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Returning Shipping Costs for Local Pickup

britb
Visitor
1 0 0

I have a local customer who placed an order.  I do not offer local pickup on the platform, but am willing to do it for people I personally know.  How can I cancel her shipping selection and payment and just process as a pickup without shipping?

Accepted Solution (1)

Cary_Silverman
Explorer
88 1 45

This is an accepted solution.

I have several customers like that, that I know and they live close by so I let them pick up their orders.  I created a discount code for them to use that gives them free shipping.  It's the easiest way to handle this.  Sometimes they forget to use the code and I just refund their shipping costs.

Don't look for a way to have some magic coding or something that Shopify has that will let you offer free shipping to certain customers.  Shopify doesn't make things like that simple.  You have to not overthink it and just create a discount code.  Then if your customers want to pick up their orders and not pay shipping, the responsibility falls on them to use the discount code.

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Replies 14 (14)

Cary_Silverman
Explorer
88 1 45

This is an accepted solution.

I have several customers like that, that I know and they live close by so I let them pick up their orders.  I created a discount code for them to use that gives them free shipping.  It's the easiest way to handle this.  Sometimes they forget to use the code and I just refund their shipping costs.

Don't look for a way to have some magic coding or something that Shopify has that will let you offer free shipping to certain customers.  Shopify doesn't make things like that simple.  You have to not overthink it and just create a discount code.  Then if your customers want to pick up their orders and not pay shipping, the responsibility falls on them to use the discount code.

June
Shopify Staff
315 86 67

Hi @britb

Thanks for sharing your question here. @Cary_Silverman, I really like this workaround! I think it’s an especially good fit for a business that isn’t currently using local pickup but on some occasions will want to give a select number of customers the option to bypass shipping costs. Definitely let me know if you need a hand setting up your discount code

Since it’s not currently possible to edit a shipping method once an order has been placed (for example, changing from shipping to pickup), either sharing a discount code or, in cases where a customer wants to take advantage of a different discount you’re offering in the same order, refunding that shipping cost, are both solid options. 

All of that said, I’ve definitely collected some great feedback for our team from this thread and would love to see us shape out new feature options of our own to fulfill the need you’re describing in the future. Thanks again to you both!

June | Social Care @ Shopify 
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Cary_Silverman
Explorer
88 1 45

Just love how Shopify chimes in when the post is resolved.  Maybe Shopify can chime in on why we can't schedule SAME DAY "On Call" pickups with UPS anymore. 

June
Shopify Staff
315 86 67

Hey @Cary_Silverman

I’d be happy to expand on this, I know this has been a big topic of discussion this past week. 

Our integration with UPS is not intended to support same-day pickup requests. We’re aware that previously (until about last week), it was possible to select from multiple time slots within the same day, however with the pickup API now behaving as expected, we should only be seeing next day pickup and onward available. 

If UPS does ever wish to offer same-day pickup for stores, we’ll share that update here

June | Social Care @ Shopify 
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Cary_Silverman
Explorer
88 1 45

Yea, we all know the reason that you guys are telling us for this feature being gone but it would have been nice if Shopify had given us a heads up on this.  We were told nothing and when it stopped working and I opened tickets, I was told the following reasons for "On Call" pickup not being available:

  • Bad weather in my area
  • Heavy traffic in my area
  • Package weighs too much
  • I'm too rural
  • Not enough drivers in my area

Obviously none of those were true.  They were all lies.  It wasn't until I emailed your CEO that I got the "truth".  Incidentally, even the next day pick up scheduling doesn't work right.  It only gives us one time slot option which is 8am-12pm.  It would be nice if we got afternoon slots, but I guess there's a stupid reason for that not working too. 

June
Shopify Staff
315 86 67

Absolutely valid feedback. I can imagine how understandably frustrating it might have been to wait on a concrete answer while we investigated what you're describing - and we definitely appreciate you being one of the first to alert us of your experience. 

While I don't have a solution to those concerns, I will absolutely pass on those requests on your behalf. 

Thanks again.

June | Social Care @ Shopify 
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Cary_Silverman
Explorer
88 1 45

Oh, we've been given a solution June.  "On Call" UPS same day pickup option doesn't exist.  That's the solution.  So now, store owners like me have to keep an eye out for UPS delivering to our business, so hopefully we can catch them and give them our packages.  Two days ago, I had to get in my car and chase down the UPS truck to give him packages.  It's ridiculous.  And no, my business is not near a drop off UPS, so that's not an option.  I shouldn't have to drive around looking for a UPS truck. 

Now we have to schedule a pickup the day before and pay $4, even if we might not need the pickup.  And if Shopify couldn't make this even more difficult, we're only given one choice for a pickup time, which is 8am-12pm.  Shopify could make that a little more convenient for us by at least giving us the time frames that have been there for years, but that would show that Shopify actually cares about us.

While I've got your ear, maybe you can also run this up your ladder.  For years and years when we had to refund a portion of a customer's order, we would type the reason for the refund in the space provided.  This would go directly to the customer, with a CC to the store owner.  This was the customer's notification of a refund.  Now the reason for the refund is only for the store owner's eyes.  It now doesn't send the reason to the customer.  So, if the customer is not sure whey we refunded a portion of their order, we now have to send a separate email to them. I've complained about this for 2 years.  It worked great and one day Shopify decided to take that away and add another step to the refund process.  Every time I complained, I was given the same lip service as I always get.  "We appreciate your feedback and will certainly report this to our developers".  Yea, BS.  Something this simple that used to work was taken away for absolutely no reason.

June
Shopify Staff
315 86 67

Hi @Cary_Silverman,

Could you elaborate on scenarios where you're issuing a refund but your customer may not know why? 

If this is a common occurrence, I can definitely appreciate why this would be a desirable feature. While the current Reason for refund field is intentionally kept private, as many would prefer not to publicly share an internal note intended for tracking purposes, I can see the benefit of a separate field that is customizable and shareable, to reduce time spent sending individual emails. 

As you've said, I do have the ability to log your feedback with our developer team, so I'm more than happy to do so. 

June | Social Care @ Shopify 
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Cary_Silverman
Explorer
88 1 45

Most of the time that a refund is issued that the customer is not aware of is when they are charged too much shipping and we refund a portion of their shipping charges.  Also, I may issue a refund to a customer that has referred another customer and I want to give the referring customer a 10% discount if they have a unfulfilled order in the system.  Another reason is if a customer has ordered a large amount of one item that I consider "bulk" but they didn't ask for bulk pricing.  We give them a discount that they didn't ask for.

Those are just some of the reasons.  And the reason for a refund is never private.  Not sure why it would need to be private and it's not an "internal note intended for tracking" purposes.  Not even sure what that means.  How can a refund be given for tracking purposes?

Like I already mentioned, the "reason for refund" box always went to the customer.  This was turned off a couple of years ago.  No, these refunds don't happen that often but when they do, it would be nice not to then have to send a separate email to the customer telling them why.

 

June
Shopify Staff
315 86 67

Thanks for these examples @Cary_Silverman! That's terrific. You've given me quite a bit of context to pass on here, so I do appreciate it. 

And just to clarify, when I say "an internal note intended for tracking purposes", I'm referring to the Reason for refund field, not the reason itself. I can definitely see why an additional field would be valuable. 

I'll take the time this week to thoroughly and intentionally record your feedback. Thanks again. 

June | Social Care @ Shopify 
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Cary_Silverman
Explorer
88 1 45

Thank you too June!  You have been one of the few Shopify staff that has actually replied to a post here and stuck with the thread, giving feedback and asking questions.  You are quite the exception and not the rule.  Shopify is lucky to have you!

 

I appreciate you running this up the ladder there, but I've been told that a number of times and nothing ever happens.  The refund thing is not that big of a deal anymore but the UPS thing has already become a real pain in the butt.  Getting in my car and chasing down UPS trucks to give them packages is no way to run a company.  Shopify needs to do better where that's concerned.

 

Again, thanks so much for your replies.  It's greatly appreciated.

Ayby
Visitor
1 0 1

I did this as well (refund shipping to local customer I know personally who wants to pickup) but how do I fulfill the order? I’m worried I won’t get paid from Shopify. My customer already ordered before I setup local pickup. 

June
Shopify Staff
315 86 67

Welcome @Ayby! Thanks for your question. 

Going forward, you'll be able to follow this workflow to fulfill local pickup orders. For this particular order though, you may wish to contact your customer via email to let them know that their order is ready for pickup. Since this customer has indicated they'd prefer to pickup the order and you've refunded their shipping costs, I imagine you've been in some communication with them already, is that correct? This is personally how I would approach the scenario you've described, but absolutely let me know if you have any questions. 

In regards to getting paid, was the order processed via Shopify Payments? You can confirm now by visiting your order Timeline - click the payment event, then look to the heading Gateway. If Shopify Payments was used, your Timeline should also indicate when you can expect your next payout, as well as the amount owed. Is this value the total amount paid, minus the cost of shipping? 

June | Social Care @ Shopify 
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thehermitspath
Visitor
1 0 0

To Follow up, because I am also having the issue - have a customer who did not know at the time that I could deliver to her (I have local pickup available but she does not have access to come to me), so she paid shipping... told her after that I could run it over to her. She was thrilled. Refunded the shipping costs, and it's "Fulfilled" but now it's asking for a manually inputted tracking number and I'm not sure how to complete the order now when she has it, and for her to receive a form of verification that the order is now complete. Not that I worry about her, but if I had an dishonest customer, they could approach it as if I "never sent it" even after I have delivered... so I'd like to get ahead of this. Thank you!

Jennifer Rapkins
thehermitspath.com
For the Luxurious Witch.