How to issue a refund || Shopify Help Center

Hey everyone, Nadim here from Shopify. Maintaining trust with your customers is one of the most important parts of any business. That's why issuing refunds needs to be simple yet efficient. Keep watching for steps on how to issue refunds within your Shopify admin. This video will cover how to process refunds for online orders through your Shopify admin. For details on how to process refunds through the POS app, check out the links below. First, let's talk about the differences between returns and refunds. A return occurs when a customer sends a product back to you. The product might be damaged, it might not fit correctly, or they may have simply changed their mind. A refund occurs when you send payment for an order back to a customer. Keep in mind that you must process a return before you can issue a refund. Next, payments can only be refunded to the original payment method. This means that if an order was processed using a credit card, the refund is issued back to that same credit card. If a customer can't access the original payment method, they'll need to reach out to the payment provider directly to claim their funds. It's also important to set proper expectations with your customers about refunds. You can do this by creating a refunds and returns policy and linking that policy in your header or footer menu. Some information you could add to your policy include whether you offer refunds or store credits only, how long someone has to request a refund, and an estimate on how long it takes to receive a refund. This time frame ultimately depends on your payment provider. You should also include whether you refund shipping costs paid on an order, if you offer free shipping for customers to return items, or if they are required to cover shipping costs themselves. Our links below can help you decide on what to include when creating a return policy. Now, let's run through two different examples of refunds you might need to issue. The first example is for a business that has one location and where the customer is shipping the products back. From the home page, click orders and open the order you want to refund. In this first example, the customer received their order and it was fulfilled by one location. Now the customer has changed their mind and wants a refund. Once I click return items, I'm able to generate a return label and I can then restock the products in the store inventory. After receiving the t-shirts and confirming their condition, I can complete the transaction by clicking refund. Because the t-shirts have already been processed in the return, they've been removed from this order, so you can't see them here. Now, enter the amount that you're refunding for shipping costs paid. If your policy states that you don't refund shipping costs, then leave this as zero dollars. Otherwise, the amount shown is what the customer paid for shipping. You can also enter a reason for the refund, which is useful if you need refer back to this order later. Customers cannot see this note. Under summary, there's a breakdown of costs. The refund amount shows the total value of the original order. You'll need to enter the amount you were refunding to your customer. I'm also keeping the box checked to send a notification to the customer. When you're ready, click refund. Taxes can differ depending on the location you and customer live in. It's a good idea to check your local tax laws or with a tax professional for further details. How long it takes for a customer to receive a refund depends on the payment gateway. If you are using Shopify payments, it could take anywhere between 5 to 10 business days. The amount to be refunded will be deducted from your next available Shopify payments payout. Keep in mind that with Shopify payments, credit card fees are not returned on any issued refunds. Different payment providers will have different rules about refunding credit card and transaction fees. Make sure to read the terms of service of the provider you are using. Next, let's take a look at an order that fulfills for multiple locations. In this example, this order would have been fulfilled from two different locations, but because the order hasn't been shipped out yet, I don't need to create a return. Click refund. Choose the number of items to refund by clicking the arrows or manually making an adjustment. By default, the restock item box is checked. I'm going to keep it checked to update my inventory levels at each location. If the order was never fulfilled and no shipping labels were purchased, I recommend refunding the shipping costs. You can add a reason for the refund if you'd like, but remember, this is optional. Finally, the summary section reflects the updated changes, the total amount available for refund, and the amount you're actually refunding. In this case, we're issuing back everything the customer has paid since we still have the products in stock and can sell them again. Click refund to finish the process. To review what we've done, let's click orders. This will redirect us to all our orders. By default, after an order has been fulfilled, paid for, and refunded, it will be archived, which removes it from the open orders list. Archiving lets you flag an order that's been done so you can remove it from your open orders list. If the order was not fulfilled before the refund was issued, it will not be archived and will stay in your open orders list. To archive an unfulfilled order, click the order to open it. Click more actions, then archive. The order will now be removed from the open orders list. Now you know how to issue a refund in your Shopify admin. For more information on everything I covered today, check out the links below or visit help.shopify.com.