Return Protection

About Return Protection

Return Protection is an optional add-on from ReturnZap that can be enabled on any paid ReturnZap plan.

When enabled, your customers will see the option to pay a small fee to add Return Protection at the time of their order. Orders that include Return Protection have their restocking and/or return shipping fees waived, allowing the customer to send the item back at no cost to them.

With Return Protection enabled, you (the merchant) collect the protection fees directly and upfront, and in exchange you cover the cost of return shipping for any protected order. It's a simple way to offer your customers worry-free returns while keeping the program self-funding.

Return Protection is available as an optional add-on to any ReturnZap plan. ReturnZap charges only 5% of your protection revenue, so you keep 95% of every protection fee you collect.

Why Offer Return Protection

Return Protection turns returns from a cost center into a self-funding part of your store:

Offset your return costs. The fees customers pay help cover the return shipping and restocking costs you'd otherwise absorb, so the program largely pays for itself.
Give customers peace of mind. A worry-free returns option reassures shoppers at the point of purchase, which can lift conversion and build confidence in your brand.
Keep 95% of the revenue. You set the fee and keep the vast majority of what you collect — ReturnZap only takes a small 5% share.
No extra work at return time. Fees are waived automatically on protected orders, so there's nothing manual for your team to track or apply.

How It Works

At a high level, Return Protection follows four steps:

You enable Return Protection in your ReturnZap settings and add the cart embed to your storefront.
A customer chooses to add Return Protection to their order and pays the small fee at the time of purchase.
That order is flagged as protected in ReturnZap.
If the customer starts a return, restocking and/or return shipping fees are automatically waived — so the return costs them nothing.

The sections below walk through each part of the setup and what your customers experience.

Setting Up Return Protection

Return Protection can be enabled directly from your ReturnZap settings.

Navigate to Settings > Return Protection and click to enable the feature.

From this screen you can turn Return Protection on or off and configure how it applies to your returns. Once enabled, the next step is to add the cart embed so customers can opt in.

Enabling the Return Protection Cart Embed

For customers to add Return Protection to their order, the Return Protection cart embed needs to be active on your storefront. The embed is what displays the Return Protection option to shoppers before they check out.

Once the embed is enabled, the Return Protection option will appear automatically to customers during the ordering process. No additional code changes are required on your side beyond enabling the embed.

Eligibility and Exclusions

By default, Return Protection is offered on eligible orders across your store. You can control which orders are eligible using exclusion logic based on Tags and Collections:

Tags — exclude orders or products carrying specific tags from being offered Return Protection.
Collections — exclude products that belong to specific collections.

This lets you keep Return Protection off for items where it doesn't make sense — for example, final-sale, non-returnable, or already-discounted products. Any order or product matching your exclusion rules won't show the Return Protection option to the customer.

You can also control whether protected orders waive shipping fees, restocking fees, or both.

What the Customer Sees

When the cart embed is active, customers see a clear, optional prompt to add Return Protection to their order, along with the small fee it costs.

If the customer chooses to add it, the fee is included with their order total and collected at the time of purchase. If they decline, they check out as normal and their order is treated as a standard, unprotected order.

Customers who add Return Protection get peace of mind knowing that, should they need to return their item, they won't be charged restocking or return shipping fees.

Resolving a Protected Return

When a customer with a protected order starts a return, ReturnZap automatically recognizes the order as protected and waives the applicable fees:

Restocking fees are waived on the return.
Return shipping fees are waived, so the customer is not charged for the return label.

Because you collected the Return Protection fee upfront, you cover the cost of the return shipping label for that order. The return otherwise flows through your normal ReturnZap process — review, approval, and refund or exchange all work exactly as they do for any other return.

FAQs

What does Return Protection cost?

There are two sides to this — what your customers pay, and what ReturnZap charges you.

What your customers pay: The Return Protection fee shown to customers is set by you, the merchant. You choose the fee that customers pay to add protection to their order, so you can price it to balance customer uptake against the return shipping costs you'll cover.

What ReturnZap charges: Return Protection is available as an optional add-on to any ReturnZap plan. ReturnZap takes just 5% of your protection revenue — you keep the other 95%. There's no separate subscription cost to enable it; ReturnZap's small share only applies to the protection fees you actually collect.

Does Return Protection support multiple currencies?

Not at this time. Return Protection currently operates in a single currency. If your store sells in multiple currencies, the Return Protection fee will be applied in your store's primary currency. Multi-currency support may be added in the future.

Which plans include Return Protection?

Return Protection is available as an optional add-on on any paid ReturnZap plan. It can be enabled or disabled at any time from your settings.

Who covers the cost of return shipping on protected orders?

You do. Because you collect the Return Protection fee directly and upfront, you're responsible for the return shipping cost on protected orders. The fees you collect are designed to offset these return shipping costs.

Is the Return Protection fee refundable?

The Return Protection fee is collected at the time of purchase as a separate, optional add-on. Whether it's refunded if a customer returns their order is up to your store's policy — reach out to our support team if you'd like guidance on how to handle this.

Can a customer add Return Protection after they've placed their order?

No. Return Protection must be added at the time of the original order, before checkout is completed. It can't be applied retroactively to an order that's already been placed.

Does Return Protection cover exchanges as well as refunds?

Return Protection waives restocking and return shipping fees on the protected order regardless of the resolution. Both refund and exchange returns benefit from the waived fees.

What happens if a protected order is never returned?

Nothing changes. If the customer keeps their order, the Return Protection fee simply remains as collected, the same as any other optional add-on at checkout.

Can I turn Return Protection off later?

Yes. Return Protection can be disabled at any time from Settings > Return Protection. Disabling it removes the option for new orders; orders already placed with protection keep their protected status.