Automatically expiring unprocessed return line items in Shopify
How Shopify treats returns
When an item is marked as return in progress in Shopify, the Shopify order page will automatically show a refund owed amount.
This refund balance persists on the order until the item is refunded or until it is manually removed from the return.
ReturnZap provides the option to automatically expire unprocessed return line items in order to remove this balance after a specified period of time.
Impact on reporting
It is important to note that Shopify deducts the expected refund from sales reporting at the time a return is created.
As a result, sales reporting in Shopify may appear lower than expected to account for returns that are in progress but not yet received and refunded.
This leads to several issues:
- Returns for refund which are never received and processed will still show a refund owed balance
- Returns for exchange created through the use of draft orders will create a refund owed balance, even though they never result in a refund
- Returns for store credit create a refund owed balance, requiring reconciliation against future store credit orders
Setting line items to automatically expire in ReturnZap
Automated line item expiration can be configured in ReturnZap by going to Settings > Integrations > Shopify Returns > Automatically expire returns
In ReturnZap, you have the option to automatically expire any unprocessed return line items and remove them from the return in Shopify.
This will remove the refund owed balance in the case of a return which is not received or resolved.
The expiration period defaults to 30 days from the time a return is created, but can be customized to fit your specific requirements.
When an item is expired in ReturnZap, it will be removed from the return in Shopify but will remain in ReturnZap in an Expired status for record keeping.
Important considerations
If the setting to automatically expire returns is enabled, any return line item which is not resolved through ReturnZap will be deleted from the Shopify order.
ReturnZap considers a return line item as resolved when:
- A refund has been issued through ReturnZap
- A store credit has been issued through ReturnZap
- An exchange has been completed through ReturnZap
- An item has been marked as "manually resolved" through ReturnZap
An item which is resolved through ReturnZap will display a Resolved status on the RMA page:
Items which are unresolved will display an Unresolved status:
