The Shopify Returns & Exchanges portal in ShipStation allows you to easily manage returns and offer exchanges for your customers. This guide covers the steps to activate and configure exchanges in your ShipStation account, and details how to create an exchange for an order.
This Feature is Part of Shopify Returns & Exchanges
In July of 2025, ShipStation released Shopify Returns &Exchanges. The contents of this article are related to that workflow.
You will need to enable the Shopify Returns and Exchanges feature on every Shopify store that you want to allow exchanges from users:
-
Select the Returns tab from the Store Settings menu.
-
Click the Configure returns settings button to access the Returns Management Portal.
-
Select Exchanges from the Return Management section of the portal.
-
Slid the toggle to activate or deactivate the Exchanges feature as needed.
Once enabled, you will need to configure your Request Reasons settings to offer exchanges to your customers.
Limitations of Shopify Returns & Exchanges in ShipStation
-
At this time, only orders from Shopify work with Shopify Returns and Exchanges in ShipStation. More selling channels and marketplaces are coming soon!
-
You can only use Shopify Returns and Exchanges with a Shopify store that is not already connected to Return Rabbit.
-
Currently, Shopify Returns and Exchanges only supports domestic shipments. You cannot create return labels for international shipments at this time.
Once you have enabled Shopify Returns and Exchanges for your Shopify store in ShipStation, these are additional configuration settings you can toggle On or Off as needed:
-
Apply tax for exchanges: Enable this setting if you want ShipStation to compute and charge taxes on exchange items.
-
Honor Inventory Policy: With this enabled, your customers can buy out-of-stock items.
-
Discount Forwarding: Enable this setting to let your customers keep their original order discounts when they exchange items.
-
Honor Original Price on Variant Exchange: Allow your customers to choose a variant item for the same price as the original, even if the promo period has ended.
-
Exchange order serviceability: This feature determines if an Exchange order can be returned.
-
Auto approve locked exchanges when inventory back in stock: If enabled, ShipStation will allow exchange requests for unavailable inventory items.
When your customer needs to exchange a product, it typically means that something wasn't quite right. Request Reasons will help you understand and track the issues your customers are encountering in a way that is tailored to your brand voice and can be as specific as you need them to be.
Return Reasons let you collect detailed information on why products are being returned. You no longer have to settle for generic reasons like too big, too small, changed my mind, etc. You can add as many return reasons as you want to collect meaningful data on your returned items, and even drill down to find the specific answers you're looking for by setting up sub-reasons.
-
Click on the button to Configure Return Settings in the Returns tab of your Store Settings.
-
Select Return Reasons from the Return Settings menu.
-
Click the Create Reason button.
-
Slide the toggle to activate your new Request Reason.
-
Enter the Reason ID and Return Reason information. Note: These fields are required to save your new Request Reason.
-
Reason ID: This field is an internal identifier used for reporting purposes. It is not shown to your customers.
-
Return Reason: This field is shown to your customers when they select a reason for their return or exchange.
-
-
(optional) Click the button Add Sub Reason if you want to let your customers add additional context to their main Return Reason. Check the box to allow customer to select multiple reasons if you want your customers to be able to choose multiple reasons in their return portal.
-
Slide the toggles for your additional Request Reason preferences.
-
Allow Return: Enable to let your customer return the item they are requesting to exchange or return for a refund.
-
Exchange with any variant of the product: Enable to let your customer to exchange the item for any available variant of the product they purchased.
-
Exchange with any product in the catalogue: Enable to let your customer exchange the unwanted product for any item in your store.
-
Show exchange recommendations: You must have the Exchange Recommendations feature enabled to use this setting. This is set up in the Configure > Return Management > Exchanges > Exchange Recommendations section of your Return & Exchanges for Shopify settings. Once activated recommendations will load in the drop down menu.
-
-
Media Upload: Allow your customers to upload images or files to support the reason for their return.
-
Keep Item: Enable this to let customers keep the product without returning it or damaged items where return shipping isn’t required.
-
Apply reason on specific products: Enable to limit this return reason to specific products or product types. If this toggle is disabled the return reason will apply to all returnable products.
-
Add Products: This button opens a pop up menu to add your Request Reason to specific products.
-
Add Product Type: This button opens a pop up menu to select the group of product types to apply your Request Reason to.
-
-
-
Click the Create button to save your new Request Reason.
You will be able to view your existing reasons in the Request Reason grid on the configuration page.
To reorganize your active Request Reasons just click and hold the drag handle to move the Active entries as needed. Inactive reasons will automatically move to the bottom of the list and turn grey so it's easy to keep track of your active Request Reasons.
If you need to remove a Request Reason click the trash icon to delete the entry. Note: This is a permanent change and you will not be able to undo it.
To edit existing reason settings click the edit icon to access the reason editor. Don't forget to save your changes if you make an update to your Request Reasons.
If your customer needs to exchange an order item, you can generate a trackable return label and product exchange with the Returns & Exchanges for Shopify feature. To create a return or exchange in ShipStation, you must first have ShipStation’s Returns set up and enabled in your ShipStation account.
-
Select the shipment for the exchange you want to create.
-
Click Create Return.
The Create Return button is available on the Shipments grid and in the Shipment Details.
-
Select the product to return or exchange.
-
Select the return Quantity and the Return Reason.
Return Reasons include:
-
Ordered Incorrect Product
-
Changed My Mind
-
Defective Item Received
-
Style not as Expected
Within each Return Reason option, you can add a return explanation.
-
-
Click Continue.
-
Choose Return as the desired service.
-
Select Exchange to mark the item for exchange, then click continue.
-
Add a Phone Number for the customer, then click Save Changes.
-
Complete the Return Location, Return Shipment Details, and all relevant information in the Configure & Submit Request pop-up.
Waive Label Cost
Check the Waive Label Cost box to charge your account for the return label instead of the customer.
-
Click Confirm Request once you are ready to create the label.
When you receive the returned item from your customer, you will be able to approve or reject the return from the return details view.