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.
For information on other return workflows please see Returns & Exchanges in ShipStation.
You will need to enable the Shopify Returns & Exchanges feature on every Shopify store that you want to allow exchanges from users:
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Select the Returns tab from the Store Settings menu.
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Click the Configure returns settings button to access the Returns Management Portal.
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Select Exchanges from the Return Management section of the portal.
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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
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At this time, only orders from Shopify work with Shopify Returns & Exchanges in ShipStation. More selling channels and marketplaces are coming soon!
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You can only use Shopify Returns & Exchanges with a Shopify store that is not already connected to Return Rabbit.
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Currently, Shopify Returns & Exchanges only supports domestic shipments. You cannot create return labels for international shipments at this time.
Once you have enabled Shopify Returns & Exchanges for your Shopify store in ShipStation, these are additional configuration settings you can toggle On or Off as needed:
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Apply tax for exchanges: Enable this setting if you want ShipStation to compute and charge taxes on exchange items.
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Honor Inventory Policy: With this enabled, your customers can buy out-of-stock items.
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Discount Forwarding: Enable this setting to let your customers keep their original order discounts when they exchange items.
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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.
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Exchange order serviceability: This feature determines if an Exchange order can be returned.
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Auto approve locked exchanges when inventory back in stock: If enabled, ShipStation will allow exchange requests for unavailable inventory items.
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.
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Select the shipment for the exchange you want to create.
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Click Create Return.
The Create Return button is available on the Shipments grid and in the Shipment Details.
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Select the product to return or exchange.
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Select the return Quantity and the Return Reason.
Return Reasons include:
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Ordered Incorrect Product
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Changed My Mind
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Defective Item Received
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Style not as Expected
Within each Return Reason option, you can add a return explanation.
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Click Continue.
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Choose Return as the desired service.
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Select Exchange to mark the item for exchange, then click continue.
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Add a Phone Number for the customer, then click Save Changes.
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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.
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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.