Processing a Return in the Request Manager

The Request Manager is where you handle one return end to end — reviewing what the customer wants to send back, confirming what actually arrives, and then refunding, restocking, exchanging, or closing it out.

The return lifecycle

A return moves through three stages in order, and the Request Manager opens the correct stage automatically based on the return's current status:

1. Approval — shown while the return status is Requested or Declined. This is where you decide whether to accept the requested items.
2. Inspection — shown once the return status is Approved. This is where you record what you physically received.
3. Resolution — shown once the return status is Inspected or Resolved. This is where you restock, refund, exchange, and finally close the return.

You don't switch stages manually; opening the return takes you to the stage that matches its status.

Approve or decline the request

In the Approval stage, review the requested items line by line and select the ones you're willing to accept. The primary action button's text is computed from your selection: it reads Approve when you're accepting everything requested, Partially Approve when you accept only some of the items, and Decline when you're rejecting the request. Approving creates the return and advances it; a partial approval or a decline prompts a confirmation before it's applied.

While working the request you can also add a return note to keep internal context on the return, and you can archive the return (the button toggles to let you unarchive it again later).

Inspect the returned items

When the return is Approved, the Request Manager shows the Inspection stage. Here you mark which items you actually received. You can mark everything received at once, or check items individually — the primary action reflects your choices, reading All Received, Partially Received, or None Received depending on what you've marked. If an item isn't received, it's set to no refund. Confirming the received state records the inspection and advances the return so you can resolve it. (Marking items as none received turns off the customer reception notification.)

Resolve the return

Once the return is Inspected, the Resolution stage lets you finish it. Select which received items to restock and/or refund; the primary action adjusts to match:

• Restock and Refund when you've selected items for both.
• Restock when you've only chosen items to put back into inventory (choose the restock location for those items).
• Refund when you've only chosen items to refund — this issues the refund to the customer in Shopify.
• Close Return when there are unreceived items and nothing to restock or refund.

When you're arranging an exchange instead of (or alongside) a refund, you can create the exchange order, which places the replacement order in Shopify. When everything is handled, resolve (close) the return to finish it.