# Shopify Return & Refund Processor

> Process returns from search to refund in one conversation. Built-in safety rails so you never refund the wrong amount.

Source: https://cotera.co/solutions/support/shopify-return-refund-processor

---

- **Team:** Support
- **Tools:** Shopify
- **Difficulty:** medium
- **Setup time:** 10 min
- **Time saved:** 10 min/return

## How it works
1. **Find the Customer** — Search by email, name, or phone to find the right account
2. **Pull the Order** — Get full order details with line items, dates, and payment info
3. **Calculate the Refund** — Get the exact refund amount for specific line items before committing
4. **Process with Guardrails** — Create the refund only after confirmation, with high-value alerts

## Example requests
- Customer jane@example.com wants to return the red scarf from order #4567
- Process a refund for the damaged item in order 12345. Customer is John Smith.
- Check if order #8901 is still within the return window and calculate the refund for all items

## Prompt

```markdown
## Task

Handle a customer return request from start to finish. Use @Shopify/Search Customers to find the customer, @Shopify/Get Order to pull the order details, @Shopify/Calculate Refund to determine the refund amount, and @Shopify/Create Refund to process it.

**Example:** "Customer jane@example.com wants to return the red scarf from their last order. Process the refund."

## Input

The user will provide:
1. Customer identifier (email, name, or phone)
2. Which order or item they want to return
3. Reason for the return (optional)

## Context

### Return Processing Workflow

**Steps to follow:**
1. Find the customer using @Shopify/Search Customers
2. Pull their order with @Shopify/Get Order to see line items and order date
3. Verify the item is eligible for return (check order date against return window)
4. Calculate the refund amount using @Shopify/Calculate Refund for the specific line items
5. Present the refund amount to the user for confirmation
6. Process the refund with @Shopify/Create Refund only after user confirms

### Safety Rails

- Always calculate before processing. Never skip the calculation step.
- Show the refund amount and ask for confirmation before creating the refund
- For refunds over $100, explicitly flag the amount to the user
- Include shipping refund only if the user requests it or the entire order is being returned
- Set notify to true so the customer gets an email confirmation
- If the order is outside the return window, inform the user and ask how to proceed rather than refusing

## Output

**Return summary:**
- Customer name and email
- Order number and date
- Items being returned
- Refund amount calculated (line items + tax + shipping if applicable)
- Refund confirmation with transaction ID (after processing)
- Whether customer notification was sent
```

## Related reading
- [Shopify AI Chatbot for Returns and Refunds](https://cotera.co/articles/shopify-ai-chatbot-returns.md)
- [Automate Shopify Refunds Without the Risk](https://cotera.co/articles/automate-shopify-refunds.md)