Exchanges offer a convenient way for customers to swap purchased items for different variations or entirely new products. This article provides an overview of the different exchange types available within ReturnGO and explains the general settings you can configure to customize the exchange experience.
Types of Exchanges
There are 2 types of exchanges:
Variant Exchange
Variant exchanges are where customers can exchange an item for a different variant of the same product, such as a different size or color. This is done in-portal.
Product Exchange
Product exchanges are where customers use the value of their returned items as exchange credits to select new products. This can be done either in-portal or on your online store via Shop Now.
Shop Now Exchanges
Shop Now enables customers to use the value of their returned items as credits to shop for new items directly in your store instead of in the portal. They can select multiple items, pay the difference if necessary, and complete the exchange in a seamless shopping experience.
Shop Now is available on Pro plans and higher, and can be activated in settings.
Instant Exchanges
Instant exchanges enable customers to have their new items shipped right away instead of waiting for the returned items to be sent back.
During a normal exchange, the customer requests an exchange, ships back the items, and receives an invoice for the exchange order, which must be paid before the new items are shipped.
In an instant exchange, on the other hand, customers provide their credit card details during RMA creation, enabling the new items to be shipped right away.
Configuring Exchange Resolutions
You can customize the behavior of variant and product exchanges through various settings.
- Go to Settings > Resolutions.
- Open the Exchange Resolutions section.
- Edit an existing resolution or create a new one.
- Set the internal name (for your reference) and the display name/description (visible to customers).
- For variant exchanges, define the free variant exchange price range and enable charging/refunding for price differences outside this range.
- Choose the refund method to use for exchange price differences.
- Allow out-of-stock exchanges, set a minimum stock threshold, and provide size chart links as needed.
- Set a default shipping rate for the exchanged product.
- Click on the save icon to save your changes.
Price Difference Calculations
In cases where exchanges have a price difference after the customer selects their new item/s, ReturnGO calculates any necessary adjustments. Then the customer can be refunded or charged the difference accordingly.
For product exchanges, price differences are calculated based on the total value of the returned and new items. For variant exchanges, the calculation is done item by item, and price adjustments are calculated individually for each item being exchanged.
Free Exchange Range
Define the price range within which variant exchanges are free. Outside this range, customers are either charged or refunded the difference.
The default is 100%-100%, meaning that exchanges for items of the same price will be free while customers will be charged the difference for more or less expensive items.
If you change the range, customers won't be charged for cheaper items or refunded for more expensive ones within this range.
Note: This setting only applies to variant exchanges, where price differences are calculated between the returned item and the new item. The free variant exchange range setting is not relevant for product exchanges, as they do not involve item-to-item calculations.
Reference Price
Choose whether to base price difference calculations on the paid price or the catalog price at the time of RMA creation or purchase.
You can change the reference price for price differences in the Exchange section of Settings > Store Settings.
Applying Fees on Product Exchanges
Stores on all platforms can use portal checkout to charge fees and price differences directly in the portal.
For Shopify stores, you can instead have Shopify send invoices for the fees and price difference charges, and they'll pay them on Shopify. This will trigger Shopify to automatically email an invoice to the customer.
Note: Price differences must be paid before the exchange can be approved.
Inventory for Exchanges
The inventory available for exchanges is based on the stock in your eCommerce platform or Order Management System (OMS) connected to ReturnGO. This ensures that the items displayed for exchange match what’s available in your store.
For Shopify stores, the return portal displays inventory based on the available stock in your Shopify online store. Currently, it is not possible to limit inventory visibility to a specific Shopify location - the portal will reflect the combined stock across all locations.
You can use Shop Now to align the exchange options with the items available in your online store.
Handling Out-of-Stock Exchanges
Out-of-stock exchange settings enable you to control whether customers can request exchanges for items that are currently out of stock or not. You can configure how out-of-stock exchanges are handled based on your store’s preferences.
Fulfill Exchanges Based on Order Country
You can enable location-based exchanges, allowing customers to see only items available in warehouses in their country when performing an in-portal exchange.
This may be relevant if you have multiple warehouses in different countries for the same market and do not offer international shipping.
To enable location-based exchanges:
1. Go to Settings > Store Settings.
2. Open the Exchanges section.
3. Enable the Fulfill Exchanges Based on Order Country toggle.
4. Click on the save icon to save your changes.
