Click any Return # on the Returns page to open that return's detail page. Everything about a single return request lives here: what the customer is sending back and why, the shipment's tracking, the money involved, and the buttons to approve, decline, process, or close the return.
What's on this page
Section | What it covers |
Return header | Return number, creation date, and status badges. |
Alert banners | Errors and notices that need your attention. |
Actions | Approve, decline, process, complete, or close the return. |
Order information | The original order's ID, date, tracking, and discount codes. |
Returned items | What's coming back, why, and the resolution the customer chose. |
Exchange and Shop Now items | The replacement or new items and their fulfillment status. |
Return shipping information | Shipment status, tracking, label, window date, and destination. |
History | Internal comments and a timeline of everything that happened. |
Sidebar | Return Amount (financials), fraud risk, customer details, and Customer Score. |
Return header
The top of the page shows the return number with its creation date, a Back to Returns link, and a row of badges summarizing the return's state:
Return status — Pending, Requested, Open, Completed, Declined, or Closed. See How Onward Returns Works for what each status means.
Shipping status — Label Created, In Transit, Delivered, and so on, once a label exists.
Upgrade status — whether the order had Onward protection ("Upgraded" or "Not Upgraded").
Manual — shown when shipping is handled manually outside Onward.
Alert banners
When something about the return needs attention, alert banners appear below the header — for example, errors from label generation or exchange fulfillment, or notices about special conditions. Each alert has a dismiss button so you can clear it once reviewed.
Possible errors and warnings include:
"The customer's address could not be verified..."
"Your ShipSidekick account balance is insufficient..."
"The shipping carrier is temporarily unavailable..."
"We couldn't generate the shipping label..."
"The refund could not be processed by Onward because the order has already been refunded..."
"Calculated refund amount exceeds the order's remaining refundable balance..."
"Store credit could not be issued..."
"Exchange order could not be created due to insufficient inventory."
"Inventory for %{item_name} could not be restocked automatically..."
"This return could not be created in Shopify because one or more items have an invalid return quantity..."
"This return could not be synced to Shopify because the Shopify return is no longer cancelable..."
"An unexpected error occurred..."
"An internal error occurred..."
"We couldn't save your selected reason..."
"Return must be manually approved due to potential fraud risk."
Actions
The available action buttons depend on the return's current status:
Approve — approves the return and generates a shipping label. Shown for returns awaiting manual review; returns skip this step entirely when Automatically approve returns is on.
Approve (no label) — approves the return without generating a label, for shipping you arrange manually.
Decline — declines the return request.
Process — issues the resolution to the customer: the refund back to their card, store credit, or the exchange. This can also happen automatically via the Automatically process return trigger.
Complete / Close — marks a fully processed return as completed, or closes it.
Order information
A summary of the order the return was filed against: the Order ID (click it to open the order), the order date, any tracking URLs from the outbound shipment, and discount codes that were applied to the order.
Returned items
Each item the customer is sending back is listed with its product image, title, variant (size, color), and quantity, plus:
Return reason and sub-reason — why the customer is returning it, chosen from your configured Return reasons.
Resolution preference — what the customer chose: Refund, Store Credit, Exchange, or Shop Now. You can change the resolution any time before processing.
Media — images or videos uploaded by the customer to verify the return item
Comment — additional comments provided by the customer
Restock item — a per-item checkbox controlling whether the item goes back into your inventory; see Automatically restock items.
For merchants with Onward Vision enabled, Media will be accompanied by a "Verified" or "Review" badge and details about the media's authenticity and match to the return item.
The Restock item control appears in one of five states:
State | What it means |
Already restocked | The items have been restocked; the timestamp of the restock is shown. |
Auto-restock | Checked and disabled because the return will restock automatically, with a button to switch it to manual control. |
Interactive | The return is Requested or Open and isn't set to auto-restock — check or uncheck it to control restocking. |
Read-only | The return is no longer Requested or Open, so the choice can't be changed. |
Not restockable | The items have no inventory tracking or fulfillment location, so they can't be restocked. |
Exchange and Shop Now items
When the return includes an exchange or Shop Now order, this section lists the replacement or new items the customer selected — image, title, variant, and quantity — along with the order's fulfillment status. You can remove these items before processing if needed.
Return shipping information
The shipment section shows how the items are coming back:
Shipping provider — ShipSidekick or Manual, per your Return label provider setting.
Tracking number — links to the carrier's tracking page.
Shipping status — Label Created, In Transit, Delivered, and so on.
Carrier updates — a timeline of shipping events from the carrier.
Return window date — the last day of the return window for this return, per your Return window setting.
Shipping label — a Download link for the label, and a Resend Label Email button to send it to the customer again.
Return destination — the address the items are being shipped to, per your Return destination setting.
For manual returns you can enter a tracking number by hand. Manually entered tracking doesn't report status back to Onward, so it won't trigger shipping-based automations.
History
At the bottom of the page, the History section keeps a chronological record of everything that happened on the return — status changes, automation events (for example, an automatic approval showing which rule matched), and policy exceptions applied when the return was requested — each with who did it and when. The comment box at the top lets you add internal notes for your team; these are not visible to the customer.
Return Amount
The Return Amount panel in the sidebar breaks down exactly how the resolution amount was calculated:
Return items — the value of the items being sent back.
New items — the value of exchange or Shop Now items, when the return includes them.
Fees — expandable to show each fee: return shipping, restocking fee, payment processing fee, and Onward fee.
Amount paid — any money actually paid by the customer for fees.
Adjustments — expandable to show anything that moves the amount away from that calculation: a Manual adjustment if the amount was edited by hand, plus one line for each fee being refunded (Return shipping refund, Payment processing fee refund, Onward fee refund, Restocking fee refund).
Refund due / Store credit due — before the return is processed, this line indicates the amount of the refund or store credit that will be issued to the customer, including any adjustments above.
Refunded / Store credit issued — the net amount the customer was refunded or credited once the return has been processed.
While a return is Open, an Edit link in this panel's header lets you change the resolution, lower the amount, or refund fees the customer paid — see How to edit a return amount.
Fraud risk
The sidebar shows Onward's fraud assessment for this return — for example, "Low Fraud Risk" with a short explanation. Returns assessed as high risk are routed to manual review even when Automatically approve returns is on.
Example low-risk return:
Example high-risk return:
Customer
The customer's name, email, phone number, and address, so you can contact them about the return without leaving the page.
Customer Score
A summary of this customer's history with your store: an overall score badge, plus their total orders, total spent, total refunded, and disputes. Customer Score is also available as a condition on Exceptions — for example, routing low-score customers to manual review.
