At a glance

Onward sends your team four kinds of returns email. None of them can be switched off individually: you control them by choosing which address each one goes to, or, for new return notifications, by leaving the address blank.

Email	Sent when	Sent to
New return notification	A customer submits a return	BCC Email Address (only if set)
Return requires your attention	Onward can't complete a step on a return and needs you to act	Returns Contact Email
Gift return request	A gift recipient asks for help starting a return	Returns Contact Email
Reconnect ShipSidekick	Onward loses its connection to your ShipSidekick account	Company Contact on Shop Profile

Replies from customers are not an Onward notification, but they land in your inbox too: every return email a customer receives uses your Returns Contact Email as its reply-to address.

The emails

New return notification (optional)

When a customer submits a return, they get a confirmation email listing the items they're sending back and any exchange items. If BCC Email Address is set, that confirmation is blind-copied to it, so your team sees each new return request as it comes in. The customer can't see the BCC address.

It's sent once, on submission. Approving, receiving, or processing the return doesn't send another copy.
Returns created through Shopify POS don't send a confirmation email, so they don't send a BCC copy either.
Leave the field blank and no new return notifications are sent. New returns still appear in the Returns queue.

Return requires your attention

Subject line: Action Required: Issue with Return followed by the return ID. It's sent when Onward hits a problem on a return that it can't resolve without you. The email names the problem and lists the return ID, order number, customer name, and current status. The same message appears as an alert on the return's page, covered in Viewing & Managing an Individual Return.

Stage	Problems that send this email
Return label	The customer's address couldn't be verified Your ShipSidekick balance is too low or the payment method was declined The shipping label couldn't be generated A label expired or was voided before the customer used it, so the box needs a new label
Resolution	The refund couldn't be issued because the order was already refunded in Shopify The refund is larger than the order's remaining refundable balance Store credit couldn't be issued (check that your Shopify gift card settings allow automatic creation) The exchange order couldn't be created because of insufficient inventory
Shopify sync	The return couldn't be created in Shopify, usually because an item was already returned through another channel (applies with Create Shopify returns on) The Shopify return could no longer be cancelled An item couldn't be restocked automatically (applies with Automatically restock items on)
Other	An unexpected error that Onward's team has also been alerted to

If Onward retries a step and hits the same problem again, it doesn't send a duplicate email.

Gift return request

With Gift returns on, a gift recipient who can't start a return from the Return Portal can fill in a request form instead. Onward emails the form to your Returns Contact Email with the subject A gift return request needs your attention. It includes the purchaser details the recipient gave, a description of the item, any notes, and the recipient's name, email, phone, and location.

No return is created at this point. Replying to the email goes straight to the gift recipient, so you can follow up and start the return for them.

Reconnect ShipSidekick

If Onward loses access to your ShipSidekick account, it sends one Action required: reconnect ShipSidekick email to the Company Contact on Shop Profile, or to your account owner if that contact has no email. The email links to your Integrations page to reconnect. Until you reconnect, new returns can't get labels automatically and switch to manual shipping. These returns don't each send a "Return requires your attention" email; the reconnect email covers all of them. See Setting up ShipSidekick.

Who receives these emails

Three fields decide where these emails go:

Field	Where to find it	What goes there
BCC Email Address	Settings > Returns > Setup, under Contact	New return notifications
Returns Contact Email	Settings > Returns > Setup, under Contact	Return requires your attention, gift return requests, and customer replies
Company Contact email	Account > Shop Profile	Reconnect ShipSidekick (and reconnect emails for your other integrations)

Settings > Returns > Setup > Contact

Account > Shop Profile > Contacts

Considerations

No on/off switches. The Notifications page under Settings > Shop Setup covers invoice, performance-report, and Slack alerts for other products. It has no Returns settings.
Problem emails and customer replies share an address. Both go to Returns Contact Email, and you can't send them to different places. If that address feeds a helpdesk, each "Return requires your attention" email arrives there as a ticket alongside customer messages.
Leaving Returns Contact Email blank sends these emails, and customer replies, to Onward's returns support address instead of your team. Set it before going live.
Volume. New return notifications arrive one per return. At high volume, an inbox filter on the BCC address keeps them manageable.
Gorgias. If you've connected Gorgias, each submitted return also opens a ticket there, separate from the BCC copy.
Emails to customers (confirmation, label, reminders, refund and store credit notices) are a separate set and are always sent. After Submitting a Return covers what customers see once they've submitted.

Related settings

BCC Email Address — turns on new return notifications
Returns Contact Email — receives problem emails, gift return requests, and customer replies
Gift returns — enables the gift return request form
Automatically approve returns — label problems surface at approval, so this decides whether they arrive without anyone opening the return

Returns emails sent to your team