Help & Resource Center

Refunds vs Returns

Overview

Shopify provides two options that seem similar but only one of them is supported by the Modern Retail integration.

At the top of every Shopify order page are the REFUND and RETURN buttons. 

The REFUND option is the integration-supported option as it allows both the refund of monies and the restock of items at the same time. It is this dual transaction that allows Modern Retail to send the refund on to your POS. Without both the money and the items, the refund will not be accepted by your POS. 

The RETURN button allows the return of the items but does not process a monetary refund. Because both money and items are required by your POS for refunds, the RETURN feature in Shopify is not supported by the Modern Retail integration. 

How To Process a Shopify Refund

This help page will take you through the steps needed to issue a Shopify refund and restock the product.

  • Find and open the appropriate order by clicking on the order number
  • Click the "Refund" button, found at the top of the order page.
refund button.png
  • Clicking the Refund button will open a window where the refund is issued and the option to restock occurs
  • Change the quantity to reflect the quantity being refunded
refund screen.png
  • When the quantity is left at 0, the totals are also 0.  When the quantity is changed, the totals will update automatically and accordingly
refund item.png
  • The Restock X Items box will be checked by default and should be left as is.  This setting will update the stock in Shopify and ensure the return successfully goes to your POS system via the integration. 
restock.png
  • If you are restocking multiple items, the quantity to restock will increase automatically.

NOTE: If you uncheck the restock items box and choose to restock the inventory at a later date, the return will not go to your POS system.  The refund and restocking must happen in the same step to create the proper transaction for the integration to send the refund to your POS.

  • Checking the Refund Shipping box will add the shipping amount to the refund total in the right display field
refund shipping.png
  • The Refund is now ready to process by hitting the Refund button on the right. This will refund the money to the customer, and create the refund transaction that will then include the money and the items restocked. Then, the Modern Retail integration will send the refund to the POS. 

NOTE:

  • To avoid confusion among the staff fulfilling orders, you can also utilize Shopify User permissions to remove the RETURN option from the order page, making only the REFUND option visible. 
  • From the SETTINGS> Users and Permissions page, you can click on a user and then the Orders line, and then uncheck the Returns box. 
returns.png

If you have any questions about the Shopify refund process, please reach out to your project manager or Support.