How Return Magic can make your life way easier

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Returns are such a headache...until now

eCommerce is amazing. You can browse for something from your couch, send an item straight to yourself or a friend, replace household items while commuting (or even while using the loo, don’t worry I won’t tell anyone). And you can get anything, from anywhere.

But there’s a Dark Side. Because people can buy anything conveniently, the tradeoff is that they can’t try it in advance to make sure they actually like it. This leads to the headache of The Return-- a process where a customer decides they don’t actually want something they bought, and wants to get a refund for it. It’s a part of any business, and every merchant should set up clear and consistent return policies from the beginning.

We’ve fallen in love with an app called Return Magic, which integrates as an app for Shopify and Shopify Plus, and makes both submitting and receiving a return request way easier.

How the app works

For the shopper

Return Magic creates a portal on your website where customers can submit a return request from either a computer and a mobile device. Here’s what they’ll do:

  1. Enter their order ID and email address, to identify what the purchase was
  2. Choose which items from their ticket they’re returning
  3. Select why they’re returning each item (this is super helpful to merchants)
  4. Choose how they want to receive a refund: cash, exchange or store credit
  5. Generate a shipping label they can print and take to their shipping provider

The focus is making it fast, easy and dead simple for users - which is definitely something you as a merchant can advertise.

For the merchant

You’ll get a dashboard straight into your Shopify Admin that you can use to process returns. It’s a centralised place to deal with everything, including receiving requests, setting up rules, getting insight, and managing refunds.

Learn why people are returning items

There are some types of returns that you can’t really do much about. I ordered a gift they actually didn’t like. I spent all my money gambling and need to pay off my debts. Ok, sure. But there are plenty of return reasons you can try to prevent. Return Magic asks your customers why they’re returning, so you can take note of trends. Are a lot of people ordering the wrong size? Make sure you’re including a sizing chart and making it prominent. Are a lot of people finding the same issue with the product quality? Here’s how you know to fix it. Are many shoppers finding that it works differently than they expect? Try making a video that demonstrates exactly what the product does or doesn’t do.

Verify that a return is legit and re-sale quality

Someone sends a product back and you give them an automatic refund, only after which you realize they’ve stained or damaged the product. Either you can dispute the refund with the customer, or write off the item as a loss.

Return Magic does it a bit differently - after you receive the return, you note on your dashboard quality control questions. If the product is damaged or altered, you can choose to give a partial or no refund, or store credit instead of a refund. Return Magic lets you set up automatic verification settings to calculate how much they’ll be getting as a refund.

Customise how and how much much to refund

Many startups simply don’t have the budget to give a full cash refund for every item that’s sent back. If you want, you can use Return Magic to set up several options for receiving a refund, including exchange or store credit. Alongside these options, you can customise how much a return will cost the customer. For example, you can say that store credit means a free return, but if they want a cash refund the customer will have to pay for shipping. This can help you keep your profits and stay in control of refunds.

Choose refund rules

Similarly, it is sometimes simply too expensive to refund every return - especially if they’re being shipped internationally or purchases were made during a sale. You can set up any “rules” you want to stay in control of returns and make sure that you’re managing your costs. This can help you avoid giving a full refund to someone who’s purchased using a discount code, can exclude sale or other items from being refundable, or anything else.

Start using Refund Magic

Here’s all you need to do to start using Refund Magic with Shopify.

1. Download the app within Shopify

2. Set up your policies and rules

Your return policies should be clear and consistent. You can use Return Magic to generate return policies that work for your company, and publish them straight to your website. Rules, such as exclusions of sale items or exchange-only returns, can help you stay in control of your returns process.

3. Test it out

Before you go live, it’s important to test out that your rules work and your policies make sense. Try processing a return yourself (though don’t worry, you get to keep your stuff).

4. Choose a shipping provider to integrate with

Your customers will be able to generate their own shipping label, but only if you pair up with a shipping provider. You’ve probably already done this, so just set up what you’re already using.

P.S. find out more about how to choose a shipping service here.

5. Pay per month depending on how many returns you have

Return Magic’s pricing is based on how many returns you have. It’s basically $1 per return, but gets cheaper with each return after 10.

Want less headache for your online business?

Elkfox is a Shopify Expert and a Return Magic partner! We can help you figure out how to make the most of all that’s available to you as a Shopify merchant. Get in touch today to learn more about making returns (and everything else) easier to handle.