How to Create a FedEx Return Label for Your Customers

FedEx’s own help page on creating a return label is written for shoppers who never got one from the retailer. This guide is for the store that sends the label. It covers the three ways to send a FedEx return label, how to create one, how long it lasts and what international returns need. Finally, it shows how to stop making labels by hand. For the wider process, read our complete guide to Shopify returns management.

What a FedEx return label is, from the sender’s side

The label is addressed to your return location, so the parcel comes back to you. Your store pays for it, either through Shopify or through your own FedEx account. The customer packs the item, attaches the label and hands the parcel to FedEx. As a result, they don’t buy postage themselves.

A store can hand over the label at one of two moments. It can pack the label with every order, or it can send one after the customer asks to return something. That choice changes what you pay for and how long the label has to last. The next sections cover both.

Three ways to send a FedEx return label

FedEx’s returns page for businesses describes the options for sellers. Each one suits a different kind of customer.

In practice, a label in the box suits stores that want returns to be as easy as possible for the shopper. Emailed labels and QR codes suit stores that want to approve each return first. If many of your customers shop on their phones and don’t own a printer, the QR code removes that step.

How to create a FedEx return label

You can create one by hand in two places: your Shopify admin and your FedEx account. Once returns arrive every day, bulk or automatic labels save the repeated clicks.

Create a FedEx return label in Shopify

Shopify creates the label from the order itself. You start a return on the order, choose to create the return label in Shopify and pick a FedEx service. Shopify Help’s return label page adds one condition for FedEx: both the return location and the customer’s shipping address must include a phone number. Afterwards, you click Email customer, copy a link for your own message, or print the label. For every click in order, follow the Shopify return label steps.

Create a FedEx return label in your FedEx account

If you ship on your own FedEx account, you can create the label on fedex.com instead. On its Global Returns page, FedEx says you need to log in to your FedEx account to create a return label. It also says that, for now, return labels can only be created in the legacy tool. From there, the label goes in the outbound box or to the customer by email, as described above.

Creating many FedEx return labels at once

Making labels one at a time gets slow when returns come in daily. For bulk return labels, FedEx’s business returns page says: “The printing is free. Only pay for shipping, plus any applicable surcharges.” Alternatively, a returns app can create each label the moment you approve a return, as shown in the automation section below.

How long is a FedEx return label good for?

A FedEx label bought in Shopify expires 90 days after purchase. Shopify bills return labels on scan, so you aren’t charged when you create the label, and labels nobody uses cost nothing. On the other hand, Shopify’s return labels can’t be voided. They simply expire.

For this reason, the label has to outlast your return window. A label packed with the order starts its 90 days at dispatch, so the order’s time in transit eats into the window. By contrast, a label sent when the customer asks to return starts its 90 days at that point. That makes emailed labels and QR codes the safer choice for long return windows.

For a label made in your own FedEx account, check the validity in your FedEx account terms before you set your return window.

International FedEx return labels with FedEx Global Returns

Shopify can’t create a label for this kind of return. Its return labels are available only for domestic orders within the United States or within Canada. Also, you can’t buy them for returns between the two countries. For a customer in another country, FedEx Global Returns is FedEx’s own option, covering returns across 200+ countries and territories.

FedEx lists these points for an international return label:

• Commercial invoices travel with the label. If you pack a pre-printed return label and the commercial invoices in the outbound box, FedEx doesn’t charge you when they aren’t used.
• A reason for the return. You pick it from a drop-down menu when you create the label, for customs.
• An RMA number, if you use one. FedEx says the Return Material Authorization number also helps with customs clearance.
• The same account rule. You log in to your FedEx account and use the legacy tool.

If you also ship with UPS, our post on creating a UPS return label covers the invoices UPS needs for a return from abroad.

Charging customers for a FedEx return label

Every label that gets used costs your store money, so decide who carries that cost. There are three common choices:

• Free returns. Your store absorbs the label cost.
• A flat fee. A fixed amount comes off the refund.
• The live FedEx rate. The customer pays what the label actually costs.

With Shopify alone, the label goes on your Shopify bill. Shopify Help is clear on this: “You can’t automatically charge the customer for the label cost.” So any fee needs a separate step at refund time. For the trade-offs between free and paid returns, read who pays for prepaid return labels. QuickReturns can charge the live FedEx rate for you, as the next section shows.

Automate FedEx return labels with QuickReturns

Shopify’s built-in FedEx labels fit a store that sends a few labels a month by hand.

Frequently asked questions

Creating and sending the label

Expiry, charges and international returns

Sources: FedEx returns for business · FedEx returns · FedEx Global Returns · FedEx: how do I create a return shipping label? · Shopify Help: buying return labels.