Shopify Exchanges: How to Do an Exchange in Your Store
Written byAyushi Tyagi
Reviewed byAnuj GoelQuick answer: To process Shopify exchanges, open the order in Orders, click Return, set the quantity and reason, add the replacement under Exchange items, pick a return shipping option and click Create return. Shopify then works out whether you owe the customer a refund, the customer owes you a payment, or the swap is even. The gap: Shopify’s self-serve page describes shopper requests for returns and cancellations, and you add the exchange items yourself when you approve. A store that wants shoppers to pick the new size on their own needs an app.
On this page
How Shopify exchanges work
An exchange is a return where the customer gets a different item for the one they send back. Shopify’s returns guide defines it as sending a customer an alternative item as part of the return, such as a different size or color, and says you manage returns and exchanges from the Orders page in your Shopify admin.
So an exchange has two halves inside one record: the items coming back and the items going out. Shopify settles the money between them when you process the return. To create one you need to be the store owner or have the Return permission.
The word also points somewhere else. The Shopify Exchange marketplace was for buying and selling stores and has nothing to do with swapping items on a customer order. For the wider process that surrounds an exchange, see the full returns process.
How to do an exchange on Shopify, step by step
These are the steps on desktop, taken from Shopify Help on creating returns and exchanges.
- In Shopify admin, go to Orders and open the order.
- If the order is fulfilled, click Return. If it has unfulfilled items, open More actions and choose Return.
- Enter the quantity to return and select a return reason.
- Optional: in the Summary section, edit the return shipping fee or the restocking fee. The restocking fee can change per return or per item. The return shipping fee changes only per return.
- In the Exchange items section, click Add products, select the replacement items and click Done.
- Optional: to discount an exchange item, click its price, enter a discount type, a value and a reason, then click Done.
- Under Return shipping options, choose a label method or select No shipping required.
- Click Create return.
Creating the return records the exchange. The money is settled when you process the return, which is the next step.
What happens to the price difference
Replacement items rarely cost the same as the originals. Shopify handles each case when you process the return, and the same page covers all three.
The new item costs less
You owe the customer the difference. Process the return and issue a refund, immediately or later. If you would rather keep the money in the store, you can settle it with store credit instead of a refund.
The new item costs more
The customer owes you the balance. Process the return, then collect the payment by sending an invoice, capturing payment or marking the order as paid.
An even swap
The money paid for the returning items applies to the new items. Process the return and nothing else moves.
One warning from Shopify: if you process the return in parts, the financial result can differ from processing everything at once. Avoid issuing a refund during partial processing when you will still need to collect payment later.
Limits Shopify sets on exchanges
Shopify lists these limits on its creating returns and exchanges page. Most explain why an exchange option is missing or why the numbers look different than expected.
- Custom items. You can’t add custom items as exchange items.
- Orders with duties. You can’t add exchange items to them, but you can still create a return.
- Discounts. Order-level discounts can’t be applied to exchange items. A product discount can.
- Inventory. Exchange items inventory isn’t reserved until you process the return, so a size can sell out between the request and your processing.
- Fulfilled items only. You can create a return only for fulfilled items that haven’t been refunded.
- Tax after an address change. Exchange items added after a shipping address change are taxed on the order’s current shipping address.
- Labels. Shopify’s return label option needs a store location in the same country as the customer’s shipping address, and that country must be the US or Canada. The steps are in our guide to return labels in Shopify.
- Shopify Plus. You may need to activate the exchanges feature through the feature test drive.
The inventory line is the one that costs sales. If a replacement is low on stock, check it before you tell the customer the swap is on.
Return windows for an exchanged item
Shopify’s return rules apply to fulfilled items, and an exchanged item gets a window of its own: if items are exchanged or added after the original purchase, their return window starts from their own delivery date. Each group of edited or exchanged items has a separate return window. A second exchange on the same order starts another clock.
You can also override the default window for specific collections, products or variants. When an item falls under more than one override, the shortest window is used. Say your default is 30 days and a clearance collection has a 14-day override. An exchanged clearance item gets 14 days from its own delivery date, which is worth stating in your policy so the second return does not surprise the shopper.
Can customers request Shopify exchanges themselves?
On the self-serve returns page, Shopify says customers can request to return items that have been delivered, and can request cancellations for items that have not shipped. Both requests start from the order status page. You approve or decline each request based on your policies, and when you approve a return you can add exchange items.
The page does not describe a shopper choosing an exchange. The exchange items are something you add.
What that means in practice
A shopper writes in with “can I have a medium instead?” You check stock, open the order and run the steps above, then tell the shopper what happened. Each exchange is an email thread plus a few minutes in the admin. That works for a handful of exchanges a week. When requests pile up, the thread is the bottleneck, because the shopper cannot see the options or the exchange window and your team re-types the same answers.
Where an exchange app helps
QuickReturns is a Shopify returns and exchanges app. It moves the choosing to the shopper. They open your branded returns portal, look up the order with the order number and an email or phone number, and select the items they want to send back. The portal shows the exchange window for each item, and it is available in 15 languages.
For an exchange, the shopper can pick another size of the same product, or a different product with its color and size variant. Several items can be exchanged in one request. You approve each request manually, or set a rule so approval is automatic. Prepaid return labels are supported, so the shopper does not buy postage. After a basic setup, shoppers can start exchanges without writing to you.
To turn a return into an exchange before the refund happens, show replacement products at the return step with ConvertX. For the reasons stores prefer exchanges, see these exchange strategies.
Let shoppers start exchanges themselves with QuickReturns.
Shopify exchanges FAQ
Open the order in Orders and click Return. Enter the quantity and reason, add the replacement under Exchange items, choose a return shipping option and click Create return. Then process the return to settle the price difference.
Not through Shopify’s self-serve page, which covers return and cancellation requests. You add the exchange items when you approve. A returns app such as QuickReturns lets the shopper choose the replacement in a branded portal.
If it costs less, you refund the difference, now or later. If it costs more, the customer owes the balance, and you collect it by invoice, by capturing payment or by marking the order as paid. An even swap uses the original payment.
Yes. In Shopify you add any products under Exchange items, except custom items, which can’t be added. In QuickReturns, a shopper can pick a different product and choose its color and size variant in the returns portal.
Yes. Shopify starts the return window for exchanged items from their own delivery date, and each group of exchanged items has a separate window. Overrides by collection, product or variant apply, and the shortest window wins.
No. The Shopify Exchange marketplace was for buying and selling stores. This guide covers swapping items on a customer order in the Shopify admin.
Sources: Shopify Help: returns and exchanges · Shopify Help: creating returns and exchanges · Shopify Help: self-serve returns · Shopify Help: return rules.
