Apply or Waive a Fee Modification

Overview

The Apply Or Waive A Claim Fee automation lets you charge a fee on a return or warranty claim, or waive it, based on conditions you define. Use it for handling fees, restocking fees, or warranty processing fees, and to exempt specific customers or claim types.

A separate automation, Apply A Fee Per Line Item, charges a fee on individual items instead of the claim as a whole. See Apply A Fee Per Line Item Automation for details.

What You Can Expect

With this automation, you can:

Charge a fixed amount or a percentage of the claimed items’ value.
Apply fees conditionally (e.g., only when every item is being refunded).
Waive fees for specific customers or claim types (e.g., VIP customers or defective items).
Choose the fee name your customers see.
Deduct the fee from the refund or store credit, or collect it by card through the Stripe integration.

Features and Functionality

Fee Amount

Choose Fixed Amount or Percentage:

Fixed Amount – Charges a flat amount once per claim, regardless of how many items are included.
Percentage – Charges a percentage of the total value (price plus tax) of every item in the claim, including items being exchanged.

Enter percentages as whole numbers greater than 1 (for example, 10 for 10%). Values of 1 or less are treated as a fraction, so 1 charges 100% and 0.5 charges 50%.

Set the amount to 0 to waive the fee. The form shows Fees Are Waived when the amount is 0.

Display Name

The Display Name is the fee name your customer sees in the Deductions section of their return summary (e.g., “Handling Fee” or “Restocking Fee”). The automation’s own name is only visible to your team.

Rule Priority

Rules run top to bottom, and lower numbers run first.
Only the first Apply Or Waive A Claim Fee rule that matches a claim is used. Fees from multiple rules of this type do not add together.
A matching rule with a fee of 0 waives the fee, so place waiver rules (e.g., “VIP Waive Fee”) above the rules they override.
Drag and drop rules to adjust priority.

Other fee automations, such as Charge For Return Label, Charge For Exchange Order Shipping, and Apply A Fee Per Line Item, are evaluated separately. A waived claim fee does not waive them.

Targeting Resolution Methods

The Resolution Method condition checks every item in the claim:

Any Of matches when at least one item uses a listed resolution.
Not Any Of matches when no item uses a listed resolution.

To charge a fee only when every item is being refunded, combine both: Resolution Method Any Of Refund and Resolution Method Not Any Of Exchange, Gift Card, Warranty Review. This is how the Charge Handling Fee for Refunds template is built.

Because customers choose between refund and store credit on the return summary, the fee updates as they switch options.

How Fees Are Collected

Refunds and store credit – The fee is deducted from the amount the customer receives.
When the customer owes a balance – If deductions (fees, exchange items, and shipping charges) are more than the return credit, the customer pays the difference by card before submitting. This requires the Stripe integration. Balances under $0.50 are waived.
Exchange-only and warranty-only claims – Fees are only charged when the Stripe integration is connected. Without it, no fee is applied to claims that have no refund or store credit items.

Customer Experience

Fees appear in the Deductions section of the return summary, labeled with the fee’s display name.
Warranty claim fees appear in the Payment Summary, where the customer enters card details.

Admin Experience

Applied fees appear in the Money & Fees section of the claim summary.
Click the edit icon in Money & Fees to open Edit Fees and adjust the claim fee, the return shipping amount, or the exchange order shipping amount. Edit Fees is available on claims that include a refund or store credit item, or a claim fee, until the claim is completed.

Example Scenarios

Refund handling fee: Charge $5 when every item is being refunded.
Restocking fee: Charge 10% when the claim includes a refund.
Waive a claim fee: If customer tag = VIP, set the fee to 0 and place the rule at the top.
Waive for defective items: If claim reason category = Defective Item, set the fee to 0.
Warranty processing fee: Charge $50 when claim type = Warranty and product group = Large Items.

For step-by-step versions of these scenarios, see Fee Configuration Examples.

Implementation

To set up an Apply Or Waive A Claim Fee rule:

Go to Settings > Automations.
Click Create and select Apply Or Waive A Claim Fee. You can also start from a template, such as Charge Handling Fee for Refunds or Waive Fees on Defective Items, under Templates.
Name the rule (e.g., “Refund Handling Fee”).
Add conditions (e.g., Resolution Method Any Of Refund), or leave them blank to apply to every claim.
Set the Fee Amount as a fixed amount or a percentage, or 0 to waive.
Enter a Display Name for customers.
Save and enable the rule.
Arrange rules so waivers and specific rules sit above broader rules.
Test by submitting a claim to confirm the correct fee behavior.

FAQs

Q: Can I apply multiple fees at once? Only one Apply Or Waive A Claim Fee rule applies per claim: the first one that matches. You can still combine it with a line item fee, a return label charge, and an exchange shipping charge.

Q: What happens if no rule matches? No claim fee is applied.

Q: How do customers pay applied fees? Fees are deducted from the refund or store credit. If the customer owes a balance, or the claim has no refund or store credit items, they pay by card through the Stripe integration.

Q: Can I rename the fee for customers? Yes. Customers see the rule’s Display Name, not the automation’s name.

Q: What is the difference between Apply Or Waive A Claim Fee and Apply A Fee Per Line Item? Apply Or Waive A Claim Fee applies a single fee to the claim as a whole. Apply A Fee Per Line Item attaches a fee to each individual line item that matches your conditions, and can optionally multiply by item quantity when using a fixed amount.