Processing Return Claims

When a return claim comes in, the claim page gives your team one place to review the request, inspect returned items when needed, choose the right resolution, and finalize the outcome. If you are moving quickly, think of the page in three parts: the claim header, the summary, and one card for each item.

Start with the claim header

The header keeps the claim-level actions close at hand:

1. Click the confirmation number to open the claim in the customer portal in a new tab.
2. Review the customer information and when the request was created.
3. Click Finalize once every item is reviewed and ready to process. The button stays disabled while an item still needs a decision.
4. Open More Actions and click Request More Info if you need to pause and ask the customer for more detail before approving anything, or Cancel Claim to cancel it.

Use Return Summary for the quick read

The Return Summary gives you the fastest way to understand what is about to happen if the claim is finalized.

This section helps you quickly confirm:

• Any replacement order items tied to exchange requests and their current status.
• The gift card and refund amounts that will be issued.
• A Money & Fees group listing the fees applied and any payment the customer made. Before the claim is completed, click the edit icon there to change the fees on a refund or store credit claim.

If your brand uses incentives to drive customers toward store credit, this is where that bonus value becomes easy to verify. For more on that setup, see Store Credit Incentive. For a deeper look at the numbers, see Returns Ledger.

Review each item

Each item on the claim gets its own card, titled with the resolution the customer asked for, such as Exchange, Gift Card, or Refund. A claim can mix resolutions, so you can review each request on its own before finalization.

On each card your team can:

• Review the item, request reason, customer comments, quantity, price, and any fees.
• Check badges such as Outside Eligibility Window or Resolved Outside Corso.
• Add a Note to Customer to explain the outcome.
• Review and manage Customer Media.
• Open Inspections if the item needs internal review before approval.

Items that don’t need to be sent back, such as items held for manual review or items on a claim you created without a shipment, appear to the customer under Items not required to return with the message You do not need to return these items. You can change this text in Settings → Theme with Manual Review Submission Title and Manual Review Submission Description. If the customer does need to send an item back, create a return shipment on the claim and the message goes away.

Change the resolution

Click the edit icon on a card to open Edit Resolution. Choose an option under Approve to change the outcome, for example from an exchange to a refund or store credit, or choose Deny or Cancel under Decline. Click the undo icon to revert an item to the resolution the customer requested.

Exchanges

For exchange requests, the card shows an Exchange For section with the replacement item and any upsell or outstanding balance.

When selecting a replacement product, the product search panel includes a Location dropdown. By default it is set to All Locations, which shows combined inventory across your store. Selecting a specific location filters the results to show inventory counts available at that location. This is useful when you want to confirm stock before committing to a replacement. Selecting a location does not force Shopify to fulfill from there. Shopify’s own order routing rules determine where the exchange order ships from.

If you use automation to charge exchange shipping or adjust fees, keep those workflows in mind as you review exchange outcomes. See Charge for Exchange Order Shipping Automation and Apply or Waive Fee.

Store credit requests

Gift card requests are returns the customer wants as store credit. Review the returned item, reason, comments, quantity, and tax, then approve the request as submitted or change it.

Store credit claims are often good candidates for faster workflows, especially if your team uses shipment-based or warehouse-based automations to finalize them automatically. See Auto-Finalization Claim.

Refund requests

Refund requests are items the customer wants refunded to the original payment method. Review the returned item, reason, quantity, and tax, then approve, change, or decline the request.

Refunds often need the most careful review because fees, label charges, or policy rules may affect the final amount the customer receives. If you use return label charges or fee rules, see Charge Return Label and Fee Configuration Examples.

Items held for manual review

If a Manual Review rule applies to an item, Corso doesn’t create a return label or packing slip for it. The rule doesn’t set the item’s status. On return claims, items left out of the shipment keep the Manual Review status (every return item without a shipment shows this status). On warranty claims they stay Pending Review. Decide whether the customer should send it back, and if so, create a shipment from the Shipments card. See Generating a Return Shipment.

Review and manage customer media

Each claim line item includes a Customer Media section. When a customer submits media with their claim, this section opens by default so your team can review it immediately.

Your team can also:

• Click Add Media (or Edit Media when files already exist) to add image or video files directly to the line item on the customer’s behalf, or to remove files.
• Click Save to apply the changes.

This is useful when a customer sends supporting files through another channel and your team needs to attach them to the claim record before finalizing.

Use inspections when a return needs review

When inspections are turned on in your Returns settings, each item has an Inspections section where your team records internal review before finalization.

Inspections are useful when you need to:

• Grade the returned item.
• Require internal notes or media.
• Apply different review logic based on reason, product type, or other conditions.

For setup details and rule configuration, see Claim Inspections and Performing Inspections.

Finalize the claim

Once each item has been reviewed and the right resolutions are in place, click Finalize to open the Finalize Claim window. There you can:

• Turn on Send Customer Email Notification, choose an Email Template, and edit the subject, header, and body before sending.
• Turn on Add Customer Note to show a note at the top of the customer’s claim status page.

Click Finalize again to process the claim. Corso rolls up the approved exchange, gift card, and refund outcomes and processes them together. If additional review is needed, work through each item first so the claim reflects exactly what should happen.

If you are troubleshooting how claim outcomes affect Shopify order values or exchange records, see Understanding Exchange Money Flow.