Returns automation: where the time goes today
A return is rarely hard, but it is almost always tedious. The customer sends an email, you look up the order in the store backend, check the delivery date in the carrier portal, re-read your return policy, create a label, send it back, wait for the parcel and finally trigger the refund by hand. Three or four systems for a case that almost always follows the same pattern.
We measured this on our own brands: a returns case that took eleven, twelve minutes across three systems takes about two when one system reads the case, checks the window, creates the label and writes the result back to the shop. Sondercase is built for that. It is AI customer service rather than a standalone returns form, and it picks up the return in your inbox or messaging channels.
A return with Sondercase, step by step
1. The request arrives
A typical case, Tuesday evening, by email:
“Hi, the sneakers from order #2417 are a size too small. Can I swap them for a 42? If that doesn’t work, I’d like my money back. Thanks, Lena”
The same message could just as well arrive via WhatsApp, Instagram or Facebook. Sondercase reads all of these channels, in every plan.
2. Classification: return, exchange or defect claim
Sondercase recognises an exchange request with a refund as the fallback, not a defect. A claim about a faulty product follows different rules from a withdrawal, and routing defects through the returns flow means paying costs you don’t owe. Defect cases therefore go to warranty claims handling.
3. Live data from the store and the carrier
Sondercase pulls order #2417 from Shopify or WooCommerce: item, variant, price, payment method. It adds the carrier’s tracking history, so it knows when the parcel was actually delivered, plus the customer’s previous history with your store. None of this is guessed, and nothing that isn’t in the data gets invented.
4. Checked against your policy, with the law as the floor
Now your rules apply. How long is your return window? Are items excluded, such as personalised goods or unsealed hygiene products? Do you offer exchanges? Sondercase checks the case against exactly these rules. It treats the statutory right of withdrawal (14 days from receipt of the goods for consumers in the EU) as the floor: your policy may be more generous than the law, never stricter. The details, such as who pays for the return shipping and when you have to refund, are in our right of withdrawal guide. When withdrawals from the withdrawal button required since June 2026 reach your support inbox by email, they run through the same flow.
5. Fully prepared, ready to approve
The result is a fully prepared case: the reply to Lena in your brand’s tone, the returns portal link with a return label, and a replacement order in size 42. It comes with the reasoning (delivered six days ago, inside your window, item not excluded) and a confidence score. You read it, click approve, and Sondercase executes. Whether the replacement ships right away or once the return arrives is your call when you approve.
Had Lena only wanted her money back, the flow is the same: returns portal, label, and the refund comes fully prepared; one click and it is done in your store. No copy-pasting between helpdesk, shipping tool and backend.
A returns portal for Shopify and WooCommerce, without a rebuild
Many merchants look for a returns portal for Shopify or WooCommerce and end up with one more tool running next to the inbox. Customers first have to find the portal, and your team still answers the emails from everyone who didn’t.
With Sondercase, portal and inbox are one flow. Whoever writes by email or WhatsApp gets the right portal link directly in the reply. The return label comes with it, and the refund or replacement order lands in your store. Setup is guided: connect your store, connect your support inbox, add your return rules. No migration, no developers.
Exchanges instead of refunds: replacement orders
A customer who wants a different size is trying to stay a customer. If the only smooth path in your process is the refund, salvageable revenue turns into refunds. Sondercase treats the exchange as an outcome of its own: it prepares a replacement order, and you release it. More on this lever, and on normal return rates by category, in how to reduce your return rate.
Damaged items: a human reviews the photos
When an item arrives damaged, you need evidence. Sondercase asks for photos in its first reply, collects them in the case and presents everything together: order, tracking history, photos, conversation and a suggested next step. The decision on the photos is made by a person on your team. Sondercase does the lookup and the assembly, not the judgment.
What stays in your control
- The rules. Windows, exclusions, exchanges, edge cases: Sondercase applies your return policy, it does not make up its own.
- The click. Replies can run fully automatically; you decide that per category. Return labels, refunds and other store actions come fully prepared and run with your click.
- The uncertain cases. When Sondercase is not sure, it escalates to a human with full context. It never guesses.
- The voice. Replies sound like your brand and arrive in the customer’s language.
What to automate first
Start with the clear-cut cases: return inside the window, item undamaged, refund or exchange requested. Run them in draft mode for two or three weeks and compare the proposals with what you would have done yourself. When they match, let the replies for those cases send automatically; the refund stays one click. Defect claims, damaged goods and out-of-window requests stay in approval for as long as you like.
Try it on your own store
The aim is that every standard case is done in minutes: understood, checked, labelled, refunded or exchanged. Your time stays for the cases that need judgment. The live demo analyses your store and resolves a real case, no signup required.
Sondercase is not a substitute for legal advice. Your withdrawal notice and return terms remain your responsibility.