How do exchanges work?

Currently, Return Magic has not automated the exchange process on the merchant's end. This means you will need to manage the new order + any fees manually. Please know we are working on rolling out features to automate exchanges. If you would like to discuss this with us, we'd love to chat about your current exchange process and how we can automate this to make it a more streamlined process for you. Just reach out to us at support@returnmagic.com and we'll be happy to chat!

During conversations with merchants, we've seen most of them continue to offer exchanges as a return option for the convenience this brings to their customers: if done well, it can be a really great experience for your customers.

Some of our merchants process exchanges by telling the customer to order the new item they want right away, and that they will be refunded for their original order when the merchant receives the package back. This is great for inventory management purposes and will not skew your analytics since the past order is refunded. Just make sure to link both orders using the Shopify timeline, so that you can keep track of exchange orders.

Other merchants also choose to process exchanges via gift cards. This may also be a good option for you for reasons explained above!

Some of our merchants also create a new order manually for the customer, and link both orders using the timeline of the exchanged order. Here are a couple of ways to manage the payment for this new order if you want to process the whole exchange for your customer:

1. Apply a discount code to the new exchange order. This allows you to create a $0 order.
2. Mark the new exchange order as paid. This allows you to create an order with its real amount, although no transaction will be associated to that order.
3. Mark the new exchange order's payment as pending. This allows you to create an order without associating a payment to it.
4. Create a gift card, and use that gift card to place the new exchange order. This allows you to "refund" the original order, and pay for the new exchange order using the store credit.

Depending on your business, a method may be more advantageous than the others. Note these different methods will impact your business analytics in different ways.

Below is a video of how the flow looks for your customers: