Not all returns need to be returned. For merchants who want to avoid receiving items that can’t be resold (such as cosmetics or underwear) or items where the return shipping costs are higher than the value of the item itself, you’ve come to the right place. 

You choose which products and customers are eligible for our Returnless Items feature, which eliminates shipping costs and provides a better shopper experience. Customers will have refunds immediately initiated without needing to drop off or ship the items back to you.

When you tag a product as a Returnless Item, any shopper who returns that product will not be asked to send the item back after starting a return. 

In order to avoid abuse of this feature, shoppers still go through the standard return process on the Online Return and Exchange Service (ORES) to initiate the return, and will still be prompted to select a return method. Once they reach the confirmation screen, they will be notified that they do not need to physically return the item. 

Returnless Items will follow this return flow, regardless of the shopper’s selected refund method or whether your shop approves refunds at inspection.

If all items in a shopper’s return are eligible for a Returnless Item return, instead of receiving a “return started” email, the shopper will be sent a “return completed” email including the details of their return.

Returnless Item returns will only work if the number of items in the shopper’s return is less than the “Number of Eligible Items Allowed Per Return” (also known as the Returnless Item threshold), discussed in the next section. Moreover, the return must not contain any items not tagged as returnless (in other words, Returnless Items cannot be mixed with non-Returnless Items). If either of these cases is true, all Returnless Items will instead be treated as regular items (ignoring the feature and Returnless Item tags) and follow your shop’s standard return policy.  

After a return containing a returnless item is started, merchants using Shopify will see the original order on Shopify (containing the returnless item purchase) tagged with HR-returnless (in addition to the usual tags Happy Returns adds).

To enable Returnless Items for your platform, follow the instructions below. Currently, only Shopify and Custom API retailers can support returnless items.

Shopify retailers must first enable Returnless Items as part of your return policy. To do this, navigate to your Retailer Dashboard > Settings > Return Policies. In the “Return Policies” section, there is a checkbox next to the feature “Returnless Items.” Check this box to enable Returnless Items. 

Next, set the “Number of Eligible Items Allowed Per Return,” which is the number of Returnless Items allowed per return. This threshold is meant to prevent shoppers from abusing your Returnless Items policy. If the number of Returnless Items in a return is greater than your threshold, then no items in the shopper return will be eligible as a returnless item return and the return will instead follow your shop’s standard return policy.

Click “save” to confirm your changes before leaving the page.

After the Returnless Items feature is enabled, you can simply add the tag HR-returnless on the Shopify product page of any product your Returnless Item policy should apply to. Disabling Returnless Items for a product is as easy as removing the HR-returnless tag from the product’s tag list.

Note: all Shopify tags are checked at the time the return is initiated. For example, let’s say a shopper purchases an item which is tagged with HR-returnless at the time of purchase. But, the tag is later removed prior to the shopper starting their return. When the shopper starts their return, since the tag no longer exists on the product page at the time the return is initiated, the item will NOT be eligible for a Returnless Return.

A Happy Returns support team member must enable Returnless Items for custom API Retailers. When you’re ready to get started, contact us.