# Returns started in chat, under your rules.

Eligibility, the window, the reason: the answers are already in your Shopify return rules. Aide works through them with the shopper and hands your store a finished request.

Aide's AI agent starts Shopify returns for verified shoppers, following your store's own return rules, and creates each one as a request your store approves by default. Stores on Loop, AfterShip or another portal get a Start your return button that opens the portal on the shopper's order.

Source: https://aide.app/shopify/returns · Updated 2026-10-27 · By Ziyad Basheer

| | |
|---|---|
| Default | Off until you choose a mode. Until then, Aide answers and hands off. |
| Rules it follows | Your Shopify return rules. Without them, a window you set (30 days by default). |
| Never offered | Tagged products such as final-sale, items past the window, returns already open. |

## One return, two ways to run it

Pick the mode that matches how your store already handles returns.

### In Shopify

Aide offers only shipped items Shopify can still take back, asks for a reason from Shopify's list, and creates the return when the shopper says yes.

> Customer: The blue mug from #1042 is too small. Can I send it back?
>
> Aide: Yes, it's still inside the return window. I can start a return for 1 x Blue Mug from #1042, reason: too small. Shall I?
>
> Order #1042 verified · 1 item eligible

### Request created

Nothing is created until the shopper says yes. Then the return lands in Shopify and Aide tells the shopper what comes next.

> Customer: Yes please.
>
> Aide: Done. Your return request for the Blue Mug is in. The store will email you the next steps once it's approved.
>
> Return request created in Shopify · Order #1042

### Through your portal

With Loop, AfterShip or another portal, Aide sends a Start your return button that opens the portal on the shopper's order, so they skip the lookup.

> Customer: I'd like to exchange my sneakers from order #3305 for a size up.
>
> Aide: You can do that in our returns portal. The button below opens it on order #3305, where you can choose the exchange.
>
> Start your return link sent · Loop

### Final sale

Products with a tag you exclude are never offered a return. Aide explains your policy instead.

> Customer: Can I return the clearance jacket from order #2871?
>
> Aide: That jacket was a final-sale item, so it can't be returned. If something is wrong with it, tell me what happened and I'll pass it to our team.
>
> final-sale tag found · No return offered

## Choose how Aide starts returns

- Answer and hand off: The default. Aide answers return questions from your knowledge and passes the request to your team.
- Start it in Shopify: As a request your store approves, or opened straight away, under your Shopify return rules.
- Link to your portal: Loop, AfterShip or another portal. After saving, try the link on your latest order.

Returns usually start with a delivered order, and Aide finds it on its own when a shopper says "my order". Teammates can also start a return from the order, including one Aide wouldn't offer, such as an item past the window. Stores in several countries can follow each [Shopify market's own return policy](https://aide.app/shopify/international-orders).

## Frequently asked questions

### Can an AI agent start a return in Loop or AfterShip?

Aide hands the shopper a button that opens Loop, AfterShip or your other portal on their order. It is a link, not an API integration, so the portal runs the return and its rules.

### Who can Aide start a return for?

A shopper verified in chat, by signing in or by matching the order number and email, or one writing from the email address on the order. Anyone else gets the portal's start page with no order details in the link.

### Does Aide create return labels?

No. When a return opens straight away, Aide tells the shopper the store will send the label. When it is a request, the store emails the next steps.

### Can Aide create exchanges?

Through your returns portal, if the portal offers exchanges. Aide doesn't create exchanges in Shopify itself.

### Do returns come with a refund?

Not through Aide. Refunds run separately, with their own limits, and wait for a teammate by default.

## Related
- [AI refunds on Shopify with approval](https://aide.app/shopify/refunds)
- [Automate where-is-my-order questions](https://aide.app/shopify/order-tracking)
- [How Aide verifies a Shopify shopper](https://aide.app/shopify/order-verification)

Start free: https://my.aide.app/register