Configure Fee for Return request

Overview

Fees help you cover the operational cost of returns and exchanges. Synctrack deducts them automatically from the shopper's refund (or adds them to the exchange summary), so you don't have to calculate anything by hand.

• You manage all fees in Settings > Fees. There are five fee types, each with its own card:

What we'll learn

• How fees work
• How to create a fee
• How to set up each fee type
• How to manage multiple fees
• How the Shopify market condition works
• How fees appear in the return portal

How fees work

• Each fee type is independent. A single return can have a return shipping cost, a label fee and a restocking fee at the same time.
• Conditions decide when a fee applies. A fee without conditions applies to every eligible request. A fee with conditions applies only to requests that match them.
• One fee per type per request. If you create several fees of the same type, they are checked from top to bottom and the first one that matches the request is used. Drag fees in the table to change their priority.
• Conditions are checked on the whole request. If one item in the request matches (for example, one item with the reason "Arrived damaged"), the fee applies to the whole request.
• Shoppers see why they are charged. The fee's description is shown as a tooltip next to the fee on the return page.

How to create a fee

Step 1: Go to Settings > Fees

Find the card of the fee type you want and click its create button (for example Create return shipping cost or Create return shipping label fee).

Step 2: Add a name and description

• Name: for your team, to tell fees apart in the table. Use a name that says what the fee does, for example "Oversize items" or "Free label for damaged items".
• Description: explains the fee to shoppers. It is shown as a tooltip when they review their request.

Step 3: Set the amount

• Choose Fixed or Percentage (where the fee type allows both) and enter the amount. Fixed amounts use your store currency and are converted to the shopper's currency on the return page.

Step 4: Add conditions (optional)

Choose whether the request must match all or any of the conditions, then add as many as you need:

• Order paid amount
• Return value
• Return item quantity
• Customer return count
• Shopify market
• Return resolution
• Request types (Return or Exchange)
• Return reason
• Return sub-reason
• Return shipping method
• Return shipment from
• Product collection
• Product tag
• Product type
• Product SKU

For list conditions (such as Return reason or Product tag), use is or is not. For numeric conditions (such as Return value), use greater than, less than, greater than or equal to or less than or equal to.
Leave conditions empty to apply the fee to every eligible request.

Step 5: Save

The fee appears in the card's table, where you can turn it on or off, edit, delete, or drag it to change its priority.

How to set up each fee type

Return shipping cost

• What it does: Charges the shopper a flat amount for shipping their return back, once per request.
• Applies to: Return and exchange requests, with any shipping method. Use the Return shipping method condition if you only want to charge it for certain methods.
• Amount: Fixed only.
• Example: A return shipping cost of $5.00 on a return worth $60.00 → the shopper is refunded $55.00.
• Tip: The return shipping cost is always a flat amount, whatever the label actually costs. If you use pre-paid labels and want to charge the real label cost (or part of it), use the Return shipping label fee instead. Both fees can apply to the same request, so make sure you don't charge the shopper twice for the same shipment.

Return shipping label fee

• What it does: Decides how much of the pre-paid label cost is deducted from the shopper's refund. You can charge the shopper the full cost, part of it, a flat amount, or nothing, and change that per return with conditions.
• Applies to: Return and exchange requests shipped with Ship with pre-paid label. Other shipping methods are never charged a label fee.
• If no rule matches, your store covers the label and nothing is deducted from the shopper's refund.

You can also open this card from Settings > Shipping & Delivery > Return shipping method: turn on "Ship with pre-paid label", then click Set fee rules → in the Label fee row.

• How to set it up: Follow the steps in "How to create a fee", with one extra field:
• • Who pays: select Customer or Merchant. The amount you enter is that side's share of the label.
• How the amount works:
• • Customer + Percentage: the shopper pays that share of the real label cost.
  • Customer + Fixed: the shopper pays exactly that amount, whatever the carrier charges.
  • Merchant + Percentage: your store covers that share, and the shopper pays the rest.
  • Merchant + Fixed: your store covers up to that amount, and the shopper pays anything above it.

Example with a $20.00 label:

• Customer, 100% → the shopper pays $20.00
• Customer, 50% → the shopper pays $10.00
• Customer, Fixed $5.00 → the shopper pays $5.00
• Merchant, 100% → the shopper pays $0.00
• Merchant, Fixed $5.00 → the shopper pays $15.00 (if the label costs $5.00 or less, the shopper pays nothing)
  Example: free return label when it's your mistake
  Create two rules, in this order:

1. Store errors — Condition: Return reason is any of Arrived damaged, Received wrong item, Defective → Who pays: Merchant, 100%
2. All other returns — No conditions → Who pays: Customer, 100%
   Shoppers returning a damaged or wrong item get a free label. Everyone else pays the label cost. Keep a rule without conditions at the bottom, because any rule placed below it will never apply.

Good to know:

• The matching rule is saved when the shopper submits the request. Editing your rules later does not change requests that were already submitted.
• If you upload a label manually and enter its fee, that amount is used for that request instead of the rule.
• You can still remove the label fee for a single request when you issue the refund. Learn how.
• Include who pays in the rule name (for example "Store covers damaged items") so you can read your rules at a glance in the table.

Stores that used the old "Return shipping payment" setting: the pre-paid label fee used to be set in Settings > Shipping & Delivery > Return shipping method. Your previous choice was converted into a rule automatically, so nothing changes until you edit it:

• Customer pays → rule "Customer pays the return label" (Customer, 100%)
• Merchant pays → rule "Store covers the return label" (Merchant, 100%)

If pre-paid labels were turned off in your store, the rule "Customer pays the return label" was created but turned off.

Restocking fee

• What it does: Covers the cost of inspecting and restocking returned items.
• Applies to: Return and exchange requests.
• Amount: Percentage only, applied to the price of each returned item.
• Example: A 10% restocking fee on a return of two items priced $50.00 and $30.00 → $5.00 + $3.00 = $8.00 is deducted.
• Tip: Use conditions to charge it only where it makes sense, for example when the Return reason is "Changed my mind", or for a Product collection that is costly to restock.

Return fee

• What it does: Charges a processing fee on return requests.
• Applies to: Return requests only. Exchange requests use the Exchange fee instead.
• Amount: Fixed, or a percentage of the value of the returned items (subtotal).
• Example: A 10% return fee on items worth $80.00 → $8.00 is deducted from the refund. A fixed $3.00 return fee → $3.00 is deducted.
• Tip: Keep the return fee higher than the exchange fee to nudge shoppers toward exchanges.

Exchange fee

• What it does: Charges a processing fee on exchange requests.
• Applies to: Exchange requests only.
• Amount: Fixed, or a percentage of the value of the returned items (subtotal).
• Example: A fixed $2.00 exchange fee is deducted from the shopper's refund balance, or added to the exchange summary when the new item costs more.
• Tip: Set the exchange fee to $0 (or don't create one) to keep exchanges free and encourage shoppers to exchange instead of asking for a refund.

How to manage multiple fees

1. Each fee type has its own table in Settings > Fees.
2. Use the toggle to turn a fee on or off without deleting it.
3. Drag fees to change their priority. For each fee type, the first matching fee from the top is used.
4. Click the edit or delete icon to change or remove a fee.

Know how Shopify market condition works?

1. The "Shopify market" were synced with your market set up in your Shopify admin.

2. Select each suitable markets to apply unique return/exchange fee for each markets and Save

How does Fee work in the portal?

When a request matches a fee, shoppers see that fee as its own line on the review page before submitting, with its description as a tooltip. The refund amount shown already has the fee deducted.
For the Return shipping label fee, the line is called Return label fee:

• It shows the shopper's share only. For example, with Customer 50% and an estimated label cost of $5.20 ~ $8.40, the shopper sees $2.60 ~ $4.20.
• If the shopper's share is $0.00, the line is hidden.
• Shoppers see the label fee before submitting only when you have an automation rule that auto-selects the cheapest/fastest carrier. Rules with Customer + Fixed always show the flat amount, with or without that automation. For other rules without that automation, the fee appears after you create the label.

Updated on: 23/09/2026