What are replacement orders?

Replacement orders help resolve damaged, missing, incorrect, or returned-to-sender items. With the replacement tool enabled, the assistant gathers the details and proposes a replacement; your team approves, adjusts, or declines it.

Preparing a replacement proposal

The assistant verifies the order and customer, collects relevant photos, and confirms the shipping address. Before submitting a proposal, it checks each replacement variant in Shopify.

Tracked items need enough stock for the requested quantity. Backorders and overselling don't count as available stock. Items without inventory tracking must be available for sale.

If an item is unavailable, the assistant explains which item can't be replaced and asks the customer to choose from remaining in-stock items or an agreed substitute. It doesn't submit a proposal containing the unavailable item. A refund or store-credit request can go to staff instead; the assistant doesn't refund shipped orders to the original payment method.

Returned-to-sender parcels

A parcel can qualify while it's still on its way back once tracking shows return-to-sender and the customer confirms a complete shipping address. The usual wait for an in-transit parcel to be considered lost doesn't apply to that return status.

If the carrier has rejected the destination itself, confirming the same address isn't enough. The customer needs a corrected or alternate address, or confirmation that the carrier has cleared the refusal, before a replacement can proceed.

If your returned-order policy offers store credit, the customer may choose it instead, subject to the store-credit requirements.

Signature requests with ShipHero

Staff can use Require signature in ShipHero before approving a proposal. If the customer asks for a signature, the assistant can enable it on a new proposal or update the pending proposal without creating another one.

The setting requests signature service in ShipHero; it doesn't guarantee a signed carrier scan. It is separate from your policy on replacing original orders that already required a signature.

A pending proposal isn't a shipped replacement. Your team reviews it before approval, and the customer can continue asking questions in the same conversation.