Sales like Black Friday, the holidays or summer bring your biggest sales, and a few weeks later, your biggest wave of returns. A little preparation now means fewer support questions, faster refunds and happier customers when it matters most.
Most of this guide takes just a few minutes in your settings. For the rest, we're here to help.
Several stores? Settings are managed per store, so check each one.
1. Decide your return policy for the season
Customers buy gifts weeks before the holidays, and will want to return them afterwards.
Return window: extending it for gifts or holiday purchases? Add an exception under Settings > Returns, and state the new deadline clearly on your return policy page.
Sale items and offers: decide how returns work for discounted items and offers like buy-one-get-one. Will you charge a fee? Allow exchanges? Keep it to one simple rule. Complex rules lead to confused customers and more support tickets.
Final sale items: if some items can't be returned, block them under Settings > Blocked returns, and say so on your product pages.
💡 Need different return fees during sales? Fees are set up by our team. See "What we set up for you" below.
2. Make returns easy to find, and on-brand
Most "How do I return this?" emails can be avoided with clear information in the right places.
Your return policy page: put the return form link at the top, explain the steps in plain words, and mention your deadline. Need a starting point? Use our policy templates.
Your order and shipping emails: add a pre-filled return link, so customers can start a return without looking up their order number.
Your return form texts: mention the deadline and how long refunds take, under Settings > Text & Translations.
Share some holiday cheer: refresh the banner images on your return form with your seasonal campaign or best-sellers, under Settings > Styles & banners. See Set up and preview your return form.
Let customers follow their return
Add tracking details to the email with the return label, so customers can follow their parcel themselves instead of asking you.
Go to Settings > E-mail templates and open RETURN_RECEIVED_SHIPPING_LABEL.
Add these placeholders to the template code where you'd like them to appear:
{tracking_id}: the tracking number{tracking_url}: a link to follow the parcel{shipping_company}: the carrier
Send a test email to check that they show correctly.
Sending return emails through Klaviyo? The same tracking details are available in your Klaviyo flows. See How does Klaviyo integration work?
3. Offer exchanges you can deliver
During peak, popular items sell out fast. Make sure customers only choose replacements you can actually ship.
Hide low-stock items: set a minimum stock level under Settings > Exchange. See yayloh exchanges – Inventory.
Exchanges on sale items: decide whether customers can exchange discounted items for full-price ones. See How to manage exchanges on discounted or sale items.
Selling in several Shopify Markets? Only offer replacements in stock in your customer's market. See Regional Inventory for Exchanges.
4. Refund faster, with less pressure on your warehouse
Waiting for every return to be inspected slows down refunds when volumes are highest.
Refund lower-value returns earlier, as soon as they're received, while higher-value returns wait for inspection. Your customers get their money back sooner, and your warehouse can focus where it matters. See Automation Refund.
Send store credit earlier: issue store credit as soon as the return is in transit, while refunds wait for inspection. Customers who choose store credit can shop again right away, which makes it the more attractive choice and keeps revenue in your store. See Store credit.
💡 Both are set up by our team. See "What we set up for you" below.
5. Check your carriers and labels
Every market covered: selling to new countries this season? Make sure each one has a route under Settings > Carriers & Routes. See Carriers & Routes: how it works.
Start with a clean slate: fix any open label errors now, so new ones stand out during peak. See Shipping label error troubleshooting.
A customer needs a new or extra label? For example if they lost it, or their return doesn't fit in one box, which happens more often with bigger orders during sales. Create one on the Labels page. See Generate return label on demand.
6. Plan your daily routine during peak
Start each day in Manage v2: the Action needed, Label errors and Delayed requests tabs show exactly what needs your attention. See Manage v2: overview.
Answer faster in Inbox: save quick replies for common peak questions, such as "Where is my refund?" See Set up tags, quick replies and your signature.
Know what's coming back: the Incoming returned products by tracking status dataset shows which returns are on their way, so your warehouse can plan ahead, and you can see when an out-of-stock exchange item is coming back. See Analytics: Dataset Page.
7. Walk in your customer's shoes
Before your sale starts, go through a return exactly as your customer would. It's the best way to spot anything confusing.
Find it: start from your website. How quickly can you find how to return something?
Register it: use a real order in one of your main markets. Is every step clear? Are the texts up to date?
Get the label: does the email arrive, with the right label and tracking details for that country?
Follow it: check the tracking page and the emails along the way.
Get your money back: does the refund, store credit or exchange work as you'd expect?
If anything feels unclear to you, it will to your customers too. See Test a dummy return.
What we set up for you
Some settings are configured by our team. Let us know what you'd like to change before your sale starts, so everything is ready in time.
What you'd like | What we need from you |
Different return fees during sales | The fee per country, and how sale items and offers should be treated |
Faster refunds for lower-value returns | The value limit up to which returns are refunded once received |
Store credit sent earlier | When to send it, for example as soon as the return is in transit |
Holding stock for exchanges (Shopify) | A quick confirmation, and we'll set it up |
Contact us at support@yayloh.com.
Wishing you a great season! ❄️