Returns | Activate Direct Exchanges
One of your customers ordered a top your shop, but the size is a bit too big? You can now activate direct exchanges to let customers switch for other item(s) directly in the return portal đ
What are direct exchanges?
With direct exchanges, customers can:
- Exchange for another variant of the initial product... but not only ;)
- Browse your entire product catalog in the return portal
- Upsell choosing more expensive products â they pay the difference in a Shopify checkout
- Exchange one item against multiple other items (2 or more!)
- Enjoy instant exchanges without the hassle of adding credit card details
Your customer can place an exchange order instantly, and Bigblue holds it until the return is shipped
What the Direct Exchange feature does:
| â Variant exchange | â Any-product exchange | â Instant exchanges |
| â Price difference exchanges | â Mixed refund & exchanges | â One to multi-items exchanges |
| â Automated exchanges | â Item Reservation | â Exchange upsells |
âŠī¸ Returns Pack
Direct exchanges, as part of our return portal, are available for all our Returns Pack subscribers. If you're interested, please contact our Care team to subscribe to the pack.
How can I activate direct exchanges?
To activate direct exchanges, go to Buyer Experience > Customization, choose the experience for which you want to activate direct exchanges, open the Return portal tab and choose your settings.
For more details about the Return portal activation, please read this article.
How do direct exchanges work?
- You customer opens the Return portal and chooses the option Exchange
- They select the products they want to return, add the reason why and confirm
- Your product catalog appears for your customer to choose the items of the new order
- Your customer validates the new order, pays for the upsell if applicable, and receives a return label
- Bigblue creates the new order and holds it until the carrier confirms that they have the shipment
- The new order is released as soon as we have the confirmation that the return was shipped
What to know about direct exchanges?
| đ° Checkout | How do customers pay in case of an upsell? The checkout used for upsells is your Shopify checkout |
| đī¸ Exchange credit | How much can customers spend when they choose a direct exchange? This amount is called the exchange credit, you choose whether it's equal to:
More information in the next section. |
| đĻ Products | What products are displayed for direct exchanges? By default, we display all the products from your store that have stock at Bigblue. To hide some products, kindly add the |
| đ Shipping fees | Who pays for the shipping labels of the return and of the new order? With direct exchanges, the return's shipping label is offered, and you have three options for the shipping label of the exchange order:
|
How much exchange credit should I give to my customers?
Let's say that you sell shoes. Your customer benefited from a discount on their order and bought a pair of shoes for âŦ100 instead of âŦ120 (which is the price that usually applies).
You can choose whether the exchange credit should be:
Equal to the initial item price â the customer receives âŦ120 of exchange credit
In that case, if the pair of shoes does not benefit from a permanent discount, giving âŦ120 of exchange credit enables your customer to switch for a different size of the same pair of shoes.
Equal to the discounted item price â the customer receives âŦ100 of exchange credit
In that case, if the pair of shoes does not benefit from a permanent discount, giving âŦ120 of exchange credit is not enough to switch for a different size of the same pair of shoes.
To conclude, this choice depends on your strategy and we can't strongly recommend one option more than the other, but we encourage you to consider setting up multiple buyer experiences to provide the proper amount in each case - please read this guide about our multi-experience feature.
Frequently asked questions
âđž What is the difference with the store credit? Should I activate both?
With the store credit, your customer receives a gift card that can be used anytime in the future (up to one year after gift card creation). It can still be useful to combine it with exchanges if some products are not in stock right now but are expected to be back soon. More about the store credit here.
If you need your various operations to benefit from different settings, you can define multiple buyer experiences in Buyer Experience > Customization, you can follow this guide.
âđģ In which order are products displayed in my return portal?
We find the most expensive item among those that are to-be-returned, and, if there is available stock for this product, then it is displayed first. This solution was chosen in order to facilitate an exchange for a new size or a new colour.
âđŋ What happens if the exchange is actually a downsell?
Let's say that your customer had âŦ100 of exchange credit, but only spent âŦ70. There is âŦ30 of credit left.
In that case, an action is required from you to properly close the return, so the return status switches to Action required so that you can easily identify it in your Returns list, you can then choose what to do with the remaining amount: either send a discount code or refund it.