To automate returns with Loop Returns on Shopify, install Loop from the Shopify App Store, build your return policy, set when each refund, exchange or store credit goes out, and add Workflows for the returns your policy doesn't cover. Loop then runs the return portal, makes the labels and issues the outcome when the package reaches the step you set. Where it stops: returns whose carrier scan never comes in sit unprocessed until someone checks, refunds set to Manual wait without a flag, and someone still checks that refunds match your orders. AI agents check each return and each refund, and send the ones that need a person to your team.
What Loop Returns does for a Shopify store
Without a returns app, each return is an email. The customer asks, someone checks the order in Shopify, makes a label, waits for the box, and issues the refund by hand. A busy week after a sale can bury a small team.
Loop puts all of that in one place. Customers start a return on your return portal and get a label, with no email to your team. Loop's Shopify App Store page says it handles refunds, exchanges, store credit and return tracking, and that it works with the Shopify admin, Shopify POS, Shopify Flow, customer accounts and checkout. Loop's help pages say returns made in Loop show on the order in Shopify, with a Return in Progress note.
How to set up Loop Returns on Shopify
Five steps, in our words. Each one links to Loop's own page for the full screens.
- 1
Install Loop from the Shopify App StoreSearch the Shopify App Store for Loop Returns and select Install. Loop's Install Guide then asks for the activation code Loop emailed you. With no code yet, you can book a demo, or select Explore Loop first to look around in Demo Mode.
- 2
Build your return policyIn the Loop admin, go to Returns management, then Policy settings, then Return policies. Set where customers return from, turn on the outcomes you offer, and set a return window for each.
- 3Set when each outcome goes out
For each outcome, set the processing event, from Manual to Delivered. Add a processing delay if your warehouse needs a few days to check returns first.
- 4Add Workflows, then test them
Under Returns management, then Policy settings, then Workflows, select Create workflow for the cases your policy doesn't cover. Loop says to publish and test a few returns right away.
- 5Link your return reasons to Shopify
In Loop, go to Settings, then Reasons, and link each reason to a Shopify reason. Reasons you don't link show as OTHER on the order in Shopify.
How to automate returns in Loop
The processing event is where most of the work goes away. When Loop makes the return labels, Immediate issues the outcome as soon as the return is sent in, In transit waits for the carrier to scan the package, and Delivered waits for the box to reach your warehouse. Loop's own tip is to send exchanges out fast and set refunds to Manual, so a person checks full refunds before the money goes back. If Loop restocks your returned items, the refund event has to be Manual.
Workflows handle the returns that fall outside your policy. Each one checks a set of conditions, then takes an action: reject the item, let the customer keep it, set a handling fee, change the return window, send it to a donation center, or hold it for your team to review. A workflow can also ask the customer a yes or no question, or ask for a photo of the damage, before it decides.
Finish returns in Loop, not in Shopify. Loop's help says closing a return in Shopify won't issue the outcome or restock the items.
Which Loop plan has what
Loop's Shopify App Store page lists a free plan, Checkout+, with the returns software and return labels inside the US and Canada. Workflows and automatic return policies come with the Essential plan. Instant exchanges, bonus credit and fraud prevention come with the Advanced plan. Check the page for the current list before you sign up.
Where Loop Returns stops: what is still done by hand
Loop runs the return itself well. Its own help pages are also clear about the parts it leaves to your team.
Returns can sit when a carrier scan never comes. Loop says that when a carrier's updates are late or drop out, returns set to process on a scan are left open without any notice to you. Its shipping status report, under Analytics, lists returns in transit for more than 9 days, and Loop's advice is to check the carrier's tracking page and process each one by hand.
Manual refunds wait quietly. Loop suggests Manual for refunds, and requires it if Loop restocks your items, but its policy page says Manual does not mark returns as Needs Review. Someone has to go and look for them.
Shopify needs tidying. Loop says orders settled with an exchange or store credit don't archive in Shopify after the return closes, so it suggests archiving them by hand.
Rules can clash. Loop warns that some Workflows, used together, give conflicting outcomes, and asks you to test each one as soon as it is published.
Setup takes work too. Loop has a 4.6 rating from 449 reviews in the Shopify App Store. About 7% are 1 star, and many of the low reviews from the past year say setup took weeks and support was slow to answer.
Then at month end, someone adds up refunds, exchanges and store credit and checks them against the orders in Shopify, so the books are right.
The agents that take it over
Each agent does one job from start to finish, in your own Loop Returns and Shopify: it finds returns left open too long, checks each new return against your rules, and matches refunds to your orders each week. Your team gets the cases that need a person.
Stop paying out on returns that break your rules.
- Reads each new return and its reasonas it comes in
- Flags returns from blocked buyers or that break your rulesper return
- Sends flagged ones to your teamright away
Know what returns cost you each week.
- Totals refunds, exchanges and store creditevery Monday
- Matches refunds to your store's ordersevery Monday
- Sends it to your bookkeeperMonday morning
Questions
Is my customers' information safe?
Yes. Agents work in your own Loop Returns and Shopify and see only what returns need. Customer details never go into public AI. Agents connect to AI through business-grade connections audited under SOC 2.
Does Loop Returns work with Shopify?
Yes. Loop is an app in the Shopify App Store, made by Loop. Its listing says it works with the Shopify admin, Shopify POS, Shopify Flow, customer accounts and checkout.
Do Loop returns show up in Shopify?
Yes. Loop's help says returns made in Loop show on the order in Shopify with a Return in Progress note, and show as returned once they are processed in Loop.
Can Loop refund customers on its own?
Yes. When Loop makes the return labels, set the processing event for refunds to Immediate, Pre-transit, In transit, Out for delivery or Delivered, and Loop issues the refund at that step. Loop suggests Manual for full refunds, so a person checks them first.
What does it cost?
You get the price on the call, along with the hours it saves your team.