Refund Spike Alert

About this kit

Watches your Shopify refund rate every morning and tells you when it moves, and what is behind it.

• Compares refunded amount and rate with the same weekday last week, and week on week
• Names the refunded orders, SKUs and sales channels driving the change
• Says whether it is one large refund or a broad rise, which are different problems
• Runs each morning and reports a one-line all-clear when refunds look normal
• Read-only: it never issues, approves, edits or cancels a refund

How it works

Shopify

Shopify, read-only. The worker reads the store's sales figures and its refunded, partially refunded and return-requested orders. It cannot issue, approve, edit or cancel anything, and it is not given customer names or contact details.

• Read analytics: Runs the sales report that returns refunded amount, refund rate, the comparison window's totals and the period-over-period change in refunded value. This is the measurement the whole alert is built on, and it also covers the optional returns breakdown when the store's reporting scope allows it.
• Read orders: Lists and opens refunded, partially refunded and return-requested orders so the alert can name the actual orders, SKUs and sales channels behind a refund move, and read the refund notes and timeline on the few that matter.

App access

Shopify

All stores

Visible fields

• Core
• Line items
• Financials
• Notes
• Timeline

Allowed operations

• Read orders
• Read analytics

Setup questions

• What refund rate should always be flagged, however calm the rest of the week looks?
• How large does a single refund have to be before it is always worth naming on its own?
• Should refunds be compared against the previous week or the same week last year?
• Which products or categories normally run high on returns in your store?
• Who reads this alert, and what do they do with it?