Gift returns let someone who received a gift return or exchange it in your portal without the original order details, and without involving the person who bought it.
ℹ️ This article covers gift returns in Returns V2.
What a gift return allows
The recipient can start a return without the order confirmation, the purchaser's details or an account.
The purchaser is not notified that the gift has been returned.
The return can be resolved as an exchange or as store credit. Refunds are not available on a gift return.
How to enable gift returns
Go to Returns → Settings → Returns in your dashboard.
In the Return options card, find Allow returns of gifts — "Enable gift recipients to return their gift using just the order number".
Switch the toggle on.
Click Save.
Once enabled, a Gift Returns button appears in your returns portal.
Identifying gift returns in your dashboard
Gift returns are marked with a gift icon on the returns table
and on the RMA:
What the recipient sees in the portal
There are two routes through a gift return, depending on whether the recipient has the order number.
Selecting Gift Returns in the portal replaces the usual login fields with the order number field alone, a Start Gift Return button, and a link beneath it reading If you don't have the order number, click here.
For the standard portal journey a customer follows after logging in, see What Customers See in the Returns Portal.
If the recipient has the order number
The recipient enters the order number and selects Start Gift Return. A form then collects their own contact and delivery details, because the order holds the purchaser's address rather than theirs:
Email address
First name
Last name
Address line 1
Address line 2
City
State / Province Code
Postcode
Country
Phone number
Every field is required except Address line 2.
Once the details are accepted, the recipient continues through the returns portal as any other customer would, selecting items, a return reason and an exchange or store credit. The details they entered are held against the return.
If the recipient does not have the order number
Selecting If you don't have the order number, click here opens a request form instead. This does not create a return — it sends you the details so you can find the order and follow up. The form asks for:
Who gave you this gift? (full name) — required
Which product are you returning? — required
Exchange for something else? (which product would you like) — required
Additional information we should know? — optional
Purchaser's email address
Purchaser's postcode
Preferred return carrier
On submission the recipient sees a confirmation message, and an email with the subject Gift Return Request/ Return Portal is sent to the support email address set in your dashboard.
Following up on a request without an order number
Use the details in the email to find and verify the order in Shopify, then take one of two routes.
Option 1: send the order number to the recipient
Find the original order in Shopify.
Send the order number to the recipient.
The recipient starts the gift return themselves, following the route described above.
Option 2: create the return for the recipient
Find the original order in Shopify.
Submit the return through the returns portal with the recipient's preferred outcome, either an exchange or store credit.
What can stop a gift return
A gift return is checked against the same rules as any other return, with the eligibility checks applying to the recipient rather than the purchaser:
The recipient's country must be one you support for returns.
The carriers offered are those available in the recipient's country.
The return window is checked when the recipient logs in with the order number, not when they submit the form.
Email addresses are checked for valid formatting before a form is accepted.
How a gift return appears on the exchange or credit order
When the recipient completes a gift return, the email address and delivery details they entered are saved to the exchange or gift card order that Swap creates. The original order is not changed, so the purchaser's own details stay as they were.
For how those orders are structured in Shopify, see Understanding accounting types. For the difference between the two credit types a store can issue, see Understanding Gift Cards vs. Shopify Store Credit in Swap.