Orders placed through the Swap Agentic Storefront are processed differently from standard Shopify orders. When a customer requests a return — including a Return of Exchange (RoE) on an agentic order — Swap automatically handles the refund as part of the return process. You do not need to take any additional steps beyond processing the return in the merchant dashboard.
How the refund flow works
What happens when you process a return depends on the resolution type.
Resolutions with a monetary refund
This covers refund-only, exchange + refund, and Return of Exchange (RoE) outcomes.
The merchant processes the return in the merchant dashboard. Swap triggers the refund on Shopify and notifies Swap's checkout system (Adyen) at the same time. If the Shopify refund itself fails, the RMA moves straight to Needs Review.
The RMA moves to "Refund Pending". This means Swap is waiting for the refund to be confirmed on Adyen — the payment processor for agentic orders. No action is required from the merchant or customer. (Returns V2 only — see V1 and V2 portal differences below.)
The Shopify refund triggers a webhook to Swap's checkout system, which submits the refund to Adyen. This typically resolves within a few hours, but can take several days to appear in the customer's account. It also triggers a refund confirmation email to the customer.
Once Adyen confirms the refund, the RMA moves to "Completed" and the customer receives their money back. If the Adyen refund fails instead, the RMA moves to Needs Review.
Resolutions without a monetary refund
When the resolution is store credit, a gift card, an equal exchange, or an additional payment exchange, no Adyen refund is triggered. The RMA moves directly to Completed without passing through Refund Pending.
Return of Exchange (RoE)
If a customer received an exchange on an agentic order and subsequently returns the exchange, the refund is applied to the original agentic order — not the exchange order itself. The RMA follows the same flow as any other monetary refund: it enters Refund Pending and moves to Completed once the refund is confirmed.
V1 and V2 portal differences
The RMA status flow differs depending on which returns portal version you use.
Portal version | Behaviour |
Returns V2 | The RMA moves to Refund Pending while Adyen processes the refund. When Adyen confirms the refund, Swap is notified and the RMA moves to Completed automatically. |
Returns V1 | The RMA moves straight to Closed once the merchant processes it, and the refund is pushed to Shopify. A Shopify webhook then triggers the refund on Adyen, but there is no sync back from Adyen to the V1 system, so the status does not update further after Closed. |
Return statuses
Status options differ depending on the returns portal version.
Returns V2
Status | What it means |
Refund Pending | The refund has been submitted and is awaiting Adyen confirmation. No action needed. |
Completed | The return has been processed successfully. For monetary refunds, this means the Adyen refund has been confirmed. |
Needs Review | The refund failed. Manual intervention is required (see below). |
Returns V1
Status | What it means |
Closed | The RMA has been processed. A Shopify webhook has triggered the Adyen refund, but there is no confirmation step back from Adyen — Closed is the final status for a successful return. |
Needs Review | The refund failed. Manual intervention is required (see below). |
⚠️ Important: Do not issue refunds manually in Shopify for orders with an active RMA. Processing a manual refund in Shopify before completing the RMA in the Swap dashboard may result in a duplicate refund. Always use the Swap dashboard for active returns.
If a return moves to "Needs Review"
If the refund fails, the return moves to Needs Review.
Reprocess the return directly from the merchant dashboard. This is safe to try immediately and resolves most cases.
If reprocessing fails again, check whether a refund was already given on Adyen before taking further action:
Open the RMA page for the return. A note appears on the page confirming this if a refund was successfully processed.
Check the order in the Agentic Storefront → Orders table. It will show as partially refunded if a refund was already given. (It shows as partial because the Swap fee included in the transaction is not refunded.)
If a refund was already given, do not reprocess again or issue a manual refund. Doing so will create a duplicate refund. Close the RMA without further action instead.
If no refund was given and reprocessing fails again, issue a manual refund directly from the Agentic Storefront → Orders table in the merchant dashboard.
⚠️ Important: Always confirm no refund has already been issued before issuing a manual one, to avoid a duplicate refund.