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Hi AfterShip Community, Context: I run a small Shopify store (~50 orders/month) using AfterShip’s free plan to track shipments (USPS, UPS). While the free plan offers basic tracking (Web:10), there’s no way to analyze tracking page performance (e.g., visitor clicks, engagement) without upgrading to premium plans, which can be costly for small businesses (Web:18). Issue: Small merchants lack access to basic analytics on the free plan to understand how customers interact with tracking pages, limiting optimization efforts. Outcome: I propose a lightweight analytics dashboard in the free plan, showing metrics like tracking page visits and click-through rates (e.g., to return portals). This would help optimize post-purchase experiences without needing a paid plan. Beneficiaries: Small e-commerce businesses, startups, and solo entrepreneurs using the free plan would gain insights to improve customer engagement and retention. What do you think? Any similar needs or suggestions to refine this idea?

As a merchant, I allow shoppers to exchange items for different variants during returns, which may have different prices. For example, a Small size costs $30 while a Large size costs $50.   Currently, Shopify allows me to adjust prices manually only after the Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) is submitted. If aftership could facilitate charging or refunding price differences for variants during the return request process, it would greatly streamline our operations and enhancing the overall efficiency of RMA management.

It would be very helpful if customers could select their preferred size during the exchange process, with real-time visibility of stock availability on the website. For example, when a customer initiates an exchange, the system should show whether the requested size is currently in stock. If the size is unavailable, it should display “Sold Out” instead of allowing the exchange to proceed. This feature would prevent unnecessary back-and-forth communication, improve customer experience, and reduce manual handling for merchants. Platforms like Revolve already offer this type of functionality, and it would be an excellent addition to AfterShip Returns.

Goal: To make it easier for customers to accurately select the correct item for return when using the return portal. Preconditions: The customer has placed an order containing multiple items, some of which may have similar or identical titles, colors, or sizes. The SKU numbers for the items exist in the system but are not currently displayed in the return portal. Trigger: The customer initiates a return and accesses the return portal to select the item(s) they wish to return. Basic Flow: The customer logs into the return portal. The portal displays the items from their order, including details such as title, color, size, and now the SKU number for each item. The customer uses the SKU number to cross-reference their order confirmation or invoice, ensuring they select the correct item for return. The customer completes the return process with confidence that the correct item has been selected. Postconditions: The customer successfully returns the correct item without confusion. The support team receives fewer inquiries about mismatched returns. Benefits: For Customers: Improved user experience by reducing confusion when selecting items for return. Greater confidence in completing returns independently. For the Business: Reduced customer support requests related to returns. Increased efficiency in processing returns, minimizing errors caused by incorrect item selection. Priority: Medium – This enhancement has a high potential to improve customer satisfaction with a relatively low implementation effort. Technical Requirements: Modify the front-end display of the return portal to include SKU numbers as part of the product details. Ensure the SKU numbers are fetched and displayed consistently across all customer orders. This use case focuses on enhancing the clarity of the return process for customers while streamlining operational efficiency for the business.

I see that Aftership is already having public api end points available for tracking and returns. i would like to have similar one for reviews.

Integration of Sharetown to schedule pickups of items being returned. The process involves Sharetown picking up items directly from the customer's doorstep without the need for packaging. Once the items are picked up, Sharetown will resell the items through their channels and provide business with an agreed-upon gain-share payback based on the resale price.   Key Requirements: No label generation is needed as Sharetown will handle the pickup. A system integration will be needed to push the return data to Sharetown as a pickup request in their system. Sharetown will manage the logistics and resale of the items.

We'd like the ability to restrict which order-editing options are available on a per-country basis, rather than applying the same set of options globally.   Many merchants work with regional checkout or fulfillment partners (e.g. Global-E) that prohibit certain order changes after an order is placed in specific countries. For example, a merchant might need to limit editing to only "apply discount code" and "cancel order" for a subset of countries, while keeping the full set of editing options available everywhere else.   Being able to configure order-editing permissions by country/region would help merchants stay compliant with regional partner restrictions without giving up flexibility in other markets.

Our warehouse needs to know how many returns were requested on a daily basis so they can plan their resources accordingly. but it is not an option for now. It would be nice if we could build our own reports and schedule it. 

We are able to retrieve shipping rates for each carrier, but we would also like customs clearance fees and other charges available through each carrier’s API to be integrated via API as well. This is especially important for DDP shipments. Some information that can be retrieved through the carrier APIs cannot be retrieved through AfterShip, which means we would need to connect to each carrier’s API separately.

For instance, customers can quickly locate reviews based on size, incorporate images and videos, consider age, product characteristics, and the reviewer's recommendation status.