The Rules tab lets you control returns using the tags already in your Shopify store. Tag a product, an order or a customer, add that tag to a rule, and the returns portal applies it automatically — including giving some orders a longer or shorter time to return than your default.
You'll find it under Configuration › Rules, second in the list under Return policy.
Rules are currently available for Shopify stores only. If your store is connected another way, the Rules tab shows a request form instead of the rule cards.
Three things to know before you start
1. Tags are matched without capitalisation. Final Sale, final sale and FINAL SALE are all the same tag. Add it once, in whatever casing you prefer.
2. Changes take up to 10 minutes to appear in the portal. The portal reads a cached copy of your rules. If you save a rule and immediately open the portal, you may still see the old behaviour. Wait 10 minutes before testing.
3. Rules apply to orders placed after the tag was added. This is the most important point on the page. Each order stores a copy of the product, order and customer tags as they were at the moment the order was placed. Adding a tag in Shopify today does not change orders that already exist.
So the sequence matters:
Tag the product, order or customer in Shopify first
New orders from that point on carry the tag and follow the rule
Orders placed before you tagged are unaffected
There is one exception: for order tags, manually triggering an order update re-reads the tags on that order. Product tags and customer tags have no equivalent — existing orders keep the snapshot they were created with.
Editing a rule
Each of the three sections is its own card, saved separately.
Go to Configuration › Rules
Find the section you want to change
Type a tag into the field and press Enter to add it. You can also separate tags with a comma, or paste a list — commas and line breaks both split into separate tags
Remove a tag by selecting the × on it
Select Save
A few details worth knowing:
Tags must match the tag in Shopify exactly, apart from capitalisation
Adding the same tag twice does nothing — duplicates are ignored
Save only becomes available once you've made a change
Cancel discards anything you've added or removed since selecting Edit
A rule with no tags shows None and is simply not applied
Each card saves only its own rules, so you can edit one section without touching the others
The rules
Custom days to return
Give some orders a different return window from your default. Each rule matches an order tag or a customer tag, and sets either a number of days or a fixed last date. Orders that don’t match a rule keep the Days to return set on your Return policy page.
Adding a rule
Select Add rule
Choose the Tag type: Order or Customer
Add one or more tags. An order matches the rule if it has any one of them
Choose the Time period:
Days — the customer has this many days to return the order. They’re counted the same way as your default: from the order date, or from the fulfilment date if returns start once the order is fulfilled. Your Additional buffer is still added on top.
Fixed date — the order can be returned up to the end of this date (midnight UK time), whenever it was placed. The additional buffer isn’t added.
Select Save
Rule order matters. Each order uses the first rule it matches, working down from the top of the list. The number beside each rule shows its priority. Drag the handle beside the number to reorder. Put narrower rules above broader ones. For example, a vip-lifetime rule above a vip rule.
A rule only changes the return window for orders that match it. Your default days to return still applies to every other order.
A tag can only be used once for each tag type. To delete a rule, select ⋯ at the end of its row, then Remove.
Product rules
Applied using product tags, captured when the order is placed. Retagging a product later won't update orders that already exist.
Excluded products Items with one of these tags can't be returned. Use this for things you never accept back — final sale lines, hygiene products, gift cards, perishables.
Hidden products Items with one of these tags don't appear in the portal at all. Use this when you don't want the item shown to the customer in the first place — free gifts, promotional inserts, samples, or anything that isn't a real returnable line on the order.
The difference in one line: an excluded item is visible but can't be selected; a hidden item isn't shown.
Order rules
Applied using order tags, captured when the order is placed. Retagging an order later won't apply until you manually trigger an order update.
Excluded orders Orders with one of these tags can't be returned at all. Use this for wholesale orders, staff orders, replacement or warranty shipments, or anything fulfilled outside your normal retail flow.
Free returns Orders with one of these tags don't pay a return shipping cost. Use this to honour a promotion, a service recovery gesture, or a channel where you've committed to covering postage.
Customer rules
Applied using customer tags, captured when the order is placed. Retagging a customer later won't update orders that already exist.
Free returns Orders from customers with one of these tags don't pay a return shipping cost. Use this for VIP tiers, subscribers, loyalty members, or wholesale accounts.
Examples
Stop accepting returns on clearance stock - Tag the products clearance in Shopify, then add clearance to Excluded products. Every order placed from then on treats those items as non-returnable.
Hide a free gift from the portal - Tag the gift product gwp in Shopify, then add gwp to Hidden products. Customers see only the items they paid for.
Give your VIPs free returns - Tag those customers vip in Shopify, then add vip to Free returns under Customer rules.
Keep wholesale out of the portal - Tag wholesale orders wholesale in Shopify, then add wholesale to Excluded orders.
Give VIPs 60 days to return - Tag those customers vip in Shopify, then add a Custom days to return rule: Customer, vip, Days, 60.
Extend returns on Christmas orders - Tag gift-season orders xmas in Shopify, then add a rule: Order, xmas, Fixed date, 31 January. Those orders can be returned until the end of 31 January, however early they were placed.
If a rule isn't working
Work through these in order:
Has it been 10 minutes? The portal caches your rules for up to 10 minutes after you save.
Was the order placed before you added the tag in Shopify? Existing orders keep the tags they were created with. Test with a new order.
Is the tag on the right thing? Product rules read product tags, order rules read order tags, customer rules read customer tags. A tag on the customer won't satisfy an order rule.
Does the tag match? Capitalisation doesn't matter, but spelling, spacing and hyphens do.
final-saleandfinal saleare different tags.Did the save go through? You should have seen a "Rules saved" confirmation. Reload the page and check the tag is listed.
Does an earlier rule match first? For custom days to return, the first matching rule wins. Check whether a rule higher up the list also matches the order.
If it still isn't applying, contact support with the order number and the rule you expected to fire.