Shop Now

Updated 11 November 2026

Overview

This article explains Shop Now, which lets a shopper spend their return credit on new items right away, inside the portal. It is an exchange for anything in your store rather than for one replacement. It covers how the credit is worked out, what happens to a leftover, when the Shop Now order is created, and what the shopper sees. The settings themselves are described in Shop Now (policy card) and Shop Now collections.

Use the menu on the left to quickly navigate this article.

Before you start

• Stripe connected under Tools > Integrations. The Shop Now card reads Shop Now requires Stripe. until it is.
• A return policy with Shop Now switched on under Policy > Return Policies, the Return outcomes tab.
• Collections to browse, built under Policy > Shop Now.

Shop Now

How it works

The credit. The credit is the value of the items being returned plus the tax paid on them, plus any Shop Now bonus. The cart spends the shopper's own credit first and the bonus last. If the cart costs more than the credit, the shopper pays the difference by card at submit. If it costs less, there is a leftover.

The leftover. Leftover credit is the credit minus the cart. At submit the shopper chooses whether the leftover comes back to their original payment method or as store credit, and the bonus falls away on the refunded part: a bonus can only ever be spent, never paid out as cash. The question appears only when both Refund and Store credit are enabled on the policy for every item in the return; otherwise the leftover goes back to the original payment method.

The bonus. A bonus on Shop Now is a discount on the new order, never money. A percentage bonus is a percentage of the credit the shopper receives, so 20 percent means 20 percent. Set maximum bonus caps a percentage bonus at a fixed amount in your store currency; with it off, the bonus has no cap. A workflow can change the bonus with Set Shop Now bonus credit or add a cart discount with Set Shop Now discount.

A worked example. A shopper returns a 60.00 hoodie with 4.80 tax on a policy with a 10.00 bonus, so the credit is 74.80. A 50.00 cart leaves 24.80, of which 10.00 is bonus; the shopper gets 14.80 back. A 90.00 cart uses all 74.80 and the shopper pays 15.20 by card.

When it processes. Shop Now has no processing event of its own. It uses the Exchange card's processing event on the same policy. The two toggles are independent: with Exchange off and Shop Now on, Shop Now is still offered and the card reads Shop Now uses the Exchange outcome's processing event, and Exchange is off on this policy. Shop Now returns wait for you to process them. A workflow's Set return processing event overrides either.

Tax-inclusive stores. On a store whose prices include tax, no tax is added on top of a Shop Now cart.

Note: On a return page the Purchased card lists the new items with Cart total, Shop Now bonus and either Customer owes or Remaining credit, and the Return summary shows the card payment taken at submit. The Shop Now order is created in Shopify when the return processes, with the exchange order prefix from Policy > General. If a cart item drops to or below your Minimum inventory before processing, the returns list shows an Out of stock chip and Automate out-of-stock scenarios decides what happens; see Exchanges.

What the shopper sees

1. On the items page, an offer card reading Shop Now and get X added to your return credit. when a bonus applies, or Shop Now and use your return credit on new items. when none does.
2. A Shop Now page with your collections down the side, a product grid, and a product window with colour and size choices. A sold-out combination reads This selection is out of stock.
3. Add to Cart opens Your cart, which shows Cart subtotal, Return credit and either You pay or Remaining credit.
4. Continue to Review checks stock on every cart item first and stops with the item named if one has sold out.
5. On the review page, the question Where should your leftover credit go? with Back to my original payment method and As store credit when it applies, then any card payment, then Submit Return.

Screenshot

The Shop Now page with the collections sidebar, grid and open cart drawer

Important: Money taken for a cart above the credit is a real card charge, and a leftover paid back is a real refund, so check the figures on the return page before processing. If Shopify refuses a leftover refund at processing, the return is held with a banner naming the amount until you retry or refund it by hand.

Shop Now collections

This section covers the Shop Now page under Policy, which sets the collections shoppers browse in Shop Now. Whether Shop Now is offered, and any bonus credit, is set in each return policy; this page only builds the sidebar menu.

Before you start: Shop Now switched on in at least one return policy. Stripe connected under Tools > Integrations, so a shopper can pay for a cart that costs more than their return credit.

Adding a collection

In the admin, go to Policy > Shop Now, the Shop Now collections card.

1. Click + Add Collection.
2. Type a Display name, for example Apparel.
3. Choose a Source type: Product type, Product tag or Shopify collection.
4. Type the Source value: the product type, the tag, or the collection handle such as summer-2024.
5. Click Save Changes in the bar at the foot of the page.

Screenshot

Policy > Shop Now, a collection open in the editor with its display name, source type and source value

Settings

• Shop Now collections: the list of menu entries. Each entry shows its name, its source, for example Collection: summer-2024, and how many sub-menus it has. Use Move up and Move down to reorder entries and Delete to remove one. An entry with no name reads Untitled collection.
• Sub-menus: + Add Sub-menu adds a narrower entry under a collection, with a Label (for example Long Sleeves), a filter of Product type or Tag, and a Filter value. With no sub-menus the editor reads No sub-menus. All products in this collection will show in one list.

Important: While Stripe is not connected the page shows a banner: Shop Now checkout charges the customer's card when the cart exceeds the return credit, so customers cannot complete a Shop Now purchase until you connect Stripe.

What the shopper sees

The collections as the sidebar of the Shop Now page, in the order set here, with sub-menus under each. Only products available on your Online Store sales channel are shown when Match online store product availability is on under Policy > General, Exchanges.

Screenshot

The shopper's Shop Now page with the collections sidebar and a sub-menu open

FAQ

Can a shopper use Shop Now if the policy has exchanges switched off? Yes. Shop Now is its own toggle. With Exchange off, Shop Now returns wait for you to process them by hand.

What happens to the bonus if the shopper spends less than their credit? The unused bonus is dropped. Only the shopper's own credit comes back, as a refund or as store credit, whichever they chose at submit.

What if a Shop Now item sells out before I process the return? The returns list shows an Out of stock chip and the return page a banner reading The requested replacement is out of stock. At processing, Automate out-of-stock scenarios under Policy > General converts it to your fallback or holds it in Needs review.

The Shop Now sidebar is empty. No collections are configured: the card reads No collections configured. Add a collection to populate the Shop Now sidebar. Add at least one before turning Shop Now on in a policy.

Where do I find a collection handle? In your Shopify admin open the collection; the handle is the last part of its storefront URL, for example summer-2024 in /collections/summer-2024.

Can I hide sold-out products? Products below your inventory threshold at the chosen locations are not offered. See Locations.

Please reach out to support@returnzen.app with any additional questions.