Zendesk

Updated 11 November 2026

Overview

This article covers the Zendesk integration. Once it is set up, an agent who opens a ticket in Zendesk sees that shopper's returns in the ticket's apps panel, newest first, without leaving Zendesk. Each return opens into sections with its items, shipment and history, and its RMA opens the return's page in ReturnZen.

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

On its own the app only reads. You can let agents approve, reject or cancel a return from Zendesk by ticking those actions on the Zendesk page. Processing a return stays in ReturnZen.

Before you start

• A Zendesk account where you are an admin, on a plan that allows private apps, because installing one needs Admin Center.
• The Owner or an Admin role in ReturnZen. The pages under Tools are open to the Owner and Admins only.

The Zendesk card

In the admin, go to Tools > Integrations. Find the Zendesk card. Its line reads Show a shopper's returns beside their ticket in Zendesk. The card works like the others: it reads Connect before a key exists and Manage after, and a click anywhere on it opens the Zendesk page.

Screenshot

Tools > Integrations, the Zendesk card with its switch and the Connect button

• The switch: turns the integration on or off without deleting the key. It is locked until a key exists, and its tooltip reads Connect Zendesk to enable it. While it is off the key is paused, and the app in Zendesk shows The Zendesk integration is switched off in ReturnZen. Turn it on in Tools > Integrations. Switch it back on and the same key works again.

The Zendesk page

In the admin, go to Tools > Integrations and click the Zendesk card. The page shows the setup steps, then the key, the app download and the Actions in Zendesk card.

Screenshot

The Zendesk page with the setup steps, the Create Key button and the Download Zendesk App button

• Status: Not connected while the store has no key. Connected once a key exists, and Connected on followed by the date once Zendesk has used it.
• Create Key: makes the key the Zendesk app uses to read your returns. The key is shown once, in a dialog titled Your Zendesk Key that reads Copy this key now. It will not be shown again., with a Copy Key button. ReturnZen does not keep a readable copy, and the key is gone as soon as you close the dialog, so copy it first. Afterwards the page shows only Key starting rzh_ with the first 8 characters and the date it was created.
• Download Zendesk App: saves the file returnzen-zendesk-app.zip. This is the app you upload to Zendesk.
• Revoke Key: deletes the key. The confirmation reads Revoke this key? Zendesk will stop showing returns until a new key is saved.

Note: Each store has one key. To replace it, click Revoke Key first, then Create Key, and save the new key in the app's settings in Zendesk. While a key exists, a second one is refused with This store already has a key. Revoke it before creating a new one.

• Actions in Zendesk: a card with one box each for Approve, Reject and Cancel. All three are off until you tick them. See Actions from Zendesk.
• Your Zendesk app is out of date. Download the app and upload it in Zendesk again.: shown when the app installed in Zendesk is older than the one ReturnZen offers. See Updating the app.

Setting it up

1. In ReturnZen, go to Tools > Integrations and click the Zendesk card. Click Create Key, then Copy Key.
2. On the same page, click Download Zendesk App.
3. In Zendesk, open Admin Center.
4. Go to Apps and integrations, then Apps, then Zendesk Support apps.
5. Click Upload private app. Name it ReturnZen, choose the zip file and click Upload. Click Upload again to confirm.
6. On the install page, paste the key into ReturnZen key and click Install.
7. Back in ReturnZen, on Tools > Integrations, check that the switch on the Zendesk card is on.

Tip: Zendesk renames its menus from time to time. If a name in steps 3 to 5 does not match what you see, look for the place where private apps are uploaded.

Screenshot

Zendesk Admin Center, the install page for the ReturnZen app with the ReturnZen key field

What agents see

Open a ticket in Zendesk and open the apps panel at the right of the ticket. The ReturnZen app looks up the ticket requester's email address and lists that shopper's returns in your store, newest first, up to 20.

Each return is laid out in sections that open and close:

• RMA Summary: the RMA ID, which opens the return's page in ReturnZen, the order name and the status. The copy icon to the left of the order name copies it. This section starts open.
• Returned Items: each item with its product picture, SKU, quantity, outcome, reason, answers and the price paid. An answer to a workflow question reads Yes or No.
• Return details: the return policy, the return method and the return's total.
• Shipment: the carrier, the shipping status, the tracking number of the return label, a link to the label and the address the return ships to. For USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL and Canada Post the tracking number is a link that opens the carrier's tracking page in a new tab.
• History: the 10 newest entries from the return's timeline, newest first.

Refresh loads the returns again.

Screenshot

A Zendesk ticket with the ReturnZen app in the apps panel, listing two returns

• No returns for this shopper.: the requester's email address has no returns in your store.
• Couldn't load returns. Check the ReturnZen key in this app's settings.: the app could not read from ReturnZen. Most often the key was revoked or pasted incorrectly. In ReturnZen, click Revoke Key, then Create Key, and save the new key in the app's settings in Zendesk.
• The Zendesk integration is switched off in ReturnZen. Turn it on in Tools > Integrations.: the switch on the Zendesk card is off. Switch it on and the list comes back.

Actions from Zendesk

In the admin, go to Tools > Integrations, click the Zendesk card, and find the Actions in Zendesk card.

Tick the actions your agents may take: Approve, Reject and Cancel. A ticked action shows as a button on a return in Zendesk whenever the return's page in ReturnZen would offer the same button. A return that is already rejected or cancelled shows no buttons.

Each button asks before it acts:

• Approve asks Approve this return?, with Cancel and Approve Return.
• Reject asks Reject this return? and adds This cannot be undone., with a Rejection reason (optional) box. The shopper gets the rejection email, the same as when you reject in ReturnZen.
• Cancel gives the same warning about the return label as the return's page, with the label's cost, and a Cancellation reason (optional) box, then Keep Return and Cancel Return. The reason is added to the cancel entry in the return's history. The shopper does not see it.

An action taken in Zendesk does what the same button does in ReturnZen. The return's timeline records it and ends the entry with From Zendesk, by and the agent's name. A cancel reads Return cancelled, followed by the reason when one was typed.

When a cancel could not void the return label, the app says so in one sentence: The label could not be voided because the carrier shows it as shipped. or The label could not be voided. EasyPost did not accept the request.

• This action is switched off for Zendesk in ReturnZen.: the box for that action is not ticked on the Zendesk page.

Note: If the return changed while the agent had the ticket open, the action is refused and the return stays as it was. Click Refresh and look again.

Important: These buttons act on the real return, and a rejection cannot be undone. Tick only the actions you want your agents to have.

Updating the app

When ReturnZen offers a newer app than the one you installed, the Zendesk page reads Your Zendesk app is out of date. Download the app and upload it in Zendesk again. The installed app keeps working until you update it, but it keeps its older look and misses anything added since.

1. In ReturnZen, go to Tools > Integrations, click the Zendesk card and click Download Zendesk App.
2. In Zendesk, open Admin Center and go to Apps and integrations, then Apps, then Zendesk Support apps.
3. Open the ReturnZen app, choose Update and upload the new zip file.
4. If Zendesk asks for the key again, paste your store's key. A key is shown only once, so if nobody kept it, click Revoke Key and then Create Key in ReturnZen and paste the new one.

How it works

The app sends the requester's email address and your key to ReturnZen, and ReturnZen answers with that shopper's returns for your store only. The lookup is by the email address on the ticket, so a shopper who wrote in from a different address than the one on their order shows no returns.

The key reads returns. With actions ticked on the Zendesk page, it can also approve, reject or cancel a return, and nothing more. It cannot process or edit a return, and it gives no access to the rest of your account.

Related articles

• The Integrations page
• The returns list

FAQ

Can agents process a return from Zendesk? No. Agents can approve, reject or cancel a return from Zendesk once you tick those actions on the Zendesk page. To process a return, click the RMA ID to open it in ReturnZen.

Why do my agents see no buttons? Either no action is ticked on the Zendesk page, the app in Zendesk is out of date, or the return is in a state where ReturnZen offers no such button.

Do agents need a ReturnZen login? Not to see the returns or to use the action buttons. They need one to open a return's page from its RMA ID.

I lost the key. Can I see it again? No. Revoke it, create a new one and paste the new key into the app's settings in Zendesk.

What happens when I switch Zendesk off? The key is paused, not deleted. Agents see a line saying the integration is switched off. Nothing else in ReturnZen changes. Switch it back on and the same key works, with nothing to paste into Zendesk again.

Does it work with other helpdesks? Zendesk is the only one today.

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