The native Shopify app lets your teammates handle order compensation, customer sync, and auditing without ever leaving the Intercom inbox. Process refunds, issue gift cards, and create replacement orders all from the Shopify sidebar.
How it works
Here's how to set up the feature and what teammates can do with it once it's enabled.
Settings & configuration
Admins configure the feature from Settings > Integrations > App Store > Shopify > Settings before teammates can use it. These settings are the single source of truth for what teammates see — there is nothing to toggle elsewhere:
Compensation features — six on/off toggles (Partial refunds, Replacement orders, Gift card compensation, Replacement items, Per-item refund reasons, Discount codes). Turning one off hides its action from the sidebar for all teammates.
Default refund reasons — configure the refund reason dropdown shared by the refund, replacement, and gift card modals, applied across all stores. You can add new reasons, edit or remove existing ones, and drag the handle to reorder them. The standard set is: Item damaged or defective, Wrong item received, Customer changed mind, and Item not as described.
Gift card compensation limits — set the max gift card value as a percentage of order total per store; blank = default 150%.
Order status display
The Shopify sidebar in the Intercom inbox shows all order statuses dynamically. Each order displays:
Order ID, store, and date
Payment status: Pending, Authorized, Partially paid, Paid, Partially refunded, Refunded, or Voided
Fulfillment status: Fulfilled, Unfulfilled, Partially fulfilled, or Restocked
Line items with prices and quantities, subtotal, shipping, tax, and total price
Shipping and billing address
Note: Statuses update automatically when the sidebar loads on conversation open, when switching stores, and after any compensation action. There's no manual refresh.
Refunds
Teammates can refund individual line items from the Shopify sidebar by clicking the Refund order action icon on any order. The refund modal supports:
Single item refund: select one line item; the refund amount matches the item price including tax
Multiple quantity refund: select a line item and set the quantity to refund (e.g., 2 of 3); amount = unit price × quantity refunded
Shipping refund only: refund the shipping fee without any line items, useful for late delivery situations
Shipping + line items: refund both in a single action
Refund amounts are auto-calculated from the selected line items — there's no free-text input. Once shipping has been refunded on an order, that option is disabled.
A mandatory reason dropdown is required before submitting. You can customize the available reason categories to match your support workflows.
Replacement orders
Teammates can create a replacement order from the Shopify sidebar by clicking the Create replacement order action icon. The modal lets you:
Item selection: Select which items to include in the replacement order, with quantity selectors
$0 pricing: “A new order will be created with all selected items at $0.00. The original order will NOT be modified.”
Reason for replacement: Mandatory dropdown with standardised options (Item damaged or defective, Wrong item received, Customer changed mind, Item not as described, etc.)
Shipping address: Defaults to original order address with option to “Use different address”
The new order is created in Shopify as Paid and Unfulfilled, ready for fulfillment.
It maintains a link back to the original order and displays a "Replacement Order for #XXXX" header with the reason text in the Intercom sidebar.
Tip: The long Shopify order ID of the original order is stored in both the order note (free text) and note_attributes (structured data) for programmatic access.
Replacement items
Separately from full replacement orders, teammates can add a single replacement item to an existing order by clicking the Add replacement item action icon. The modal lets you:
Select item: choose one line item to replace. Gift cards, out-of-stock items, and items already fully refunded can't be selected.
Quantity: set how many units to replace (up to the remaining refundable quantity).
Reason: enter a reason (required).
Notify customer: optional checkbox (off by default) to notify the customer.
You add one item per action. Each addition is recorded as a Replacement items event in the Auditing events tab.
Gift card compensation
Teammates can issue a gift card from the Shopify sidebar by clicking the Issue gift card compensation action icon. The modal includes:
Gift card value: Auto-calculated from the selected line items and fully editable by the agent — they can set it to any amount.
Maximum 150% of order total: The value can't exceed 150% of the order total (plus any per-store limit set in Settings). Values above the limit disable the submit button.
Reason for compensation: Mandatory dropdown with standardised options (same options as replacement orders). Appears after selecting items. The reason is tied to the specific line items being compensated (line-level, not order-level).
Expiry date: Date picker, defaults to 1 year from today. Mandatory field.
“Without item selection” option: Allows issuing a gift card not linked to specific items.
Follow-up action: “Send gift card to customer” checkbox (default: on) — emails the gift card code immediately.
Selected line items are marked as refunded at $0.00 for tracking purposes, blocking them from further compensation.
Note: The gift card note includes the long Shopify order ID, as this is the only viable data structure on the Shopify gift card object for storing the order reference.
Auditing events
Workspace admins with "Manage apps and integrations" permission can review all Shopify compensation actions from the Auditing events tab in the Shopify app settings (go to Settings > Integrations > App Store > Shopify).
The tab tracks four compensation event types:
Refund orders: when a teammate issues a refund
Replacement orders: when a teammate creates a replacement order
Gift card compensations: when a teammate issues a gift card
Replacement items: when a teammate adds a replacement item
The tab shows a preview of the last 10 events, ordered newest-first. Use the From and To date pickers to filter by date range (default: last 30 days).
Click Export CSV to export a full record within the selected date range. The CSV includes 23 columns covering:
Basic info: timestamp, teammate name, teammate email, IP address, and details
Order info: compensation type, order ID, order name, Shopify domain, and conversation ID
Context: reason, refund type, and note
Replacement-specific fields: new order ID and new order name
Gift card-specific fields: gift card value, ID, code, and expiry date
Line item-specific fields: line item ID, title, quantity, and details
Note: CSV exports are limited to a maximum date range of 90 days and 50,000 events per export.
How Intercom differs from Shopify Admin
The Shopify sidebar in Intercom is purpose-built for support compensation workflows. Here's how it compares to Shopify Admin:
Capability | Shopify Admin | Intercom inbox |
Refund amount | Free-text — teammate can enter any amount | Auto-calculated from selected line items (no manual override, by design) |
Refund reason | Free-text field | Standardized dropdown (configurable per workspace) |
Restock on refund | Manual checkbox + location picker | Automatic based on fulfillment status (no location picker) |
Tax on refund | Manual entry | Auto-calculated proportionally |
Gift card value cap | No limit | Capped at 150% of order total, cumulative across all gift cards on the order |
Gift card line-item tracking | Standalone — not tied to order items | Tied to specific line items, blocks double compensation |
Replacement orders | No native concept | Custom workflow — creates a $0 order linked to the original |
Compensation auditing | Basic order timeline | Dedicated auditing tab with date filtering and CSV export |
Order cancellation | Supported | Not available — teammates must use Shopify |
Fulfillment management | Mark fulfilled, assign tracking, notifications | Not available |
Returns / exchanges | Returns API | Not available |
Discount code creation | Supported | List, create, and disable (when enabled) |
Order editing | Supported | Only via replacement order or draft order |
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