I am seeking clarification regarding the return request process in Shopify.
After creating a fulfillment using the fulfillmentCreate mutation, an order (or its line items) are marked as “fulfilled.” At this stage, it becomes possible to initiate a return request for the fulfilled line items.
However, there does not appear to be any mechanism within Shopify to confirm whether the order has actually been delivered to the customer before allowing a return. Is there an official way to verify delivery status, or does Shopify permit return requests solely based on fulfillment status—regardless of delivery confirmation?
Hey @Shopify_Wal_App , nice to see you on the forums again here! It does depend on the particular way a merchant or fulfillment service has set up their integration, but we do offer a way of tracking if an order is in a particular status of delivery using fulfillment events:
For example, if an order has left the local carrier facility and is on its way to the customer, the fulfillment service could run a fulfillment event creation mutation and set the status to: “OUT_FOR_DELIVERY”.
That said, technically once an order flips its status to “fulfilled” it does become eligible for a return, but you could use fulfillment events to track the status if the merchant/fulfillment service is making use of them.