AfterShip Returns & Exchanges

I had an extremely frustrating experience with AfterShip Returns and honestly regret wasting so much time setting it up.

As a Shopify business owner, I spent HOURS configuring their return portal, workflows, customer messaging, replacement flows, uploads, and policies — only to discover that one of the most basic and essential return workflow features was locked behind a more expensive plan.

Our business simply wanted to approve replacements without forcing customers to return low-value items. This is a completely normal workflow for modern ecommerce businesses. Instead, the system keeps showing customers return shipping instructions and “items you need to return,” which creates confusion and a terrible customer experience.

What makes this worse is:

• Slow customer support responses
• Being passed between multiple agents
• Generic copy-paste replies
• Wasting time explaining the same issue repeatedly
• Basic functionality hidden behind higher pricing tiers

The most disappointing part is that this wasn’t some advanced enterprise feature. It was a simple operational requirement that many Shopify stores would reasonably expect to have access to.

After spending hours onboarding and customizing everything, they eventually told me the feature required upgrading to a more expensive Pro plan just to allow “keep the item” returns/replacements.

So basically:

1. Spend hours setting everything up
2. Discover critical workflow limitations later
3. Pay more money to unlock practical functionality

This feels incredibly misleading from a merchant perspective.

The support team kept apologizing, but apologies don’t give businesses back their wasted time. The overall experience felt designed to push users into higher-tier plans after they are already invested in the setup process.

If you’re considering AfterShip Returns for a serious ecommerce operation, I strongly recommend testing EVERY workflow limitation first before committing time to setup.

For us, this was a huge waste of time, energy, and effort.

ABSOLUTE SCAM – AVOID AFTERSHIP AT ALL COSTS!

AfterShip has completely scammed us. We signed up for their free trial, found the app way too complicated, and decided not to continue. We never agreed to any subscription or plan after the trial ended. Yet, without any warning or authorization, they charged us over 840 euros across four months for a Premium plan we never opted into or used.

When we reached out to customer service, they were dismissive and hid behind their no-refund policy. They only offered to refund the most recent invoice, completely ignoring the fact that we never used the app and certainly never approved being charged this insane amount. The entire setup process was confusing, and we were misled from the beginning during a call with their team. They conveniently auto-upgrade you without your knowledge and then trap you with ridiculous fees.

To make matters worse, they claim to "check" with their billing team, only to come back with the same copy-paste response about their no-refund policy. They have absolutely zero interest in resolving this fairly and are more than happy to take your money without providing any real service in return.

We’ve paid over 800 euros for something we never used, and their refusal to offer a fair solution is just another sign of how shady their business practices are. They don’t care about their customers or offering any value. If you’re considering AfterShip, run the other way. They will bleed you dry and give you nothing in return.

Avoid AfterShip at all costs unless you want to be scammed like we were!!!

We have been paying customers of AfterShip for a long time, and the platform itself works well, but the customer support experience has recently been deeply disappointing. Our account access was revoked without any prior notice or communication, based on a third-party message that was never verified with us. It took escalation to get our access restored. For a business-critical tool like returns and exchanges, this is not acceptable. The platform has potential, but the account management needs serious improvement.

I have been using this app for a couple years and they have just updated the integration with Shopify so as soon as a return is submitted to their portal (even credit or exchange request) the value of that order comes off your sales total. I have been in contact with the app to understand (unsuccessfully) how it all works as it's a nightmare for reporting. I have been emailing Ryanne for weeks who responds every 8 days. They havent been able to tell me what happens to the sale total when the return is later refunded to a credit (which we offer via a different app). I'm ready to move into a new returns app now the function and the service are both painful.

I have never regretted installing an app more than Aftership Returns. I tried to save some money by not going with Loop and it has been a huge mistake. The amount of time I've spent managing this buggy platform has been much more than the money saved. The exchange for other items feature is not working at all! it's charging customers full price for the exchange order instead of applying the value of the return to their new order. I am now in customer support hell and will likely lose these repeat customers.

This app is a joke. Don't install it, don't subscribe!

I subscribed, but the app didn't work for what I needed, so I canceled and uninstalled it. However, I've been receiving unauthorized charges for three months, as if I were still using the app. I complained to customer service, and they say they'll get back to me as soon as possible. I asked to delete my account and unlink my credit card, since the platform doesn't allow either of these actions. However, they haven't taken any action. The only answer they gave me was, "We'll get back to you as soon as possible." I ask: When will you get back to me? They say "as soon as possible." They didn't give me a deadline for a response, they won't deactivate the account, or they won't unlink my card. This is a complete joke. Don't use this service!

Told us it could do certain features, kept telling us it's possible and we kept trying to make it work. Finally they spent time with their team and realised they were giving us the wrong information.

Wasted our time and energy.

The the way users are managed is unfair and broken. Why do I need to pay for additional seats on top of the per-return rate.

Avoid.

Terrible support, completely wasted my time. I will be removing this app.
I wouldnt use this company

Support has been so terrible I have had to change my review from 5 stars to 1 star. We had a great year with this app but it suddenly broke down and the support has been useless to say the least. I have been working with them in chat and email back and forth daily for two weeks and they frequently just tell me the issue is my courier account even though it's THEIR discounted USPS account that is now broken. Their app won't allow the courier to be deleted and my new personal courier accounts that have been added are not working either.