Automate Ecommerce Refunds and Exchanges with Custom AI

Small ecommerce brands often use Gorgias or Zendesk integrated with Shopify. These tools create tickets from emails, which is a start. But the "automation" is just rule-based macros. A macro can tag an email with "return request," but it cannot read the email to see if the customer wants a refund or an exchange for a different size, nor can it check if the order is within the 30-day return window.

Consider a 20-person apparel brand. A customer emails, "My order #12345 arrived but the medium shirt is too small. Can I swap it for a large?" Your CS agent opens the ticket in Gorgias, clicks over to Shopify, looks up order #12345, and checks the delivery date. It's eligible. Then they check inventory for the large size, create a new draft order, apply a discount, generate a return label, and email it to the customer. This manual process takes 7 minutes of active work per ticket.

The structural issue is that helpdesk tools are designed for communication, not for stateful, multi-step logic. They can trigger actions but cannot perform a sequence of checks: 1. Is the order eligible? 2. Is the requested item in stock? 3. Is this a high-value customer who gets free return shipping? Off-the-shelf automation fails because it cannot hold the context of the request and query multiple systems (Shopify, inventory DB) before taking action. Your team is stuck being the human API between your helpdesk and your store.

The engagement starts with a process audit. Syntora would map out every step of your current returns and exchange workflow, from the customer's first email to the final inventory update. We identify all your business rules: return windows, item eligibility (e.g., no returns on final sale items), and exchange logic. This audit produces a clear system requirements document for your approval.

The core would be a Python service running on AWS Lambda, which keeps hosting costs under $20/month for typical volumes. When a new ticket arrives in your helpdesk, a webhook sends the content to a FastAPI endpoint. The Claude API parses the customer's intent ("refund" vs "exchange") and extracts key details like order number and item. The service then calls the Shopify API to verify the order details and inventory levels before processing the transaction.

The delivered system operates silently in the background. It adds a private note to the Gorgias or Zendesk ticket confirming "Refund for order #12345 processed" or "Exchange order #12346 created," then closes the ticket. Your team only handles the exceptions flagged by the system, like out-of-stock exchange requests or potential fraud cases. You receive the full Python source code, a runbook for managing business rules, and a monitoring dashboard.