Instantly refund trusted customers with real-time return fraud detection

Return Fraud Detection is the process of identifying, detecting, and preventing fraudulent eCommerce returns with help from software technology, data analytics and risk scoring. Powerful return fraud detection systems like Instant Refunds use machine learning models to analyze hundreds of data points from multiple sources and identify return requests that are likely to be fraudulent.

Instant Refunds is a machine-learning powered solution that allows merchants to safely offer instant refunds to trusted customers while preventing fraudulent returns.

Instant Refunds analyzes data from return requests alongside hundreds of other data points to assess risk and decide whether the merchant should instantly approve a refund (low risk) or wait for additional verification (high risk).

Instant Refunds helps merchants reduce their operational costs and increase repurchase rates by striking a balance between delighting customers with instant refunds and preventing fraud.

Instant Refunds is available globally for merchants who sell physical goods with returns initiated online. There are no geographic restrictions on the availability of Instant Refunds beyond standard GFP limits.

Instant Refunds is designed to protect against several types of return fraud, including empty box returns, fake returns, and product switching. Instant Refunds uses an ML-powered model to analyze hundreds of different signals from various sources to determine whether any given return is likely to be fraudulent. These signals include the return request information, along with customer behavior data, payment data, historical transaction data, and more.

Instant Refunds is designed to be RMA-agnostic. Our platform provides an Intelligence Layer in your existing returns process, working alongside your existing RMA platform by tagging return requests or returning a decision without replacing or disrupting your current return processing workflow.

Yes. Instant Refunds is hosted on Signifyd cloud servers with a fully scalable back-end, ensuring seamless scalability even during periods of high volume such as holidays and product launches.

No. Instant Refunds allows merchants to instantly approve refunds for trusted customers in low-risk situations. The amount of time it takes for the customer to receive their refund depends on their payment method and bank.

If a good customer is flagged incorrectly as a high-risk customer, they may not be eligible for an instant refund and further verification will be required before a refund is given. If an incorrectly flagged customer makes one or more acceptable returns, they may become eligible for instant refunds again in the future.

Setting up Instant Refunds is fast, easy, and won’t interfere with your current returns process. Instant Refunds integrates seamlessly into your existing returns processing workflow via API integration or by transmitting return requests to Signifyd using Shopify tags.

No. Our data shows that enabling instant refunds for low-risk return requests enhances customer satisfaction, reduces customer support inquiries, and can actually increase your NPS score while lowering your operational costs.

Return abuse happens when customers take advantage of a merchant’s return policy to obtain unearned benefits at the merchant’s expense. Examples of return abuse include:

• Wardrobing - Purchasing an item to wear it a single time before returning it to the merchant for a refund.
• Bracketing - Purchasing multiple versions (sizes, colors, etc.) of a specific item with the intention of returning most of those items at the merchant’s expense.

Return fraud happens when a customer obtains a refund without returning the item to the merchant. Examples of return fraud include:

• Empty Box Fraud - Claiming to have received an empty box from the merchant in order to obtain a refund.
• Return Switching - Returning an older, stolen, damaged, or counterfeited version of the item instead of the actual item received from the merchant.