# Returns requests and tracking for small online shops Returns requests and tracking for small online shops is a SaaS idea for small online clothing, shoe and homeware shops handling returns by email, priced to test at $29 a month per shop. Return requests arrive as emails with no order number, no reason and blurry photos. With it, customers start a return from a link with their order number, reason and photos, and the shop approves it in one place. _Published 19 Oct 2026. A starting point we wrote, not market research: run the 7-day test before you build._ ## What problem does it solve? Return requests arrive as emails with no order number, no reason and blurry photos. Staff go back and forth, lose track of parcels on the way back, and refunds go out late. **Why now:** Shoppers now check the returns policy before they buy, so an easy return has become part of selling. ## What do they use today? Most shops take returns by email or a contact form, and track what is on its way back in a spreadsheet. Some use the basic returns page that comes with their online store. ## How does it work? A customer opens the shop’s returns form, enters an order number and email for the form to check, then gives a reason, adds photos and picks an exchange or a refund. Staff approve, reject or ask a question from one queue, and the customer gets a status email at each step. Later the owner reads a report of return reasons by product. ## What goes in the first version? - Branded returns form that checks the order number and email - Reasons, photos and exchange or refund choice - Approve, reject or ask a question in one queue - Status emails to the customer at each step - Report of return reasons by product ## Who pays, and how much? - **Who pays:** Small online clothing, shoe and homeware shops handling returns by email - **Price to test:** $29 a month per shop A shop has one returns policy, so one flat monthly price per shop is easy to follow. It does not rise after a sale or in a busy season, when returns pile up. ## How to test it in 7 days 1. Ask ten owners in small-business ecommerce subreddits how they handle return requests today. 2. Replace one shop’s returns email with a simple form for a week and count the emails it saves. 3. Read reviews of existing returns apps and list what small shops complain about. ## Where to find the first customers - Small-business ecommerce subreddits - Online shop owner groups on Facebook - Freelance developers and agencies who build online stores ## What are the risks? - Online store platforms keep adding basic returns, so focus on photos and reasons. - Order lookups need an integration with each store platform; start with one. ## How to build it on shipanysaas 4 of the parts it needs are already in the kit. Get the kit, open it in Claude Code, Codex or Cursor, and paste the starting prompt. **Already in the kit:** Teams and roles, Billing, Emails, In-app notifications **You build:** - Order lookup through one store platform’s API - Returns form and approval queue - Return reasons report [Get the kit](https://www.shipanysaas.com/pricing) ### The starting prompt ```text You are in a fresh copy of the shipanysaas starter kit, a pnpm and Turborepo monorepo: the Next.js web app is in apps/web and the Supabase database, with its migrations, in apps/web/supabase. Help me build the first version of Returns requests and tracking for small online shops. Read AGENTS.md first, then the AGENTS.md in every folder you work in: the kit's rules there win over your defaults. When a skill in .agents/skills (also in .claude/skills and .cursor/skills) matches a task, use it. ## The product - What it does: Customers start a return from a link with their order number, reason and photos, and the shop approves it in one place. - Who pays: Small online clothing, shoe and homeware shops handling returns by email - Their problem: Return requests arrive as emails with no order number, no reason and blurry photos. Staff go back and forth, lose track of parcels on the way back, and refunds go out late. - Price to test: $29 a month per shop (a plan in apps/web/config/billing.config.ts) ## Build only this first version 1. Branded returns form that checks the order number and email 2. Reasons, photos and exchange or refund choice 3. Approve, reject or ask a question in one queue 4. Status emails to the customer at each step 5. Report of return reasons by product ## Already in the kit: reuse it, never rebuild it - Teams and roles: team accounts with members, roles and invitations - Billing: Stripe or Lemon Squeezy subscriptions, per seat or usage-based, and one-off payments - Emails: transactional email through Resend or Nodemailer - In-app notifications: a notifications bell in the web app ## New code it needs - Order lookup through one store platform’s API - Returns form and approval queue - Return reasons report ## How to work 1. Plan first: list the database tables (with row-level security, so each team only sees its own rows), the pages and the server actions for the first feature. Then stop and wait for my OK. 2. Build one feature at a time with the kit's own UI and form components, with a migration for every schema change and user-facing text in the translation files. 3. After each feature, run the verification steps in AGENTS.md, fix what they find, and tell me what you built and what comes next. ## Rules - Ask me before you add a dependency, delete a file, or change sign-in, billing or the admin panel. - Leave the parts of the kit this product doesn't use as they are. Done when every first-version feature works for a signed-in team and the AGENTS.md checks pass. ``` ### Guides for the parts it uses - [How to add Stripe embedded checkout to a Next.js + Supabase app](https://www.shipanysaas.com/blog/nextjs-supabase-stripe-embedded-checkout) - [Multi-tenant SaaS architecture: teams, roles and invitations done right](https://www.shipanysaas.com/blog/multi-tenant-saas-teams-roles-invitations) - [How to add in-app notifications to a Next.js + Supabase app](https://www.shipanysaas.com/blog/nextjs-supabase-in-app-notifications) ## More ideas: Online shops - [Wholesale ordering portal for small product brands](https://www.shipanysaas.com/saas-ideas/wholesale-ordering-portal): Small brands give their stockists a sign-in to see wholesale prices, place repeat orders and download invoices. - [Box contents and packing lists for subscription boxes](https://www.shipanysaas.com/saas-ideas/subscription-box-packing-plans): Subscription box businesses plan each month’s contents, respect subscriber preferences and print packing lists that say exactly what goes in each box. - [Materials stock and reorder alerts for makers](https://www.shipanysaas.com/saas-ideas/maker-materials-reorder-alerts): Makers list what goes into each product, sales count down their materials, and they get a warning before anything runs out. - [All SaaS ideas](https://www.shipanysaas.com/saas-ideas) - [Try the free generator](https://www.shipanysaas.com/saas-ideas#generator)