This role checks order records, gathers return details, follows up on fulfillment issues, and sends unusual cases to the right owner. The assistant collects the facts. Your team approves refunds, replacements, fraud actions, inventory promises, and policy exceptions.
This role fits stores with repeat order states, written return rules, traceable records, and a named person who decides exceptions. It is not ready when return outcomes are negotiated case by case or nobody owns fulfillment problems.
Need someone to run the wider inbox, answer product questions, and manage reply tone? Use the ecommerce customer support assistant guide instead.
Use this as a starting point for the role brief. Replace it with your store policy, sales channels, fulfillment setup, and named approvers before live work begins.
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| Request or event | Assistant can do | Assistant must hold | Store owner decides |
|---|---|---|---|
| Order status or tracking question | Check the order and carrier records, note any conflict, and prepare a factual update. | A missing scan, lost-package sign, or delivery date that cannot be verified. | Approve a reship, refund, carrier claim, or new delivery promise. |
| Address change or cancellation | Record the request, order stage, cutoff, identity check, and any risk flag. | The order has entered fulfillment, the customer cannot be verified, or the written cutoff has passed. | Approve the address change, cancellation, or fraud response. |
| Standard return request | Gather the order record, item, reason, photos, customer history, and the matching policy section. | The item is outside the window or involves final sale, hygiene, warranty, damage, or another exception. | Decide eligibility, fees, refund, replacement, or a policy exception. |
| Exchange request | Confirm the requested item and variant, record the price difference, and prepare the request for review. | Stock is low, inventory is not reserved, the price changed, or the request crosses a sales channel or country. | Commit inventory, change the price, or approve the exchange. |
| Damaged or missing item | Collect photos, packaging details, SKU, quantity, tracking history, and the fulfillment record. | The claim involves safety, a high-value order, repeat claims, or evidence that does not agree. | Approve compensation, replacement, refund, or an investigation. |
| Warehouse or carrier follow-up | Send an approved factual question, save the reply, and update the order note. | The reply involves liability, compensation, stock promises, or a customer commitment. | Choose the escalation outcome and customer remedy. |
Use a delayed order with conflicting tracking, a complete return inside the written window, and a damaged high-value item that must be escalated. Pay for the candidate's time, and use fictional or redacted customer data.
Open the review sheetUse fictional or closed cases to practice order checks, return intake, evidence notes, and escalation. Keep access view-only where possible, and review every output before anyone contacts a customer or changes an order.
Start with tracking checks or complete, in-window return intake. The assistant gathers facts and prepares notes while the owner still approves every message, order change, and money decision.
Add approved warehouse or carrier questions and return-record updates. Hold any case with conflicting evidence, low stock, a high-value order, or a request outside the written rules.
Check record accuracy, missing evidence, late escalations, reopened cases, held decisions, and manager time. Add another request type only when the first one can be checked without rebuilding the case.
A clean case shows the source records, missing evidence, written rule, held action, owner, and next step. Sample the records often enough to catch mistakes before the role receives more request types or access.
Choose customer support when the main work is ticket triage, approved replies, macros, tone, and the wider help-desk queue.
Open planning pageScore one order exception note or return intake record before giving the role live cases or wider access.
Open planning pageName each store, carrier, warehouse, and help-desk account, then lock payment, refund, inventory, and admin actions.
Open planning pageInclude tool seats, setup, training, case review, manager exceptions, and a first-month buffer before comparing quotes.
Open planning pageGive every provider the same request types, blocked actions, access limits, sample case, and review steps.
Open planning pageCompare order operations with customer support, product data, inventory reports, and public reply work.
Open planning pageOrder and returns support checks records, gathers evidence, prepares return or exchange requests, follows up with fulfillment partners, and sends unusual cases to the right owner. Ecommerce customer support manages the wider ticket queue, approved replies, macros, tone, and product questions.
Keep approval with a named store owner at the start. The assistant can gather the order history, item details, photos, reason, customer history, and matching policy section, but the owner decides refunds, credits, replacements, exchanges, fees, and exceptions.
The assistant can record the request and check the order stage, cutoff, and identity details. A store owner should approve any change after checkout, especially when fulfillment has started or the request affects payment, fraud checks, inventory, or delivery promises.
Start with named, limited accounts for order records, carrier tracking, the help desk, and the warehouse contact path. Keep payment settings, refunds, broad exports, inventory changes, user administration, and destructive actions locked.
Use fictional or redacted cases and pay for the candidate's time. Check whether they find the right records, gather complete evidence, apply the written rule, write a clear note, hold the risky action, and send the case to the right owner.
Score the role while the owner, blocked actions, or review time are still unclear. Write the provider brief after the store rules, sample case, access limits, and approvers are named.
Use OutsourcedU to write the role, SOPs, onboarding steps, and weekly review before you hire more people.