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Returns API For Managing Pre-Paid Return Labels & Reverse Logistics

Automate return labels, streamline workflows & reduce costs

Easyship's Returns Management API turns an approved return into a return label, a routed reverse shipment and live inbound tracking across 550+ services. Your portal keeps the policy and refund logic.

  • Save up to 91% on rates
  • Access 550+ courier services
  • Ship to 200+ destinations
  • 24/7 global support

Why Brands Trust Easyship's Returns API

One call turns an approved return into a reverse shipment: a return label, the routing destination you choose and live inbound tracking or insurance. A single global integration for UPS, FedEx, DHL Express, USPS, Royal Mail, Australia Post or any of the 550+ global services in one universal format.

Unified Management

Create and manage return shipments for every carrier through one returns integration and schema.

Pre-Paid Return Labels

Generate pre-paid return labels for supported carriers and markets so customers never need to buy postage.

Fast Return Routing

Send each return to the warehouse, seller, repair center or processing site that should receive it.

Pay-On-Use Returns

Issue a label with every approved return and pay for it only when the customer ships it back.

Live Return Tracking

Push inbound status updates to customers, support teams and all other connected systems through webhooks.

Custom Returns Logic

Keep your order IDs, return reasons, authorization rules and refund workflows exactly as they are.

How does the Returns API work?

The Returns Management API connects to your workflow once a customer return is approved. Your system links the order to its Easyship shipment, then one call creates the reverse shipment, generates the label and starts inbound tracking.

  • Generate your API key to access 550+ global services
  • Identify the original order and its Easyship shipment
  • Create the return shipment from that original shipment ID
  • Set the return address, parcel details and carrier service
  • Generate the return label and track the parcel inbound

Compare a returns API to dedicated returns platform

Dedicated returns platforms own the whole experience: portal, policy engine, refund workflow and analytics. Easyship supplies the shipping infrastructure underneath, so your systems keep the policies and Easyship's returns API handles label selection, returns routing and inbound tracking.

Optimize every return for cost, routing and experience

Every return created through the API carries its own rules: a different return address, updated parcel data for partial returns, a chosen carrier service and tracking wired into your workflows. Domestic, marketplace or cross-border, the shipping logic follows the return that is processed.

Embed return shipping inside your own storefront or portal

Return shipping sits inside your order history, customer account, marketplace or support portal, including storefronts on Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and Magento. The customer sees your interface, picks the products and gets a label, all in your own branding and returns experience.

What is a Returns Management API?

Easyship's Returns Management API, often called a returns API, connects an eCommerce store, marketplace or logistics platform with the shipping services needed to process product returns programmatically. Your commerce system owns the return merchandise authorization (RMA), according to business policy, and Easyship delivers the global shipping.

IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT

Get Expert API Guidance & Implementation Support

Not sure how to get started? Generate your free API Key by clicking "Start Free" or complete this form to speak directly with an implementation expert. What once took months to build can now be achieved in days.

  • Risk-Free: Start with our free plan—no credit card required
  • Global Network: One API endpoint for 550+ global carrier services
  • Quick Setup: Generate your API Key and start building in minutes

Have Questions? We Have Answers

Built For Developers & Enterprise Brands

Whether you’re running operations, coding checkout logic, or managing a global platform, Easyship's Shipping Rates API simplifies shipping with one reliable, scalable API integration.

eCommerce Brands

Instantly save on shipping and fulfillment costs with one unified shipping solution for every sales channel worldwide.

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Global Marketplaces

Offer a completely integrated global shipping experience for buyers and sellers with transparent rates, duties, insurance and discounts.

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Technology Platforms

Connect and embed global shipping services directly into your application for seamless shipping, returns and payment flows.

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Fulfillment & Warehousing

Automate shipping workflows, rate shopping, manifests, pickup scheduling, and analytics while reducing complexity and overheads.

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Returns Management API FAQs

How do I create a return shipment through the API?

Send the original Easyship shipment ID to the return endpoint with any destination address, parcel or carrier settings that need to change. Everything else is reused from the outbound shipment. The return then moves through the normal workflow: generate the label and provide it in your storefront, account page, email or returns portal. See the 'Create a Return Shipment' reference for the full schema.

Do all outbound shipments have to be created through Easyship to use the Returns API?

No, though returns are simplest when they are. If your outbound labels come from another system, you can still create a standalone shipment through the 'Create Shipment API' with its `return` flag set, the customer address as origin and your warehouse as destination. Off-platform shipments can also be covered through the Shipping Insurance API.

How do I generate a pre-paid return label?

With a pre-paid label you arrange and pay for return shipping, so the customer never buys postage. Availability varies by origin country and carrier, so build the options you offer from the supported return services the API returns for each shipment.

What are pay-on-use return labels?

A pay-on-use label is prepared for an approved return and charged only if the customer ships with it. Issue one with every eligible order and pay nothing for the labels that go unused, which makes free returns viable without funding postage on returns that never happen, because sometimes customers forget!

Can I use my own order IDs and return reasons?

Yes. Your eCommerce platform, OMS, marketplace or returns application keeps the customer-facing RMA data: order ID, return reason, products selected, return window and refund method. Your integration maps that order to the matching Easyship shipment ID, so return shipping runs automatically without a redesign of your order database or return-policy engine. It's completely flexible.

Can I customize return routing and carrier services?

Yes. Each return carries its own destination address, parcel configuration and carrier selection. Items that can be resold go back to your fulfillment center, damaged items to a repair or inspection facility, and marketplace returns are shipped straight back to the seller who sent them originally.

Does Easyship's API support international returns?

Yes, where Easyship return services are available. Options vary by country, carrier and lane, so check the supported services returned for each shipment. Cross-border returns also pass through customs again and need complete shipment and customs data, so validate your lanes during integration design. If you need integration assistance, contact our Support team 24/7.

What does the Returns Management API cost?

The free plan includes returns API access with no credit card required. You pay as you go for the return labels you generate, at Easyship's discounted rates of up to 91% off retail, and pay-on-use labels charge only when a customer actually ships the parcel back. Visit our pricing page for further details including low cost subscription plans with higher volume inclusions.

Is Easyship's API reliable during peak returns season?

January is the spike: holiday-season orders come back in a matter of weeks, and the reverse logistics return label generation flow has to absorb all of that spike in demand. High-volume accounts run on dedicated infrastructure sized for that load, on a platform holding 99.9% API uptime and SOC 2 compliance, so the returns flow keeps issuing labels while outbound volume carries on. Easyship's shipping infrastructure powers some of the world's largest marketplaces and eCommerce platforms, delivering a proven framework for peak seasons success.

Can AI agents use the Returns Management API?

Yes, Easyship's API is AI ready with MCP support for all major models. An agent handling a support ticket can approve the return in your system, create the reverse shipment from the original order, generate the label and pull inbound tracking.

Try the composable shipping API for global eCommerce

Every Easyship API is modular. Allowing you to connect only what you need from rates to returns. Start with live pricing, then layer in label generation, tracking, duties and address validation as you grow.

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