---
title: "Where-is-my-order, returns and refunds, handled"
description: "E-commerce support for WISMO, returns, exchanges and refunds inside Gorgias, Zendesk or Shopify Inbox. Talk to our team about the hours you need covered."
url: https://assistbpo.com/services/ecommerce-customer-service/
updated: 2026-09-21
publisher: AssistBPO (SS Support Network LLC)
language: en-US
---

# Where-is-my-order, returns and refunds, handled

AssistBPO's ecommerce customer service outsourcing gives your store a named agent who answers where-is-my-order tickets, approves returns and exchanges, processes refunds within your limits and handles marketplace messages, inside Gorgias, Zendesk or Shopify Inbox. The agent knows your products, carriers and policies, works your hours, and has a backup and a team lead for peak season.

- Customer support
- Employed, screened, managed

[Get a staffing plan](https://assistbpo.com/get-a-staffing-plan/) [Book a 20-minute call](https://assistbpo.com/book-a-call/) In short

- WISMO, returns, exchanges and refunds handled inside Gorgias, Zendesk or Shopify
- One agent who knows your SKUs, carriers and return policy by heart
- Peak-season agents added under the same team lead, then rolled off

## What is ecommerce customer service outsourcing?

Ecommerce customer service outsourcing is hiring an outside team to handle your online store's customer contacts: order status questions, shipping problems, returns, exchanges, refunds, product questions and marketplace messages. AssistBPO supplies a dedicated employed agent who works in your help desk and store admin, follows your policies and reports daily, with extra agents for peak periods.

Updated September 2026 · Reviewed by [Issabela Masters](https://assistbpo.com/team/issabela-masters/)

[The role behind it **Hire a remote customer service representative** Phone and email customer service in your name, your hours, your tone](https://assistbpo.com/roles/customer-service-representative/)
## Who is the e-commerce customer service desk for?

**Shopify and WooCommerce brands**
: Tickets answered with the order, tracking and customer history open, and refunds or replacements actioned in the store admin.

**Amazon, eBay and Etsy sellers**
: Buyer messages answered within marketplace windows, A-to-z and return cases handled by the book, feedback requests sent on time.

**Subscription box and DTC companies**
: Skip, pause, swap and cancel requests processed in Recharge or your subscription app before they become chargebacks.

**Growing stores heading into Q4**
: A trained core agent plus surge agents for Black Friday through January returns, without hiring temps.

## What does the e-commerce customer service include?

These 12 tasks are what AssistBPO's e-commerce customer service desk handles as standard for a support team lead.

- Where-is-my-order tickets answered with live tracking checks
- Returns and exchanges approved under your policy
- Refunds and store credit issued within your limits
- Replacement orders and reshipments created in the store admin
- Carrier claims for lost and damaged parcels
- Product, sizing and stock questions before purchase
- Marketplace messages on Amazon, eBay and Etsy within response windows
- Subscription changes: skip, pause, swap and cancel
- Chargeback and dispute evidence gathered for you
- Review and feedback follow-up after resolved tickets
- End-of-day report on tickets, refunds and open claims
- Monthly QA scorecard on accuracy, tone and policy

## Deliverables and KPIs

AssistBPO reports 6 measures on the e-commerce customer service desk: what lands on your desk, what we count, and how often you see the number.

| Deliverable | KPI we report | Cadence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Order and shipping tickets resolved | Same-day resolution rate on WISMO | Daily, in the end-of-day report |
| Returns and refunds processed | Time from request to action, policy accuracy | Daily |
| Marketplace response windows met | Messages answered within platform window | Daily |
| Carrier claims and disputes filed | Claims filed, recovered value | Weekly review |
| Ticket driver analysis | Top reasons with counts, product and carrier issues | Weekly |
| QA scorecard | Accuracy, tone, policy, resolution | Monthly |

KPIs are what we measure and report, agreed per engagement in the weekly review. Service-level commitments are set in your agreement, not on this page.

## How does the e-commerce customer service desk work?

1. ### Match
A 20-minute call on your platform, order volume, carriers, return policy and the season ahead. Within 72 hours we propose a named agent who has worked a store like yours, with a backup who trains at the same time.
2. ### Onboard
The agent learns your catalog, policies, carriers and the exact steps for refunds, exchanges and reshipments in your admin. We connect Gorgias, Zendesk or Shopify Inbox with a seat you control, set refund limits and tag rules, and run a shadow week with the team lead checking every reply.
3. ### Daily rhythm
The queue is worked oldest first, WISMO tickets get a tracking check before any reply, returns and refunds are actioned in the admin, carrier claims are filed, marketplace inboxes are cleared inside their windows, and the end-of-day report lists tickets, refunds issued, claims open and anything waiting on your warehouse.
4. ### Weekly review
20 minutes with the team lead on ticket drivers, carrier and product problems worth fixing upstream, refund totals and the coverage plan for launches or sales. Monthly QA scoring on a sample of tickets, with results shared with you.

## Hours, coverage and models

AssistBPO staffs the e-commerce customer service desk on 4 models. US, UK, Canadian and Australian store hours from the group's two offices. Overnight and AEST shifts through the 24/7 pod are available on request, as is bilingual Spanish or French support.

- Dedicated e-commerce agent, 80 or 160 hours a month
- Part-time desk for stores with lighter ticket volume
- Q4 and sale-period surge agents under the same lead
- Weekend and evening desk during peak season

See what is staffed in your zone on the [coverage clock](https://assistbpo.com/how-it-works/#coverage).

## Tools we work in

- [Gorgias](https://assistbpo.com/software/gorgias/)
- [Zendesk](https://assistbpo.com/software/zendesk/)
- [Shopify](https://assistbpo.com/software/shopify/)
- [WooCommerce](https://assistbpo.com/software/woocommerce/)
- [Amazon Seller Central](https://assistbpo.com/software/amazon-seller-central/)
- [eBay](https://assistbpo.com/software/ebay/)
- [Etsy](https://assistbpo.com/software/etsy/)
- [Klaviyo](https://assistbpo.com/software/klaviyo/)
- [Help Scout](https://assistbpo.com/software/help-scout/)
- [Freshdesk](https://assistbpo.com/software/freshdesk/)

[See all 80 tools we work in](https://assistbpo.com/software/)

## What are the terms on the e-commerce customer service desk?

The card, the contract terms and the e-commerce customer service desk's own numbers, in one place.

| Specification | What you get |
| --- | --- |
| Focus, 20 hours a week | $800 a month, 80 hours |
| Dedicated, 40 hours a week | $1,600 a month, 160 hours |
| Managed Pod, three seats or more | From $4,800 a month |
| Evening, weekend or overnight cover | Tier rate plus 20 percent |
| Desk | [Customer support desk](https://assistbpo.com/services/desks/customer-support/) |
| Standard schedule | Dedicated e-commerce agent, 80 or 160 hours a month |
| Coverage | US, UK, Canadian and Australian store hours from the group's two offices. |
| Tools | 10 platforms, including Gorgias, Zendesk, Shopify |
| KPIs reported | 6 measures: daily, weekly, monthly |
| Setup fee | None |
| Minimum term | Month to month, no lock-in |
| Notice | 30 days, to stop or to change hours |
| If the fit is wrong | Trained backup covers the desk the same day, re-match at no charge |
| Continuity | One named assistant, one named backup, one team lead |
| Who does the work | Employed by SS Support Network LLC, never freelancers or contractors |

These are rate-card starting points. What you pay depends on the hours, the desk and the coverage window, which is what the staffing plan sets. Rates improve as you add assistants. Your staffing plan states the rate for the number of seats you need. [The rate card](https://assistbpo.com/pricing/) carries the other currencies, the add-ons and the six things that move a plan off it.

## How much does e-commerce customer service cost?

Plans start at $400 a month for 40 hours, at $10 an hour, and rates improve as you add assistants. Get a staffing plan within 1 business day.

### What moves the plan

1. Hours a week and whether the desk is dedicated or shared
2. Phones: live answering needs a receptionist profile and a backup
3. Coverage zone: business hours, after-hours, weekends or 24/7
4. Tools and access to set up
5. One person or a pod with a lead

### What the market publishes

Other providers' published ranges, by market, so you have something to hold this against. These are not AssistBPO prices.

| Market | Published range | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | Managed offshore support staff $7 to $15 an hour, $640 to $2,400 a month full time; part-time 20 hours a week $350 to $1,300 a month | Wishup, Cherry Assistant, Zedtreeo and VantaStaff cost guides, July to August 2026 |
| United Kingdom | Offshore full-time staff £900 to £2,000 a month; UK-based support and VA agencies £25 to £45 an hour plus VAT for non-registered clients | Outsource Accelerator, Time etc and SVA rate surveys, 2026 |
| Australia | Offshore managed staff A$8 to A$35 an hour; local employee A$91,000 or more a year loaded | Virtual Coworker, DotVA and Smart Staffing published rates, June to August 2026 |
| Canada | Managed offshore plans US$699 to US$899 a month; Canada-based assistants C$25 to C$60 an hour | Virtual Gurus and VantaStaff published pricing, 2026 |

[Get a staffing plan](https://assistbpo.com/get-a-staffing-plan/) [How we build a plan](https://assistbpo.com/pricing/)

Proof

## Case study

One engagement on this desk, anonymized. Numbers appear only once the owner has verified them.

[All case studies](https://assistbpo.com/case-studies/) Peak season handled without a backlog

Case study
### [E-commerce Brand Survives Peak Season Support](https://assistbpo.com/case-studies/ecommerce-support-peak/)

A direct-to-consumer brand selling on Shopify did most of its year in six weeks. The rest of the year two people cleared the queue comfortably. In peak season the same two people were answering chat, email, Instagram messages and returns at once, first response times stretched into days, and shipping-delay questions arrived faster than anyone could answer them. Temporary hires had never worked out, because training finished about the time the season did. AssistBPO built a peak-season pod on the support desk: named agents with a team lead, trained in October, live from the start of November and stood down in January. The pod worked inside the brand's own Gorgias help desk using macros written with the in-house team. Tickets were tagged by reason so the operations team could see which problems were worth fixing at the source.

Consumer e-commerce
## E-commerce customer service for your industry

- [E-commerce brands](https://assistbpo.com/industries/ecommerce/)
- [Fitness, salons & spas](https://assistbpo.com/industries/fitness-salons/)
- [Hospitality, restaurants & travel](https://assistbpo.com/industries/hospitality/)
- [Education & tutoring](https://assistbpo.com/industries/education/)
- [SaaS & startups](https://assistbpo.com/industries/saas-startups/)
- [All industries](https://assistbpo.com/industries/)

## Security and compliance

1. Employed, background-checked agents under NDA; store admin access through a staff account you own
2. Refund and credit limits enforced in the admin and reviewed in the weekly report
3. Managed devices with MFA; no export of customer lists or order data
4. Card numbers are never requested; customers update payment through your checkout
5. Marketplace seller credentials stay with you; agents use sub-user or permission-based access

Full control list on the [security page](https://assistbpo.com/security/) and country rules for calls, texts and email on the [compliance page](https://assistbpo.com/compliance/). Certifications are listed only when held.

## Country rules for this service

AssistBPO makes outbound calls, texts and emails only with lawful consent and do-not-call scrubbing. Assistants never take card numbers. [Country rules](https://assistbpo.com/compliance/).

- US: FTC Mail Order Rule and state refund disclosure rules shape the reply scripts for delays and refunds
- UK: Consumer Contracts Regulations 14-day cancellation rights are reflected in the return replies
- Australia: Australian Consumer Law guarantees are respected in every refund and replacement decision

## Frequently asked questions

### How much does ecommerce customer service outsourcing cost?

Plans depend on hours, desks and coverage. Get a staffing plan within 1 business day. For a reference point, 2026 cost guides put managed offshore support staff at $7 to $15 an hour, about $640 to $2,400 a month full time, and $350 to $1,300 a month for a 20-hour part-time desk (Wishup, Cherry Assistant, VantaStaff). AssistBPO prices per agent for a block of hours, so ticket spikes during a sale do not change the invoice.

### Can the agent issue refunds and replacements without asking us?

Within the limits you set. Most stores give the agent a per-order refund ceiling, a list of situations that qualify automatically, such as lost-in-transit after a set number of days, and a rule for everything else to be approved by you. Actions are taken in your Shopify or WooCommerce admin under the agent's own staff account, so every refund shows who issued it and why, and the totals appear in the weekly review.

### Do you handle Amazon and marketplace messages?

Yes. Buyer messages on Amazon, eBay and Etsy are answered within each platform's response window, return requests are handled under the marketplace policy rather than your own store policy where the two differ, and A-to-z or Item Not Received cases are answered with the tracking evidence attached. The agent works through Seller Central or the marketplace inbox with a permission-limited user you create.

### How do you handle Black Friday and holiday returns?

We plan it in the weekly reviews from early autumn. You give us the promotion calendar and last year's volumes, we add surge agents trained on your policies under the same team lead, extend hours across the weekend where needed and keep the core agent as the point of continuity. January returns are treated as a second peak. Surge agents roll off once the backlog is back to normal.

### Which help desks and store platforms do you work in?

Gorgias, Zendesk, Shopify Inbox, Help Scout, Freshdesk and Re:amaze on the help desk side; Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and Magento for the store admin; Recharge and similar apps for subscriptions; Amazon Seller Central, eBay and Etsy for marketplaces. Carrier portals and ShipStation or similar are used for tracking and claims. All access is through seats you control, and nothing is exported from your admin.

### Will the agent know our products well enough?

The agent completes product training from your catalog, FAQs and past tickets before going live, and keeps a shared knowledge sheet of sizing, materials, compatibility and common questions that you can correct any time. Anything not covered is escalated rather than guessed. Product questions that keep coming back are reported weekly so you can fix the listing or the FAQ.

### Can you reduce our ticket volume, not just answer it?

That is the point of the weekly review. The agent tags every ticket by driver, so you see how many contacts come from a specific carrier, a confusing size chart, a checkout bug or a product page that overpromises. Fixing the top two drivers usually removes a meaningful slice of the queue, and the report shows the before-and-after count for each fix.

### Is there coverage when the agent is off?

Yes. A trained backup covers leave and sick days and already knows your policies, and the team lead can step in for short gaps. Because agents are employees of the group rather than freelancers, cover is planned and the same core person returns after leave, so customers do not notice a change in how their orders, returns and refunds are handled.

### Can automation in Gorgias do this instead of a person?

For part of it, and those rules are worth switching on either way. An auto-reply carrying the tracking link will close a slice of your where-is-my-order tickets before anyone reads them. What automation does not do is decide whether a parcel that has stopped moving is a carrier claim or a reshipment, answer an A-to-z case with the tracking evidence attached, or hear the tone of a customer on their second failed delivery. The agent takes the exceptions and keeps the macros current as policies change.

### Can we buy this for the Q4 peak only?

You can, though the stores that come through peak best start in early autumn, so the agent knows the catalog before the volume arrives. The plan is month to month with thirty days notice, surge agents are added against your promotion calendar and roll off when the backlog clears, and January returns are treated as a second peak rather than as the end of the season. If you do run it for one quarter, keep the weekly review: the ticket driver report is what makes next Q4 cheaper.

### What access does the agent need from our store and carriers?

Read access to tracking, and enough of the store admin to act on what it says. In practice that is a staff account in Shopify or WooCommerce with a refund ceiling set on it, a seat in Gorgias, Zendesk or Shopify Inbox, the carrier portals or ShipStation for tracking and claims, and permission-limited users in Seller Central, eBay or Etsy. From your side we need cutoff times, which SKUs are slow moving, and who to ask when a parcel is sitting in the warehouse.

Still deciding

A 20-minute call with someone who runs e-commerce customer service every day. No sales script, and you keep the notes.

[Book a 20-minute call](https://assistbpo.com/book-a-call/) [Get a staffing plan](https://assistbpo.com/get-a-staffing-plan/) Next step

## Your desk, staffed. Wherever you are.

Tell us what is overloaded. A named person replies within 1 business day with a staffing plan, and we propose your assistant within 72 hours.

[Get a staffing plan](https://assistbpo.com/get-a-staffing-plan/) [Book a 20-minute call](https://assistbpo.com/book-a-call/) Or call [+1-657-777-0006](tel:+16577770006) during US, UK or Australian business hours, or [hear our demo receptionist](https://assistbpo.com/demo-line/).

- A named assistant proposed within 72 hours
- Employed, screened and managed staff, never freelancers
- Your hours, your tools, your data

---

Source: https://assistbpo.com/services/ecommerce-customer-service/ · Contact: https://assistbpo.com/contact/ · Full site map for agents: https://assistbpo.com/llms.txt