An Post returns for small online shops: routes and evidence

Choose where returned orders will arrive before writing your shop’s return instructions. EirPost says a recipient returning a parcel uses the seller’s own return address. Write the full address into your draft so the customer knows where to send the parcel.

Current merchant onboarding, return-service prices, collection eligibility and Shopify returns integration are unresolved in the available evidence. Agree those terms with An Post before offering customers a booked return.

Prepare a draft with fields for the booking route, printing method, handover method and customer charge. Leave a field blank until you have the details. Give each instruction a clear action, such as downloading the label or taking the parcel to the agreed drop-off point.

The historical Click & Post launch report describes online returns booking. According to Parcel and Postal Technology International, the reported handover options were collection, post office drop-off and locker drop-off.

Use the agreed service name in the customer instructions. Put the booking action before the handover action. If you offer several routes, give each its own complete instruction so a customer choosing locker drop-off can follow that route from booking to handover.

Remove any promise of collection for every returned order.

The Click & Post launch report describes printing a label at home or having it printed at a post office from a phone download.

For home printing, tell the customer to print the return label before handing over the parcel. For the reported post office printing route, tell them to download the label to their phone and take it to the post office.

Put the printing instruction beside the relevant handover instruction. If your draft combines post office printing with collection or locker drop-off, show where the post office visit fits into the steps.

The historical UK Direct report describes an integrated returns process and end-to-end tracking. Parcel and Postal Technology International reported that businesses could register to integrate with a system combining advance customs payments and delivery tracking.

The report also says An Post partnered with Royal Mail for delivery within the UK.

For a shop serving UK customers, check the returns and tracking functions included in your account terms. Write the UK instructions around those functions, including the address for returned orders and the tracking information available to the customer. Use the UK customs guide when preparing the customs part of your shipping setup.

EirLink says its Shopify connection needs the seller’s own An Post eCommHub business account, API access enabled and an API key, with postage billed directly at the rates agreed with An Post. On its own site, the company says creating a label sends the tracking number to Shopify, marks the order fulfilled and notifies the customer.

For your shop, write down the action you need at each stage of a return: customer booking, label printing, parcel handover and tracking. Use that list when discussing account terms so they cover the return service you intend to offer.

Describe a Shopify returns option using the return functions agreed for your shop. Put customer booking instructions on the returns page and label handling instructions alongside the return label.

An Post’s cheapest bookable price for a 1 kg parcel within Ireland was €12.25, with delivery of 3–5 days, in prices checked on 5 October 2026.

The supplied prices contain no return-service quote.

Use domestic parcel prices when comparing sending costs for the relevant weight. Add a customer return charge to your shop’s instructions after agreeing the price of the return service.