A local returns address
Your returns policy directs Australian customers to our Sydney warehouse. They post domestically, at domestic prices, and their parcel reaches us in days rather than weeks.
Australian Returns Hub for Overseas Brands
Sending a return back to its country of origin usually costs more than the item is worth, so most overseas and dropshipping brands refund it and write the stock off. Send your Australian returns to Sydney instead. We inspect every item, and anything sellable goes back on the shelf to fill your next Australian order.
A Sydney returns address for your customers Every item photographed and graded Sellable returns resold to your next order Processed in Shopify on your behalf
Tell Us About Your Orders
Tell us where your orders ship from and how returns are handled today.
Why overseas brands route their returns through Sydney
Sydney
The Australian address on your returns policy
Every item
Photographed and graded on arrival
One journey
A resold return travels once more, domestically, to its next customer
Your rules
Restock, quarantine or dispose, set for your brand
Per return
One processing charge, written on your rate card
2pm AEST
Same-day dispatch when we fulfil your orders too
Having the right 3PL provider makes a huge difference. Fast response times, accurate fulfilment with zero errors, fair pricing and seamless Shopify integration. It’s taken so much off my plate and given me real peace of mind.
Hamish Bakhtiari
Founder, SitComfort
What a return sent home really costs
For a store that ships from overseas, an Australian return is expensive at every step. The customer pays international postage or gives up. The parcel takes weeks to arrive and the refund waits with it. By the time the item is back at origin it has paid for two international journeys to end up where it started. Most brands decide it is cheaper to refund and abandon the stock, which is margin written off one order at a time.
- Australian Consumer Law gives Australian customers return rights, whatever your home-market policy says.
- International return postage often costs more than the item being returned.
- Weeks without a refund invite chargebacks and one-star reviews.
- Stock refunded and abandoned is inventory you have already paid to make and to ship.
Resold in Australia, not shipped home
A sellable return that reaches our Sydney warehouse does not need to travel again until someone buys it. We inspect it, grade it and put it back into available stock, where it is picked for your next eligible Australian order and delivered as a domestic parcel. The international leg home disappears, the international leg out to the next customer disappears with it, and that customer receives the order in days.
- Only items graded as sellable go back on sale. Anything else is quarantined for your decision or disposed under your rules.
- Restocked units update your Shopify inventory, so they sell exactly like the rest of your stock.
- Returned stock held in Sydney is often how a brand starts fulfilling from here: the first shelf is already stocked.
Returns at a typical 3PL, and at Cryologix
QuestionA typical 3PLCryologix
Who it is forA typical 3PLReturns handled only for brands already fulfilling with them.CryologixA service in its own right. Start with returns alone and add fulfilment when it suits you.
PricingA typical 3PLBilled by labour time or quoted case by case, so the true cost of a return appears on the invoice.CryologixOne per-return processing charge, written on your rate card before a parcel arrives.
InspectionA typical 3PLCounted back into a bin, with condition rarely recorded.CryologixEvery item photographed and graded, with the evidence kept on the return.
WorkflowA typical 3PLOne standard process, applied to every brand the same way.CryologixYour rules: what is restocked, quarantined or disposed, how exchanges run, and who processes the refund.
Returned stockA typical 3PLParked in a returns area until someone asks about it.CryologixSellable units back in available stock as soon as they are graded, ready for the next order.
VisibilityA typical 3PLA spreadsheet at month end, if you ask for one.CryologixEvery return live on your dashboard, with its photos and outcome.
The typical column reflects the returns terms we see most often in 3PL proposals. Some providers do better, so ask any 3PL you are comparing how each of these works.
How one brand started with returns and stayed for fulfilment
A brand selling to Australian customers through an overseas dropshipping supplier came to us with a simple problem: the supplier would not take returns from Australia, and their customers had nowhere local to send anything back. We became their Australian returns address. Their resellable returns began to build up on our shelves, shipping their Australian orders from that same stock was the natural next step, and today we run their returns and their fulfilment from one warehouse.
- Begin with returns only. Your orders keep shipping as they do today.
- Every resellable return becomes Australian stock you can sell again.
- When you are ready, your Australian orders ship from the same shelves.
The right carrier for each order.
We hold accounts with Australia's major carriers and route each order to the best-fit service.
What our returns hub handles
A local returns address
Your returns policy directs Australian customers to our Sydney warehouse. They post domestically, at domestic prices, and their parcel reaches us in days rather than weeks.
Matched to the original order
Each parcel is matched to its return and to the order it came from, so what came back is checked against what was sent rather than taken on trust.
Photographed and graded
Every returned item is photographed and graded on arrival. The photos stay with the return, ready to settle a refund decision, a customer dispute or a claim against your supplier.
Restocked, quarantined or disposed
Every item follows the rules you set for your brand. Sellable stock returns to available inventory, damaged or faulty stock is quarantined or disposed, and every outcome is recorded rather than adjusted quietly.
Refunds and exchanges in Shopify
Once a return is received and photographed we can process it in your Shopify store on your behalf, using the refund or exchange Shopify calculates. Prefer to press the button yourself? The return is waiting for you, photos attached.
Resold to your next customer
Restocked units sit alongside the rest of your Australian stock and ship on your next eligible order, or as the replacement in an exchange, as a domestic parcel.
How a return moves through the hub
Every return follows the same path and is recorded against the order it came from, so you always know what came back, the condition it arrived in and what happened to it next.
Your customer posts it to Sydney
The return is raised in your store as usual. Your returns instructions give our Sydney warehouse as the address, so the customer pays domestic postage or uses the label you provide.
It is received against the return
The parcel is opened at the bench and matched to the return and the original order, line by line.
Each item is photographed and graded
Condition is recorded in photographs before anything is decided. That record is what a refund, a dispute or a supplier claim is settled from.
Your rules decide the outcome
Sellable units go back into stock and the rest are quarantined or disposed, exactly as your returns rules say. Where you have not set rules yet, we agree each outcome with you.
Refunded, and back on sale
The return is processed in Shopify, by you or by us on your behalf. The photos and outcome sit on your dashboard, and the restocked unit is ready for its next order.
The same warehouse, fulfilling your orders
The returns hub runs inside a complete fulfilment operation. When you are ready to hold stock in Sydney, your Australian orders ship from the same shelves your returns go back to, under the same scanning, photography and live reporting.
- Same-day dispatch for orders received before 2pm AEST on weekdays.
- Every item scanned against the order as it is picked, and a QA photo of every packed order.
- Live stock and order sync with Shopify, with tracking written back to each order automatically.
- Live in under a week, and free migration if you are moving from another 3PL.
Every return, with its photos, on your dashboard
Clients log into the same system our floor works in. This is the Overview screen, with sample data; returns, orders, stock and billing each have their own views.
Sample dataHover or tap an area to explore the dashboard.
Returns hub questions
Can you be the Australian returns address for an overseas store?
Yes, that is exactly what the returns hub is. Your returns policy and return instructions give our Sydney warehouse as the address for Australian customers, and we receive, inspect and process each return on your behalf.
Do I have to move my fulfilment to you?
No. You can start with returns only while your orders keep shipping from wherever they ship today. Many brands move their Australian fulfilment across later, once resellable returns have built up a stock of their own in Sydney.
What happens to a return we can resell?
It goes back into available stock in our Sydney warehouse and your Shopify inventory updates. It then ships to your next Australian customer who orders it, as a domestic parcel, instead of travelling back overseas and out again.
What happens to damaged or faulty returns?
They are quarantined or disposed, following the returns rules you set. Every item is photographed first, so you have the evidence for a customer dispute or a claim against your supplier.
Does this work for dropshipping stores?
Yes. Overseas dropshipping suppliers rarely accept returns from Australian customers. We give you a local address, a photographed record of everything that comes back, and somewhere for resellable stock to go back on sale.
Who processes the refund or exchange?
Either of us. Once a return is received and photographed we can process it in your Shopify store on your behalf, using the refund or exchange Shopify calculates. If you would rather do it yourself, the return is ready for you with its photos.
How is returns processing priced?
A per-return processing charge, plus storage for any stock held here. If we also fulfil your orders, pick, pack and postage are itemised separately. You receive a written rate card before anything is set up.
Which platforms do you support?
Shopify connects natively, so returns, stock and orders sync automatically. If your store runs on another platform, tell us how returns are raised today and we will tell you what is possible.
Give your Australian customers somewhere to send it back
Tell us where you sell from, roughly how many Australian returns you see each month and how they are handled today.
Tell us how your fulfilment works
Share your order mix, SKU count and any handling requirements. We will respond with a practical next step.