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Customer service and returns
"Where is my order?" reply template: five situations, one honest answer each, and the note for your file
Make the reply to a where-is-my-order email from the dispatch date, the service and what tracking shows, with the date you will replace or refund.
Shopify's own community calls it WISMO, and in the threads we read it is the most common message a small shop gets. Tracking pages answer the easy ones. The hard ones are a parcel with no scan for three days, a "delivered" that was not, and a 2nd Class packet that is simply late. The writer takes the dispatch date, the service and what tracking shows, and produces a reply with a date in it, plus the note you keep.
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"Where is my order?" reply writer, with the note for your own file
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The one rule under every reply
Under the Consumer Rights Act the goods remain at your risk until they come into the customer's physical possession (section 29), and unless something else was agreed, you must deliver within 30 days of the order (section 28). The courier is your contractor. A lost parcel is therefore your replacement or refund, and then your claim against the carrier; it is never the customer's problem to chase a tracking number.
Every reply the writer produces is built on that. It gives the carrier's normal aim, says whether the parcel is inside or outside it, and names the date by which you will send another or refund. A reply with a date gets a thank-you; a reply that says "please allow a few more days" gets a second email and, sometimes, a chargeback.
The five situations
In transit, moving. The easy one. State the service, the usual aim and the date you expect it, and give the date two working days later by which you will act if it has not arrived. Most of these never need a second email.
No scan since handover. Common with Royal Mail Tracked 48 in the first 48 hours and with any carrier in peak weeks. Tell the customer it is usually moving unscanned, that you have asked for a trace, and give the date you will replace or refund without waiting. Open the trace the same day; do not wait to see whether the customer chases again.
Tracking says delivered; customer says not. Ask once, politely, about neighbours and safe places, with a 24-hour window. Then act. The delivered scan is evidence for your claim against the carrier, with the GPS point or photo if they offer one, but it does not move the risk to the customer. A shop that argues this point wins the argument and loses the customer and, often, the chargeback.
Untracked and late. 1st and 2nd Class post is sometimes days late without being lost, and the reply says so, with a later cut-off than for tracked services. Keep the proof of posting for the Royal Mail claim. Our note on the October 2026 postage prices sets out why the gap between untracked and Tracked 48 has narrowed to the point where untracked is rarely worth the risk on anything over a few pounds.
Returned to sender. Usually an address problem or a missed delivery. Confirm the full address before resending, and offer a refund instead. A refund here is a cancellation, so refund the delivery charge as well; our returns rights checker shows the sums.
The note for your file
Each reply comes with a second block that is not sent: the due date, the trace to open, the date to act and the claim to make. Paste it into the order's timeline in Shopify or your helpdesk. When the customer writes again, whoever picks it up can see what was promised and when, and keep the promise rather than restart the conversation.
When the volume is the problem
A shop doing a few hundred orders a month gets dozens of these a week. The tracking page and a dispatch email with the aim date in it remove most of the easy ones. The exceptions remain, and they are the work: a trace, a replacement, a claim form, a customer who needs a straight answer. That is what our helpdesk prices guide is about, and it is the job an AI Customer Service Assistant set up by Overlyft does inside the inbox you already have.
This is general information for consumer sales in the UK, not legal advice.
Short answers from this page
Who is responsible when a parcel goes missing in the post?
The shop. Goods remain at the trader's risk until they come into the customer's physical possession, so a missing parcel is the shop's loss to put right and then claim from the carrier. Unless another date was agreed, delivery must be within 30 days. A reply telling the customer to wait for the carrier is not an answer.
Source: Consumer Rights Act 2015, sections 28 and 29
How should a shop reply to 'where is my order?'
With the tracking status in words, the date by which the shop will act, and what it will do then: resend or refund. Because the goods are at the shop's risk until delivered, the reply promises a replacement or refund by a stated date instead of sending the customer to the carrier.
Source: Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 29
Where this comes from: Consumer Rights Act 2015 ss 28 and 29; Royal Mail service aims for Tracked 24, Tracked 48, 1st and 2nd Class as published (next working day; two to three working days), read 2026-10-01. Shopify Community threads on WISMO volumes, read 2026-10-01 (data/seo/research/packhand.md).
AEO Lookup editorial team
We write practical guides for people who run small UK firms, and we check every fact against its source on the date shown. Read how we review, or tell us if something has changed.
