This tree is part of the refund abuse review guide, which covers what to inventory before a returns platform changes. Here the question is narrower: once you know a retailer kept its review history, whose yes starts the conversation.
Who wrote each piece of a held-refund case
Sort the records before you think about people. A single refund that was held, reviewed and released leaves pieces written by different hands, and the author decides which branch of the tree a piece follows.
| Piece of the case | Written by | Tree branch |
|---|---|---|
| Fraud or abuse rule and its threshold | Customer operations, configured in the returns app | Retailer-owned: CEO decides |
| Hold or flag on the refund | The returns app, applying the retailer's rule | Retailer-owned, but check the vendor contract |
| Reviewer decision and note | Customer operations staff | Retailer-owned: CEO decides |
| Helpdesk conversation | The customer and support agents | Privacy: counsel reads customer terms |
| Customer name, address, order history | The customer, stored by the retailer | Privacy: de-identification decided first |
| Internal staff comments on the order | Store staff in the commerce platform | Retailer-owned: CEO decides |
| Vendor risk score or network signal | The returns vendor | Vendor: the contract decides |
The last row is the one advisors miss. Some returns tools add a score drawn from the vendor's own data across many merchants; that score was not written by the retailer, so it follows the vendor branch until counsel reads the contract.
The yes-path, one question at a time
Walk the questions in order and stop at the first person who answers yes to question 4.
- Does this person administer a tool? The returns app admin, the helpdesk admin and the ecommerce platform owner answer yes. Shopify grants admin access through roles, and a user with several roles simply collects all their permissions. That is configuration, not ownership. These people tell you what exists and for how long; ask them who runs customer operations.
- Does this person run the review queue? Usually the customer operations director, who owns the returns policy, the rules and the reviewer team. Ask them to sponsor, to bring in the CEO, and to say whether the returns app is being replaced.
- Is the retailer independent or part of a group? A retailer owned by a holding company or a fund may keep data decisions at the parent. For portfolios, the portfolio review handoff checklist shows how the same question runs across several companies.
- Can this person commit company records to an agreement? The CEO. This is the introduction.
- Has counsel or the privacy lead heard about the customer details and the vendor terms? If not, the sponsor brings counsel to the first call.
ShopifyThe common slip is stopping at question 2. The director's support is necessary, and it is not authority.
Branches that turn amber
Three branches are not the partner's to resolve. The partner notes that each exists and moves on.
Customer personal information. Every review names a customer and describes their orders, returns and sometimes payment outcomes. Shopify itself flags customer data requests as a sensitive permission and recommends giving it only to the most trusted users. If the platform treats that access with care, a licensing decision will too: counsel decides what is excluded, aggregated or de-identified before anything else happens.
The returns vendor contract. Holds, flag logs and vendor scores may sit in the vendor's system under its terms. Whether the retailer can take them out, and in what form, is a contract question for counsel and procurement.
Records that cannot be rebuilt. Shopify notes that deleted Timeline staff comments cannot be recovered, and Zendesk ties account exports to plan and permissions. Neither changes who can say yes, but both change what exists by the time anyone says it. Flag any cleanup or downgrade planned before the introduction. The data rights explainer covers why rights come before volume.
ZendeskTwo retailers, two answers (Illustrative)
Two fictional retailers show the same tree landing on different people. Neither is a real company or deal.
| Tree question | 180-person outdoor apparel retailer | 520-person home goods retailer owned by a fund |
|---|---|---|
| Who describes the records? | Returns app admin and helpdesk lead | Ecommerce platform manager |
| Who sponsors? | Customer operations director | Vice president of customer experience |
| Who can say yes? | CEO, with outside counsel | CEO, after the fund's operating partner is told |
| Customer details | In tickets and return requests | Same, plus a loyalty program database |
| Vendor-held records | Rule logs in the returns app | Vendor risk scores and network flags |
| Likely starting scope | Rules, reviewer decisions and staff comments | Same, with vendor scores excluded until the contract is read |
Weighing a data decision is not a sign of distress: licensing approved records is an ordinary choice for a healthy business, and a company that also handles chargebacks will find related records on the chargeback representment records page.
Open until SourceX's rights review
When the right officer agrees to talk, say plainly what nobody knows yet:
- Inclusion: which record classes and years can be licensed once customer terms and the returns vendor contract are read.
- Privacy work: what customer information must be removed or de-identified.
- Demand: whether any buyer wants refund review history when SourceX reviews it.
- Terms: whether an offer is made, and on what terms.
The retailer needs 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), a documented operating history, rights to license and an authorized contact. Companies in the U.S., Canada and the EU qualify, as do companies in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, South Africa, Latin America, the UAE and Saudi Arabia when at least 90% of the data is in English. Partners sign the Channel Partner Agreement before submitting introductions. Attribution goes to the first valid introduction within the 90-day window, credited when the company submits a verified application, and one partner is credited per company.
Once you know the signer, record them in the refund abuse review referral brief template; the cross-system map shows which tools the director will be asked about. Sector context is on the ecommerce industry page.
Next step
Refer a company. Earn up to $100,000. Default reward: 25% of Actual Supplier Payout, capped at $100,000 cumulatively per referred company. Eligibility and payment conditions apply, and a signed Schedule A or addendum can differ. A lead, meeting or signature alone does not trigger payment.
When the customer operations director has brought in the CEO and counsel knows about the customer details and vendor terms, register as a partner, check the retailer on who qualifies and read the program terms before you make the introduction.