Product · Support and operations

E-commerce Operations Desk

Software for the person who runs an online store's operations. Every two hours the orders past their promised date or flagged by the carrier get a drafted customer update and, when the time comes, a drafted carrier claim. A refund request is checked against the order, given its band (Auto under 50, Manager 50 to 500, Owner over 500) and a drafted reply; a person in the band approves. A chargeback gets its evidence pack before the deadline. Every morning the stock planner works out days of cover per product and drafts the purchase order for anything running low. New reviews get a drafted reply in your voice; one and two stars go to a person. Every Monday quiet customers are queued for a win-back behind approval. At 17:30 you get the day's numbers. No agent refunds, changes a price, sends a customer a word, files a claim or places an order.

For online stores doing 200 to 5,000 orders a month, with one person or a small team running operations

7agents, each doing one small job
1coordinator you can chat with: Noa
1public help page with a chat and a refund form
1screen: the desk, with five pages
E-commerce Operations Desk desk
The store desk on a weekday morning: five live numbers, the late and flagged orders with the drafted update, Noa the coordinator, refunds waiting on a person and disputes to answer.
Who it is for

Is this desk for you?

The pack is built for whoever is responsible for parcels arriving, refunds being decided, chargebacks being answered, shelves staying stocked and customers being answered. It fits three kinds of team.

An online store doing 200 to 5,000 orders a month

One storefront, one shipping tool, one payment tool, a small team. You get the desk, Noa, every agent and the public "Help with your order" page. Your storefront stays the record.

A brand's e-commerce team inside a larger retailer

One channel inside a bigger company with its own operations rules, refund bands and approvers. The desk gives the channel lead the morning list and the evidence for finance.

An agency running stores for clients

One workspace per client, each with its own storefront, playbook and digest. The agents are the same for every client; the bands and the voice differ.

Which departments use it inside a large company

E-commerce operationsLate parcels chased, claims drafted, purchase orders drafted, the daily digest.
Customer serviceRefund requests routed with a drafted reply; reviews answered; the public help page and its chat.
FinanceRefunds approved by band, chargebacks answered with evidence before the deadline.
Merchandising / BuyingDays of cover per product every morning, purchase orders ready to approve.
Not a fit if you want software that refunds customers, changes prices, emails customers or places purchase orders on its own. The desk reads, checks, drafts and asks; every refund, message, claim and order is a person's click.

Where it fits in your day

1 · Something happensA parcel is late, a refund is requested, a chargeback lands, a product runs low, a review comes inRead from your tools on a schedule, or from a form on the store page.
2 · The software reads and draftsChecks the order, applies your policy, sets the band, draftsThe customer update, the reply, the evidence pack, the purchase order, the review reply.
3 · You decideOne click on the desk or in your toolApprove the refund in the band, submit the dispute, approve the order, post the reply.
4 · Nothing slipsEvery two hours, every morning, every MondayShipping every two hours, stock at 06:30, reviews at 07:00, win-backs on Monday, the digest at 17:30.
The one rule

Everything the software produces is a draft, a band or a recommendation for a person. It never refunds, credits or cancels, never changes a price, a product or a discount, never sends a customer a message, never files a carrier claim, never places a purchase order, never deletes anything. A person in the right band decides.

The desk · Screen 1 of 5

Today: what is late, what is waiting on you

The first screen the operations lead opens. Five live numbers. Every late or flagged order, oldest first, with the drafted update. Noa beside them. Refunds waiting on a person and disputes to answer.

Today: what is late, what is waiting on you
The Today page. Orders late or flagged, refunds waiting, disputes to answer, SKUs under cover, reviews to answer; late orders with Update sent / Claim filed / Delivered / Mine / Draft again / Edit; Noa; refunds with Approve / Decline; disputes with Submitted / Package again; Log a dispute.
Update sent

You read the drafted update and sent it from your storefront or helpdesk. Click Update sent so the desk records it.

Approve

You are in the band for this refund. Approve moves it to "Approved, to refund"; you issue the refund in the payment tool and click Refunded.

Draft again

Runs the watcher once more on one order, after the carrier has updated.

The desk · Screen 1 of 5, lower half

Today: approvals and what Noa did

Scroll down for everything the software wants to do that needs your Approve, and Noa's recent work.

Today: approvals and what Noa did
Waiting on you: a carrier claim the watcher wants to file, a refund Noa was asked to issue. What Noa did this week.
Waiting on you

The exact call the software wants to make: the claim, the refund, the segment. Approve or Deny in place; the audit trail records who decided.

What Noa did this week

Every run with its duration and the tools it used, including the price change Noa was refused.

The desk · Screen 2 of 5

Refunds and disputes: approval by band

Every refund request with its band and the drafted reply. Approved refunds waiting to be issued in the payment tool. Requests by band. Disputes with the evidence pack and the deadline.

Refunds and disputes: approval by band
The Refunds and disputes page. Refunds waiting with Approve / Refunded / Decline / Mine / Route again / Edit; approved refunds to issue; requests by band; disputes with Submitted / Won / Lost / Package again / Edit; all requests and all disputes.
Band

Auto under 50: anyone on the team. Manager 50 to 500. Owner over 500. The router sets it from the amount; the person in the band clicks Approve.

Refunded

You issued the refund in the payment tool. Click Refunded; the desk and the digest record it.

Submitted

You read the evidence pack and submitted it in the payment tool before the deadline.

The desk · Screen 3 of 5

Stock: reorder with Approve PO

Every product under cover with the purchase order drafted: units, supplier, cost, total. Orders approved and on their way. Every SKU by days of cover.

Stock: reorder with Approve PO
The Stock page. Under cover with Approve PO / Ordered / Enough cover / Plan again / Edit; approved and on order with Ordered / Received; SKUs by status; all SKUs.
Approve PO

The draft is right. Approve it, place the order in your inventory tool or with the supplier, and click Ordered.

Enough cover

You know something the numbers do not (a delivery already booked, a product being retired). The row goes back to OK.

The desk · Screen 4 of 5

Reviews and win-backs

New reviews with the drafted reply, one and two stars first. Quiet customers with the offer suggested, waiting for your Approve. Every review, and orders as cards by status.

Reviews and win-backs
The Reviews page. Replies to post with Replied / Ignore / Draft again / Edit; win-backs with Approve / Sent / Skip; one and two stars; win-back offers; all reviews; orders by status, drag to move.
Replied

You posted the reply in your reviews tool. One and two stars are marked "Needs a person"; the draft is a suggestion only.

Approve a win-back

The customer goes on the win-back list. On Monday the queuer adds approved customers to the segment in your email tool, behind one more approval.

The desk · Screen 5 of 5

Automations: switches, guard rails, history

Every automation with its switch. The pack's guard rails. The record of refunds routed, disputes packaged, reviews answered and win-backs queued, and the daily digests.

Automations: switches, guard rails, history
The Automations page. Switches, Guard rails, and the run history per agent.
The desk · Screen 5 of 5, lower half

Automations: the record

Every refund routed, dispute packaged, review answered and win-back queued, and the daily digests.

Automations: the record
Run history and the daily digests.
The public page

Help with your order

The page a customer lands on from your store's help link. Delivery and refund promises in plain words, a chat that says where their order is and what the policy says, and the refund or return form. The chat never issues or promises a refund; the form goes straight to the desk, where the router sets the band and a person decides.

Help with your order
Help with your order: the delivery and refund promises, the note, and the Store Helpdesk chat.
Ask about your order

The customer gives the order number; the helpdesk reads that order only and says the last tracking event and the next step.

Returns policy

The helpdesk explains what the policy says for their case and points to the form. It never says a refund will be given.

The public page, lower half

Request a refund or return

One short form. The request appears on the desk within a minute with its band and a drafted reply.

Request a refund or return
The refund or return form on the public page.
The forms

Two short forms

Log a dispute from the desk when the payment tool raises a chargeback; the packager assembles the evidence within minutes. Request a refund or return is the customer's form on the public page; the router sets the band and drafts the reply.

Log a dispute, from the Today page.
Request a refund or return, on the public page.
The coordinator

Noa, Store Operations Coordinator

Noa is a software colleague you can chat with. Noa runs the morning list, knows which agent to use for what, reads the tables, and never moves money or sends a customer a word.

Noa, Store Operations Coordinator

Every morning: orders with an exception and no update sent, refund requests still waiting by band with who must approve, disputes due within seven days not yet submitted, purchase orders drafted and not approved, reviews that need a person. One short list, most urgent first. Tools: the storefront, the shipping tool, the payment tool, the inventory tool, Turtle Notify.

Example. You type "What is late and what is waiting on me?" Noa replies: "Two orders are late with no update sent: ORD-10503 has had no scan for eight days and the lost-parcel claim is drafted. Five refunds are waiting: ORD-10431 (890, Owner band) is yours to decide. DP-3103 is due on the 17th and is packaged. The white tee has four days of cover and its purchase order is drafted."

What talking to Noa looks like

You typed a question. Noa wrote a step-by-step plan (read each table, check the bands and the deadlines, no refunds, no messages, no price changes) and is waiting. Nothing runs until you click "Approve and run". You can change the plan or cancel it.

Noa's page after "What is late and what is waiting on me?": the plan, the estimate, and Approve and run / Modify / Cancel.
The 7 agents · 1 of 2

Parcels, refunds and chargebacks

An agent does one job. It starts on a schedule, when a row arrives, when you press a button, or when Noa asks it. It reads your tools and your playbook, writes its result into the record, and stops. No agent ever moves money or sends a customer a word.

Shipping Exception Watcher

Every two hours it reads the open orders from your storefront and their tracking from your shipping tool, finds anything past its promised date or flagged by the carrier (late, lost, address problem, damaged), and drafts the customer update in your voice: what we know, when we write again, the replacement promise. Once the playbook's claim window has passed it drafts the carrier claim with the tracking, the value and the evidence. Sending and filing wait for a person.

Example. "Hi Daniel, we are sorry: the carrier has had no scan on ORD-10503 for eight days and we are treating it as lost. A replacement ships today at no cost with a new tracking link." Claim: DHL 3388, no scan since 6 September, declared value 96.00, ready to file.

Refund Router

When a refund request arrives from the public form or the helpdesk, it reads the order and the payment, applies your returns rule for the reason given, sets the band from the amount (Auto under 50, Manager 50 to 500, Owner over 500), and writes the recommendation and the reply. The refund is a person's click in the band; the reply never promises a refund the band has not approved.

Example. "Band: Owner (890.00, over 500). Order ORD-10431 paid 890.00 on 29 August. The packing slip shows the walnut shelf shipped against a desk order: our error. Recommend: ship the desk this week at no cost and collect the shelf; refund only if the customer prefers."

Dispute Packager

When a chargeback is logged it reads the dispute and the payment from your payment tool, the order, addresses and messages from your storefront, and the tracking with the delivery scan from your shipping tool, and writes the evidence pack in the playbook's order with a recommendation to contest or accept. A person submits it before the deadline.

Example. "Order ORD-10380 placed 20 August, 210.00, billing and shipping match. Delivered 24 August 11:20 with signature. Listing at purchase attached. The 30-day returns offer was sent on 30 August and not used. Recommend: contest with the signature scan, the listing and the returns offer."
The 7 agents · 2 of 2

Stock, reviews, win-backs and the day's numbers

The housekeeping that gets skipped when the week is busy.

Stock Reorder Planner

Every morning at 06:30 it reads on-hand quantities and lead times from your inventory tool and 30 days of sales from your storefront, works out units sold per day and days of cover for every product, and for anything under cover drafts the purchase order: units, supplier, last unit cost, total, the last order reference. A person approves and orders.

Example. "Days of cover 4, lead time 14: out of stock in four days. Order 90 units (30 days at 3 a day) from Northloom Textiles at 6.10, total 549.00. Combine with the black M order to reach the free-freight threshold."

Review Responder

Every morning at 07:00 it reads new reviews from your reviews tool, drafts a reply in your voice for three stars and above (warm, short, specific, never a discount in public), and flags one and two stars for a person with a suggested reply. A person posts.

Example. "Thank you, Daniel. Trimming the wick to 5 mm before each burn slows it down noticeably; we are adding that to the label." And for a two-star: "NEEDS A PERSON: 2 stars and an open refund request."

Win-back Queuer

Every Monday it reads customers and their order history from your storefront, finds anyone past 1.5 times their usual interval between orders, picks the offer from the playbook by order count, skips anyone with an open refund, dispute or complaint, and lists them for your Approve. Approved customers are added to the win-back segment in your email tool, behind approval. It never sends and never creates a discount code.

Example. "3 orders, usually every 40 days, last one 96 days ago. Playbook: 10% off. No open refund or dispute on the desk." You approve; on Monday the customer is queued to the segment and you approve that too.

Daily Ops Digest

At 17:30 it counts the day's orders, the late parcels, the refunds waiting by band, the disputes due this week and the products under cover, names the three things to fix tomorrow, and emails the store owner.

Example. "12 September: 84 orders, 3 late (1 lost), 2 refunds waiting (1 Owner band), 1 dispute due on the 15th, 3 SKUs under cover. Fix tomorrow: approve the ORD-10198 refund (640, Owner); submit DP-3090; approve the tee purchase order before Friday's cut-off."
The help desk

The Store Helpdesk, for your customers

The help desk is the chat on the public page. It says where an order is from its tracking, explains the returns and refund policy, and hands anything about money to a person through the form. It reads the customer's own order and the playbook and never changes anything.

Store Helpdesk

A router sends the question to an order status specialist (reads that customer's order only) or a returns policy specialist (reads the playbook). Neither ever issues or promises a refund.

Example. "Where is order ORD-10501?" Answer: "It left the carrier's depot this morning and is due tomorrow evening. If it has not arrived by 15 September we send a replacement at no cost." "Can I return a lamp I do not like?" Answer: "Yes, within 30 days if unused. Fill in the form below and a person confirms within one working day; we send a prepaid label for anything over 50."
Your data

7 tables

Tables are where everything is stored. They look like spreadsheets and your team can open and edit them. Your storefront, shipping tool, payment tool and inventory tool stay the record; the desk holds the queue, the drafts, the bands and the evidence.

TableWhat is in itStages
Orders WatchOrders past their promised date or flagged by the carrier, with the drafted update and the drafted claim.Watching → Update drafted → Update sent → Claim filed → Delivered · Closed
Refund RequestsEvery refund or return request with its band, the drafted reply and the decision. Fed by the public form.Requested → Approved → Refunded · Declined
DisputesEvery chargeback with the evidence pack and the deadline.New → Packaged → Submitted → Won · Lost
StockEvery SKU with on hand, sales rate, days of cover and the drafted purchase order.OK · Under cover → PO drafted → PO approved → Ordered → Received
ReviewsNew reviews with the drafted reply. One and two stars need a person.New → Drafted · Needs a person → Replied · Ignored
Win-backsQuiet customers with the offer suggested.Suggested → Approved → Queued → Sent · Skipped
Daily DigestThe day's numbers and the three things to fix.One row per day
Your playbook and tools

The software knows nothing about how your store works except what the tables and your playbook tell it.

Store Playbook and Policies

Two documents: your refund bands and returns rules (with how to handle disputes) and your shipping promise, reorder rule, review voice and win-back rules. Every agent, Noa and the help desk read them. Replace the starter text with your own.

Example. Change "Manager: 50 to 500" to "Manager: 50 to 250" and the router starts sending anything over 250 to the Owner band the same day.

Tools connected at setup

Storefront (Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, Squarespace, Wix and more)Shipping (ShipStation, Easyship)Payments (Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, GoCardless)Inventory (Unleashed, Orderspace, SPS Commerce)Reviews (Bazaarvoice, Google Shopping)Email marketing (Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Attentive)Turtle Notify

  • Storefront (Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, Squarespace, Wix and more). Orders, customers, products and sales history. Read only; never edits an order, a product, a price or a discount.
  • Shipping (ShipStation, Easyship). Shipments and tracking events. Never creates a label; filing a claim waits for a person.
  • Payments (Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, GoCardless). Payments and disputes. Never refunds; never submits or accepts a dispute.
  • Inventory (Unleashed, Orderspace, SPS Commerce). Stock on hand, suppliers, lead times and past purchase orders. Creating a purchase order waits for a person.
  • Reviews (Bazaarvoice, Google Shopping). New reviews. Posting a reply waits for a person.
  • Email marketing (Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Attentive). The win-back segment. Adding customers waits for a person; never sends a campaign.
  • Turtle Notify. Built in. Emails the daily digest to the store owner.

The pack uses whichever AI model your company has already connected. Other vendors of the same kind swap in at install time without changing the desk; a store on WooCommerce, Easyship and PayPal gets the same desk.

When things run

The weekly timetable

Checks on arrival are on from day one. The schedules are off until you switch them on from the desk.

AutomationAgentWhenShips
Check and route a refund requestRefund RouterThe moment a request arrivesOn
Package the evidenceDispute PackagerThe moment a dispute is loggedOn
Draft a review replyReview ResponderThe moment a review is loggedOn
Check shippingShipping Exception WatcherEvery 2 hoursOff until you switch it on
Plan stockStock Reorder PlannerEvery day 06:30Off until you switch it on
Answer new reviewsReview ResponderEvery day 07:00Off until you switch it on
Find win-backsWin-back QueuerMonday 08:00Off until you switch it on
Daily digestDaily Ops DigestWeekdays 17:30Off until you switch it on

Buttons on the desk run agents too. "Draft again" runs the watcher on one order; "Route again" re-checks one refund; "Plan again" replans one SKU.

How approvals work

A person is always between the software and the outside world

Three things always need a person. The software stops and waits at each one.

1 · Buttons on the desk

Update sent, Claim filed, Approve, Refunded, Decline, Submitted, Won, Lost, Approve PO, Ordered, Received, Replied. Only a person presses them. The software can say a refund is in the Owner band; it cannot approve it. It can say a product runs out in four days; it cannot order it.

2 · Anything that moves money, messages a customer, files a claim or orders stock

If an agent or Noa tries to refund, credit or cancel, send a customer a message, add a customer to a segment, file a carrier claim or create a purchase order, it stops. The exact call appears in Approvals. You read it and click Approve or Deny. Price, product and discount changes are refused outright, from every agent.

3 · Plans

When you give Noa a task, Noa shows what it will do first. Approve and run, change it, or cancel.

Approvals
The Approvals page for the store workspace. The watcher wants to file a lost-parcel claim; Noa was asked to issue a refund; the queuer wants to add a customer to the win-back segment. All wait for a person.
Who approves. Owners and admins, by default. A waiting message expires unsent after 24 hours, and the admins are reminded after 4. An approver going on holiday can hand their queue to a colleague, and every decision made that way records both names. Every approval is written to the audit trail with the name, the time and the message as approved.
Rules the software must follow

Six rules the pack ships, and the built-in ones

A rule is checked before every single thing the software tries to do. The pack installs six rules of its own on top of the standard ones every workspace starts with.

Refunds, credits and cancellations need a person in the bandNeeds a personThe router sets the band; a refund, credit, cancellation or dispute acceptance from any agent or Noa is held until the person in the band approves.
No agent changes a price, a product or a discountNeverPrices, products, variants, discount codes and promotions are a person's, in the storefront. Refused outright.
Customer messages need a personNeeds a personEmails, SMS, review replies, campaigns and segment changes are drafted; a person sends.
Carrier claims and purchase orders need a personNeeds a personThe claim and the purchase order are drafted; filing and ordering wait for a person.
No bulk export of customersNeverCustomer and order data stays in the storefront and the payment tool.
Nothing in this pack deletesNeverNo delete, remove or purge of an order, a customer, a product, a review, a shipment, a segment or a dispute.
Built-in rules on topNeeds a personThe standard rules every workspace starts with: sending, deleting, permissions and payments need approval; bulk export is recorded.
The list of rules for the store workspace.
The overview: active rules, alarms, anything waiting for review, personal data masking.

Everything is recorded

For every run you can see which agent ran, why it ran, every step it took, and every rule that checked it. Passwords and card numbers are blanked out before anything is stored.

Audit trail
The audit trail for the store workspace: refunds routed, a claim held, a segment held, a price change refused.

Spending limits

A monthly budget with a warning level and a hard stop for the software's own usage.

Your customers stay yours

Agents read orders, payments and tracking to write drafts; nothing is exported, and card numbers are blanked before anything is stored.

Every refund has a record

Who requested it, what the router recommended, the band, who approved it, when. The audit trail and the Refund Requests table say the same thing.

Who can see what

The desk is shared with the team. The public page shows a customer only the chat and the form. Only owners and admins change the layout.

What it saves

Hours back for a store doing 1,500 orders a month

These estimates assume 1,500 orders a month, about 40 late or flagged parcels a month, 60 refund requests, 6 chargebacks, 120 SKUs, 80 reviews and one win-back list a week. "Before" is the time by hand; "after" is the reading and deciding that is left. Your numbers will differ. These are estimates, not measurements; after a month the audit trail gives you real figures.

JobAssumptionHours beforeHours afterWhat changes
Chasing late parcels and writing to customers15 min each, 10 a week2.50.6Found every two hours and drafted; you send.
Filing carrier claims30 min each, 3 a week1.50.5Drafted with the tracking and the evidence; you file.
Checking and answering refund requests15 min each, 15 a week3.81.0Checked, banded and drafted; the person in the band approves.
Answering chargebacks1.5 h each, 1.5 a week2.30.6Evidence packed before the deadline; you submit.
Working out what to reorder2 h a week2.00.4Days of cover every morning, purchase orders drafted.
Answering reviews5 min each, 20 a week1.70.5Drafted in your voice; one and two stars flagged.
Building the win-back list1.5 h a week1.50.3Listed every Monday with the offer; you approve.
The end-of-day numbers30 min a day2.50.3Written and emailed at 17:30.
Answering "where is my order"3 h a week3.00.8The helpdesk answers from the tracking.
Total per week20.85.0About 16 hours a week back for a one-person operations desk, and no chargeback misses its deadline because nobody looked.

Parcels that get chased

The late parcel gets an honest update the day it is late, every time, not when the customer complains.

Refunds decided by the right person

The 34 refund is approved by anyone in a minute; the 890 one reaches the owner with the facts.

Stock that does not run out

The best-seller with four days of cover has its purchase order drafted at 06:30, not discovered at the weekend.

Estimates, not measurements. After a month the audit trail gives you real figures.

Getting started

Live in an afternoon

Installing takes one click. The real work is the playbook and the first week of trusting the drafts.

1Install

Install the pack from the Solution Packs page. Connect your storefront, shipping tool and payment tool when asked; the inventory, reviews and email tools if you use them.

2Playbook

Replace the starter text with your refund bands, returns rules, shipping promise, reorder rule, review voice and win-back rules.

3Public page

Put the "Help with your order" link on your store. Check the delivery and refund promises on it say what you mean.

4First week

Log disputes through the desk. Switch on the shipping check and the stock planner. Approve refunds from the desk.

5Then

Switch on the review responder, the win-back queuer and the daily digest, and move the review-reply rule to logged once the drafts are trusted.

Pricing

Included on every plan

You pay for the platform, not per desk. The plan sets how many agents, employees and workspaces you can run; every desk is included, and runs are billed on your own model key at cost. 7 agents in this desk count against the plan's agent limit.

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