Shopify Product Safety Complaint: How to Log, Investigate and Decide After the First Reply

This guide assumes the customer has already been told to stop using the product and that one named person owns the case. It covers the rest of the process for stores that sell skincare, food, supplements, candles, textiles or anything else that touches the body.

Step 1: Log every health complaint in one place

A health complaint shouldn't live only in an email thread. Threads get archived and inboxes change hands. Six months later, nobody remembers that two customers mentioned the same rash.

Keep one log for every complaint about a reaction, an injury or a safety issue. A shared spreadsheet is enough to start. Use one row per case, with these fields:

• Date received. What to write: the day the customer first wrote. Why it matters: shows how fast you acted.
• Order number. What to write: the number from Shopify. Why it matters: links the case to what was shipped.
• Product and variant. What to write: exact name, size, scent or color. Why it matters: narrows down the cause.
• Batch or lot number. What to write: the number as printed on the packaging. Why it matters: groups cases by production run.
• What the customer described. What to write: their words, not your summary. Why it matters: keeps the record accurate.
• How they used it. What to write: when, how often, with what. Why it matters: separates misuse from a product issue.
• Photos received. What to write: yes or no, and where they're stored. Why it matters: evidence for your supplier.
• Owner. What to write: first name of the person handling it. Why it matters: one person is accountable.
• Status. What to write: open, investigating, decided, closed. Why it matters: nothing gets forgotten.
• Decision and date. What to write: what you did and when. Why it matters: your record if questions come later.

Copy the customer's words exactly. "My skin went a bit red" and "my face swelled up" lead to very different decisions, and a summary can blur that difference.

Step 2: Check the batch or lot

The lot number is the most useful fact you can get, because it tells you which production run the product came from. If the customer didn't send it, ask again. Also ask them to keep the product and its packaging until the case is closed.

Then check, in this order:

• Your stock. Do you still have units from the same lot? Look at them. Check the label, the seal, the smell, the color and the expiry date.
• The label against the formula. Does the ingredient list on the packaging match what your supplier says is inside? If an allergen is missing from the label, you can fix that.
• The supplier's records. Send the lot number and photos to your manufacturer. Ask whether they've had other reports on this run and whether anything changed in the formula or the raw materials.
• Storage and shipping. Heat, damp or a broken seal in transit can change a product. Check where the order shipped from and when.

If the product is past its date, the case also involves expiry handling. Our guide on how to reply when a customer receives an expired product, listed at the end of this article, covers that side.

Step 3: Spot repeat complaints on the same lot

One complaint can be a personal allergy. Two complaints on the same lot are a signal, and your log is what lets you see it.

Once a week, and each time a new health complaint arrives, sort the log by lot number. Look for:

• Same lot, similar symptoms. This is the strongest signal. Treat it as a possible product issue until you've ruled that out.
• Same product, different lots, similar symptoms. The problem may be the formula or the label, not a single batch.
• Return requests that mention symptoms. Customers often write "I'd like to return this, it made my skin itchy." If those tickets went through a normal returns flow, they never reached your log. Search past tickets for words like "rash", "itchy", "burn", "swelling" and "allergic".

Agree on a threshold with your supplier in advance so you aren't deciding under pressure. A simple rule works: a second report on the same lot triggers a full review.

Relay can send every health ticket to the right person on your team, with the order attached.

Step 4: Decide whether to pause sales

You don't need certainty to pause. You need enough doubt. Pausing a product for a few days costs less than shipping more units from a bad lot.

Your options in Shopify:

• You can tell which lot each warehouse ships. What you can do: stop shipping that lot and set its stock aside.
• You can't tell which lot goes out. What you can do: set the product to Draft so it leaves your storefront.
• Orders with the product are waiting to ship. What you can do: put those orders on hold before they're fulfilled.
• The issue is a missing warning on the label. What you can do: update the product page now, then fix the label with your supplier.

Check your obligations. Depending on your product and your market, you may have to report some reactions to an authority or recall a product. The rules differ by country and by category. Ask your supplier or your advisor what applies to you, and write their answer in your log.

Step 5: Decide and send the closing reply

Once you have the facts, decide what to do for this customer. Common options are a refund, a replacement with a different product, or a return at your cost. A person on your team makes this call. It shouldn't come from an automated flow.

Then send a closing reply. Your first reply showed you cared. This one tells the customer what you found and what you'll do. Keep it plain and have the same person sign it.

Subject: "Update on your report about [product name], order #[number]"

Reply: "Hi [first name], thank you for sending the lot number and photos. Here's what we did. We checked the lot with our manufacturer and compared the label with the formula. [One plain sentence on what you found.] Here's what we'll do for you: [refund, replacement or other help, with the amount if relevant]. [If something changed: We've updated the product page / paused this lot / changed the label.] If anything changes with your symptoms, reply to this email and I'll pick it up. [your name], [store name]"

The person who owns the case fills in the brackets before sending. Two rules apply here. Don't promise a reply time you can't keep, and only state findings you've confirmed. If the investigation found nothing, say so plainly: "We didn't find a problem with this lot, and we'll keep watching for other reports."

Then close the row in your log with the decision and the date.

How Relay fits into this process

Relay is an AI support agent that understands your product, answers customer questions, takes action, and knows when to bring in your team. With safety complaints, its job is to bring in your team. The investigation and the decision stay with a person.

What you set up in Relay:

• Rules in plain sentences. For example: "When a customer mentions a reaction to a product, the AI doesn't answer, and the founder handles it." Our guide to setting up human handoff rules in a Shopify AI agent shows how to write them.
• Permissions. For each action, you choose whether the AI may do it alone or whether it stays with your team. On health tickets, no refund, code or cancellation should happen automatically. Our guide on Shopify AI refund permissions shows how to set them.
• Handoff with context. The ticket reaches your team with the customer's message and the order involved. You can copy the order number and the customer's own words straight into your log.

For the full list of triggers that should reach a person, read our guide on Shopify AI escalation rules that protect CSAT. All three guides are listed at the end of this article, and you'll find more in our policies section.

FAQ

What should I do after replying to a product safety complaint on Shopify? Log the case in one place and get the batch or lot number. Check that lot against your stock and with your supplier, and look for other complaints on the same lot. Then decide whether to pause sales and send the customer a closing reply with your decision.

How do I know if several complaints come from the same batch? Record the lot number for every health complaint and sort your log by lot. Also search past return requests for words like "rash", "itchy" or "allergic", because some reactions come in as ordinary returns.

When should I pause sales of a product after a complaint? When you have enough doubt. You don't need certainty. A second report on the same lot, a label that doesn't match the formula, or a damaged batch in stock are good reasons. If you can't tell which lot ships, set the product to Draft.

Do I have to report a customer's reaction to an authority? It depends on your product category and your market. Ask your supplier or your advisor, and keep their answer in your log.

Can an AI agent handle product safety complaints? It shouldn't make decisions on them. With rules in plain sentences and the right permissions, the AI hands these tickets to a named person on your team, with the message and order attached, and takes no action on the order.