Gorgias is where the ticket lives. Shopify and BigCommerce hold the order, the SKU, and the refund event. The support agent works the queue, but a return on a flagged SKU needs a merchandiser to approve before Dock writes the refund back. The Dock RMA brief is the row that holds that interpretation, that approver, and that audit trail. See the customer support pillar for the full surface map.
Gorgias, Shopify, and BigCommerce stay the system of record for the raw data. Dock is the system of record for what the AGENT INTERPRETS. Each Dock row carries a pointer back to the platform record, agent identity, decision, reviewer, and timestamp. The agent re-fetches platform data via fresh API reads when it needs current state.
The RMA brief table
One row per ticket that touches a return or exchange. The agent populates the interpretation; merchandising approves; the refund pushes back to Shopify or BigCommerce only after sign-off.
| Ticket | SKU | Reason class | Drafted action | Agent | Merch reviewer | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gorgias://t/48211 | SHOP-AVA-S-NAVY | sizing | refund + restock | cs-agent-mira | Priya K. | approved 2026-05-29 14:02 |
| gorgias://t/48244 | BC-LAMP-44 | defect (3rd this week) | refund + pull from sale | cs-agent-mira | Daniel R. | escalated, pull pending |
| gorgias://t/48267 | SHOP-AVA-M-OAT | wrong color shipped | exchange + warehouse note | cs-agent-mira | auto (under $50) | resolved 2026-05-30 09:11 |
The pointer column is not a label. It is the live handle the agent uses to re-fetch the ticket body, the Shopify order state, and the BigCommerce inventory count before any write. How agent identity works explains why the Agent column is a credentialed principal, not a string.
Worked workflow: defect cluster on a hero SKU
A customer files a Gorgias ticket for a broken lamp. The agent reads the ticket, pulls the Shopify order, and checks the last 30 days of returns for BC-LAMP-44. It is the third defect ticket this week. The agent drafts the RMA brief with reason class "defect (3rd this week)" and a recommended action: refund the customer and pull the SKU from sale pending QC. The brief routes to Daniel in merchandising. Daniel approves the refund inside Dock and confirms the pull-from-sale separately in BigCommerce. The agent writes the refund to Shopify, posts the ticket reply in Gorgias, and stamps the row resolved. Daniel's name, the timestamp, and the ticket pointer are now permanent on the row. See the broader ecommerce refund flow for non-defect variants.
Why it matters
Returns are 16.9 percent of US retail sales in 2024, projected at 890 billion dollars in returned merchandise, and 93 percent of retailers cite return abuse as a major problem (NRF 2024 Returns report). A blanket auto-refund policy leaks money. A human-only policy buries the queue. The Dock brief is the middle layer: the agent does the read and the draft, a named merchandiser owns the call on flagged SKUs, and the audit row survives the ticket closing. Gorgias resolves the conversation. Shopify and BigCommerce resolve the money. Dock resolves the question of who decided and why. That separation is what agent audit and compliance requires when finance asks in Q3 why a SKU was pulled in May.
For a deeper view of the operating model, read how to run customer support with AI.
Gorgias itself notes the AI agent "automates approximately 60 percent of support inquiries" with built-in guardrails (Gorgias product page). The 40 percent that needs a human is exactly the queue this brief is built for.
FAQ
Does Dock replace Gorgias? No. Gorgias stays the helpdesk. Dock holds the interpretation layer: the RMA brief, the merch reviewer, the audit row. The ticket body, macros, and customer history stay in Gorgias.
What if the merchandiser is offline? The row sits in pending. The agent does not write to Shopify or BigCommerce without a sign-off on flagged SKUs. Under-threshold refunds route to auto-approve, configured per brand.
How does the agent get credentialed access to three platforms? The agent has its own identity with scoped OAuth to Gorgias, Shopify, and BigCommerce. No shared service accounts. Every API call is attributable to cs-agent-mira, not to a human seat.
Can I see every action an agent took on a SKU? Yes. Filter the RMA table by SKU. You get every ticket, every reviewer, every refund, every pull-from-sale, with timestamps. That is the audit row finance and merchandising both query.
