If you're researching whether Valyn fits your store, this is the page. Anything not covered here — ask us directly.
The basics
What it does
What does Valyn do, exactly?
Valyn watches a support email inbox you forward to it, detects "where is my order?" type emails (WISMO), looks up the matching order in your Shopify store, and replies automatically with the tracking link, carrier, and ETA — sent from your own email address. The questions that used to eat your support hours answer themselves; only the emails that need a human reach you.
Is this an AI chatbot?
Not a chatbot. Valyn uses an AI classifier to decide whether an email is a genuine 'where is my order?' question — that's what lets it tell a real customer apart from a newsletter or a return request, in English, French, and German. But the AI never writes the reply: replies come from templates you control, filled with real Shopify order data. Valyn never invents information about an order — it only reports what Shopify says is true. Classification runs on AWS Bedrock inside the same AWS region as your data; email content is never sent to a third-party AI vendor or used to train models.
Does it replace my helpdesk?
No, and it isn't trying to. Valyn handles the repetitive 60% of your inbox — tracking questions — so your real helpdesk (or your own time) is freed for everything else: returns, complaints, product questions, fraud cases. If you don't have a helpdesk, Valyn is the smallest possible step up from "just my Gmail."
How long does setup take?
Under 5 minutes for most stores. Install from the Shopify App Store, paste your SMTP credentials (Gmail app password works), copy the forwarding address Valyn gives you into your support inbox forwarding rule, send a test email. That's it.
Setup & data
Permissions and access
What Shopify permissions does Valyn ask for?
Read-only on orders, fulfillments, and customers. That's all. We can read enough order data to compose an accurate reply. We cannot modify orders, create customers, charge cards, or change anything in your store. We also subscribe to standard uninstall and GDPR webhooks so we can clean up when you leave.
Where does my data live?
Inbound email MIME files are stored in AWS S3 (us-west-2) for 30 days, then auto-expire. Order and reply logs are stored in AWS DynamoDB and auto-expire at the end of your plan's retention window. SMTP credentials are encrypted at rest using a per-deployment key. Nothing is shared with third parties.
Are you GDPR compliant?
Yes. We honor Shopify's three mandatory GDPR webhooks (customers/data_request, customers/redact, shop/redact) and run a 48-hour deletion window from request to confirmation. We're a data processor; you're the controller. Our DPA is published at getvalyn.com/legal/data-processing-agreement.
Why do you need my SMTP credentials?
So replies are sent from your domain, not ours. Customers see "support@yourstore.com" — Valyn is invisible in the conversation. If we sent from our own domain, deliverability would suffer and customers would be confused. Credentials are encrypted; you can rotate them or revoke access at any time.
Edge cases
What if something goes wrong
What if Valyn can't find the order?
Two options, configurable from your dashboard: (1) send a polite fallback asking the customer for their order number, then flag the email for review, or (2) skip the reply entirely and queue the email for manual handling. Default is the fallback reply — it's almost always better than silence.
What if the customer has multiple recent orders?
If the email contains an order number, that order wins. If it doesn't, Valyn picks the most recent in-transit order and explicitly mentions which one it's referring to in the reply, so the customer can correct us if needed.
What if Valyn misclassifies an email?
If we reply when we shouldn't have, mark the email as misclassified in your dashboard log. The row keeps a visible "Misclassified" status so you can follow up with the customer and see at a glance how often it happens.
What if a customer replies to the auto-reply?
The reply lands in your normal inbox — threading is preserved. Valyn doesn't try to loop the customer in an automation cycle. One auto-reply per inbound email, end of story.
Can I pause automation if I'm out for the weekend?
Yes — one click in the dashboard. Inbound emails are still received and logged, but Valyn doesn't reply until you toggle automation back on.
Billing
Money
How much does it cost?
Two plans: Starter $19/mo (500 emails) and Pro $49/mo (3,000 emails). You'll be notified in the dashboard before hitting your limit so you can upgrade. Full pricing here.
Is there a free trial?
7 days on every plan. No card required to install. Billing only starts at the end of the trial — and only if you don't cancel.
How do I cancel?
Uninstall Valyn from your Shopify admin. Billing stops immediately, no portal hunt. About 48 hours after uninstall, Shopify sends us a shop-redaction request and we permanently delete your shop's data.
Languages & markets
Coverage
Which languages does Valyn support?
English, French, and German at launch. Each language has its own detection patterns and reply templates. We pick the reply language based on the inbound email's language — your customer hears back in their own language.
Will you add more languages?
Spanish, Dutch, and Italian are on the short list. Tell us which one matters for your store and we'll prioritize. We add a language when a meaningful number of merchants need it, not as a marketing checkbox.
Didn't find your answer?
We answer every email personally. Usually within a few hours.