Returns

A return records that goods are coming back and what they are worth. Paying the customer is a separate record, a refund, which you raise against the return.

Who can do this: the Administrator, Admin, Store Admin and Cashier can create, approve, complete and cancel returns. The Cashier has these on purpose, so the person who took the sale can also take it back. Reports Viewer can view returns. Returns work on every plan.

Before you start#

• Only completed orders can be returned, unless you record a manual return with no order.
• Select the store the sale was made in. A return belongs to one store, and to at most one order.

Concept: the life of a return#

Requested → Approved → Completed, with Rejected and Cancelled as ways out.

• Approving accepts the return. It moves no stock. It lets you raise a refund.
• Completing means the goods are back. This is the step that moves stock, item by item, as you chose. See What happens to returned stock.
• Completed is final. Items and fees can no longer change, so the same goods can never be put back into stock twice.
• Rejecting or cancelling frees the quantity again, so those items can be returned on a new request.

Create a return#

1. Open Returns and click Create return. Or open a completed order and choose Process return from its actions menu.
2. Under Return method, choose one:
   • Return by order: pick a completed order and select its items.
   • Manual return (by product): search products directly, with no order.
   • Manual return (by amount): refund a custom amount.
3. For each item, enter the Return qty, the Condition, and the Inventory action (what happens to the goods).
4. Under Reason & fees, pick a reason and, if you charge them, a Restocking fee deduction or a Return processing fee.
5. Check Total refund amount. The server works out this figure.
6. Click Process return. The new return is Requested.

Items sold by measure can be returned by measure. If a customer bought 1.5 kg, you can return 0.75 kg or the full 1.5 kg.

Move a return forward#

Open the return. Under Update return lifecycle status, the buttons change with its status:

1. Approve return accepts a requested return.
2. Process refund opens the refund form with the return filled in. See Refunds.
3. Complete return closes the return when the goods are back, and moves the stock.
4. Reject return declines a requested return. Cancel return withdraws it.

You can also change the status from the Status menu on the returns list. Options the server would refuse are shown with the reason.

The quantity limit#

More can never come back than went out. For each item, the most you can return is what the order sold, less what earlier returns already took. Rejected and cancelled returns do not count. If you ask for too much, the message names the numbers, for example "the order only held 2".

Two people returning the same goods at the same time cannot both succeed. One is asked to try again.

How a return is valued#

The server values every return. The page only shows its answer. For each item, the value is:

• the price paid for the returned quantity,
• less that quantity's share of any discount on the line,
• plus its share of tax, when tax was added on top of the price.

Tax that was already inside the price is shown but never added again. Shipping and order charges are never refunded. The Restocking fee deduction and Return processing fee lower the total. Neither can be negative, and the total never goes below zero.

For a manual return with no order, the value is the unit price you type times the quantity.

Behind the scenes#

• Return numbers start with RET- and are never reused.
• A return can never be deleted. Rejected and cancelled returns stay as a record of what was asked.
• A return never changes the order or its invoice. It is a separate record beside them.

Watch out#

Troubleshooting#

Related pages#

What happens to returned stock · Refunds · Editing and cancelling orders