Processing a return

When a customer asks to send something back, the request lands in your Returns list. You work through it there: approve or decline the request, mark the goods as received, decide what happens to the stock, then close the return. For the list itself and what each column shows, see Managing returns.

Considerations

• A return is resolved as a Refund or an Exchange. A request from your storefront is always a refund. An exchange is a return you create yourself.
• A return you create yourself starts as Approved, so it skips the approve step.
• When you complete a refund return, you can refund the customer in the same step if the order has a payment Orbit can refund. Or you can complete it without refunding and pay from the order afterwards.
• Completing a return and changing a line's refund amount both need the permission to issue refunds.
• Completing an exchange creates the replacement order and settles any difference.
• Stock only comes back when you choose Restock for an item.
• A completed return cannot be reopened.

Open a return

1. From your Orbit dashboard, go to Orders, then Returns.
2. Use the status tabs above the list to narrow it, or type a return or order number in the search box.
3. Click the return you want. The return page opens with the return number and its status at the top.

Note: The buttons at the top of a return page depend on its status. A requested return offers Approve and Decline. An approved one offers Receive items and Cancel. One with the status Items received offers Complete return. A completed one offers nothing.

Approve a return

1. Open a return with the status Requested.
2. Read the items, the reasons and the customer's note.
3. Click Approve. The Approve return window opens.
4. Add anything your team needs to know under Store notes (optional). The customer does not see this.
5. Under Return shipping label (optional), fill in any of Tracking number, Tracking URL and Label URL (downloadable). A tracking number on its own is enough. Leave all three blank if you are not sending a label.
6. Click Approve return. The status becomes Approved and your notes and tracking details are saved on the return page.

Decline a return

1. Open a return with the status Requested.
2. Click Decline.
3. Type a Reason for declining. This reason is shared with the customer.
4. Add Store notes (optional) for your own records.
5. Click Decline return. The return does not go any further.

Close a return without the items coming back

Use this when the customer keeps the item, such as a low value product that costs more to post than to replace. It is offered on refund returns that are requested or approved.

1. Click Resolve without return.
2. Type why you are doing it. A reason is required.
3. Click Resolve return, or Keep return open to back out.

The return closes as completed with nothing received. No stock changes and no refund is issued, so settle any refund from the order.

Receive the returned items

1. Open the approved return once the parcel arrives.
2. Click Receive items. The Receive return items window opens with a row for each item.
3. Set the Condition of each item: New, Used or Damaged.
4. If you pick Damaged, an Adjusted refund amount (optional) field appears. Type the figure you will actually refund for that line. It cannot be more than the customer paid for those units.
5. Set What happens to it for each item: Restock, Quarantine or Write off. Choosing Damaged moves the line to Quarantine for you.
6. Add Store notes (optional) if you need to.
7. Click Mark as received. The status becomes Items received and the Total refund on the page updates to any figures you adjusted.

What each stock choice does

• Restock: the unit goes straight back into sellable stock. Pick this only for items you would send to the next customer.
• Quarantine: the unit stays on your shelf but off sale. Pick this for items that need cleaning, testing or repackaging first.
• Write off: the unit leaves your stock for good. Pick this for goods you cannot sell again.

Condition and stock choice are separate on purpose. A used item can still be restocked as an open box unit, and a new item can be quarantined while you inspect it.

Complete the return

1. Open the return once its status is Items received.
2. Click Complete return. The Complete return window opens.
3. On a refund return, check the amount, then choose what happens to the money. The refund option shows the amount, for example Refund £16.00 now, and sends it back to the card or account the customer paid with. Don't refund now closes the return without moving money, for when you have already refunded or will refund from the order. If the order has been refunded before, Don't refund now is picked for you.
4. Click the button at the bottom. It reads, for example, Refund £16.00 and complete, or Complete return if you are not refunding. The status becomes Completed and no buttons are left.
5. If the order has no payment Orbit can refund, or it was paid manually, completing only records the refund total. Send the money yourself.

On an exchange the window is headed Complete exchange and the button reads Complete and settle. Pick Settle automatically (recommended) to credit the value of the returned goods against the replacement and refund or charge the difference, or I've handled the money myself to create the replacement order at full price, marked as paid, with no credit and no refund. Completing it creates the replacement order.

Warning: If you choose Don't refund now, completing a refund return does not pay the customer. Check the order's payment section afterwards so the money actually goes back.

What is on the return page

• Return items: the items coming back, with Product, Reason, Qty, Condition and Refund, and a Total refund underneath. An exchange return adds an Exchange column for the replacement.
• Notes: Customer notes from the shopper and Store notes from your team.
• Order: a link back to the order the return came from.
• Shipping label: the Tracking number you entered, with Track shipment and Download label links when you gave those URLs. It reads No shipping label if you left all three blank.
• Timeline: Reviewed, Items received and Created, with the date and time of each.

Return statuses

• Requested: the customer has raised it and it is waiting for you.
• Approved: you accepted it, so the customer can send the items back.
• Items received: the goods have arrived and you have logged their condition. The list shows this as Received.
• Completed: the return is closed. Nothing more can be done to it.
• Declined: you turned the request down.
• Cancelled: the request was cancelled before it was completed.

Related guides

• Managing returns
• Refunding an order
• Understanding order statuses
• Cancelling an order