Returns management
Merchants or users can manage returns from each market in an organization, monitoring and tracking their different statuses. In this section, you will learn how returns are managed and what is their lifecycle throughout their fulfillment.
Return management system
Commerce Layer provides users with a return management system. This system allows merchants to manage returns in different statuses and one place. Users can manage orders that are returned due to any reason (faulty line items, long delivery time, etc.).
Returns can be created only from fulfilled orders. Multiple returns can also be created from a single order. When a return request is submitted, it will either be approved or not. SKUs that are successfully returned to the merchant can be restocked to the inventory.
Return fufillment
Returns are initially created in draft status. They become requested when a customer requests to return SKUs from a specific order. Requested returns can be approved or cancelled. An approved return status becomes shipped once it leaves the origin address (customer address). Once shipped returns reach the specified return location (destination address) their status can become received (if the return process has been completed successfully) or rejected (e.g. the customer sent back the wrong products). Received returns can be refunded, in which case, their status becomes refunded. Successfully returned SKUs can be restocked to an inventory location.
Refund from a return
Once the shipped returns items are returned to the destination address a refund process can be initiated starting from the return itself.
The amount to be refunded must be specified manually (an estimation is computed by the API based on the price and quantity of the items returned and exposed in an attribute of the return itself). By default, the refunded capture is the most recent succeeded capture associated with the related order. In the case of multiple captures, a different succeeded capture can be specified. If a refund process is started from a return, the associated order is not cancelled.