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What is a sales return?

How a customer return works, and what decides whether the stock goes back on the shelf.

A sales return records goods coming back from a customer. You will see them numbered RMA0001, RMA0002 and so on.

How it works

Create the return  →  Confirm it  →  Receive the goods

Creating and confirming move nothing. The return says what you are expecting back. Your stock only changes when the goods physically turn up and you receive them — the same split as a purchase order and its receipt.

The Restock flag decides what happens to the stock

This is the part that matters, and it is set per line.

Restock

What happens when you receive it

On

the goods go back into stock and can be sold again

Off

the return is recorded, but nothing goes back on the shelf

Turn it off for anything you would not sell to the next customer — damaged goods, opened consumables, anything going in the bin or back to the supplier.

One return can mix the two. Three lines coming back, two resellable and one damaged: leave Restock on for the two, turn it off for the one.

It defaults to on, so a return you click straight through puts everything back into sellable stock.

What returned stock is worth

Goods that come back re-enter at your current average cost — what that item is worth to you today, not what it sold for.

That means a return does not move your average cost. You are adding stock at exactly the average it already sits at, so the average stays where it was.

You do not need the original order

A return can be created against a customer without pointing at the order the goods came from. Useful when someone turns up with something bought months ago.

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