Return orders

A return order announces goods that a customer sends back. Like a purchase order it is inbound: you confirm it so the warehouse knows what to expect, and receiving puts the goods back into stock, as new or defective. A return order can be linked to the sales order it returns, in which case Boxture checks that only what was shipped can be returned.

Flow

Step	Order state	Item states	How
1. Create	concept	–	Create Return Order on a completed sales order, New return order, import, API or integration.
2. Confirm	confirming → pending	expected	Confirm. Expected inventory is created at the destination location. If the shipping method's carrier is connected, a return shipment with label is created.
3. Receive	processing	received (or hold)	Receiving at the destination location. See Receiving.
4. Complete	completed	–	Automatically, once every unit is received or cancelled.

Return orders are never allocated. When returned goods are received, waiting backorders for those products are allocated automatically.

Creating a return for a sales order

1. Open the completed sales order.
2. In its menu, choose Create Return Order.
3. The new return order is linked to the sales order (Related order). The customer is copied, the sales order's delivery contact becomes the Pickup contact and its billing contact is copied to Billing.
4. Choose the Reason, check the Destination location and add the lines that are being returned.
5. Save and Confirm.

You can also start with New return order and choose the Related order yourself; the list only offers completed sales orders.

Fields

Basics tab

Field	Description
Related order	The sales order being returned. Optional.
Delivery terms	Incoterm.
Reason	Why the goods are returned. The list contains the active reasons with use Return reason, see Reasons.
Customer reference number	Your reference. Must be unique among return orders that are not cancelled, but may be the same as the related sales order's reference.
Other reference number	Free reference.
Shipping method	The method the customer uses to send the goods back. Used to create a return label (see below).
Customer	Optional. Selecting one copies its contacts.
Destination location	Required. The location that receives the return. With a related order it defaults to the location the sales order shipped from.

Pickup and Billing tabs

The Pickup contact is where the goods come from. These fields are required: last name, address, postal code, city and country. The Billing contact is optional.

Lines

Per line: Product, Quantity, Status (new or defective, the expected condition) and Serial number for serialized products. Lines can only be changed while the order is in concept.

Rules for related returns

When a return order has a related sales order, each line is checked against it:

• The product must be on the sales order (or be a component of a kit on it). Otherwise: "not on related order".
• The quantity returned, counting all return orders for that sales order together, may not exceed what was on the sales order. Otherwise: "more than on related order".
• For products with serial numbers, the serial number must be one that was shipped on the sales order and may not be on another return already. For products that are only serial-tracked on the way out, this is only enforced when Receiving › Require serial numbers for outbound products on related orders is on.

With Receiving › Over receive on for return orders, the quantity and serial number checks are skipped. With Receiving › Over receive different product on, any product may be returned.

Serial numbers on confirmation

When a return order with serial numbers is confirmed, Boxture checks that these units are really gone from stock. A serial number that still belongs to active inventory makes confirmation fail with "Serial number(s) already active: …". If the serial number belongs to a unit that was shipped earlier, that same inventory record is reused, so the unit's history stays together.

Return shipments and labels

If the return order has a shipping method whose carrier is connected for the destination location (see Carriers), confirming the order also:

1. creates a return shipment from the pickup address to the destination location,
2. packs the expected units into one parcel, using the default packing material for return orders at that location (Packing › Default packing material, or else the shipping method's default packing material),
3. requests a waybill (return label) from the carrier.

The shipment appears on the order under Shipments. If this fails, for example because no default packing material is set, you get "Failed to generate return shipment, verify the order details and try again".

Receiving returns

Receive returns like purchase orders, at the destination location. Per unit you confirm the status: returned goods that are damaged can be received as defective, or received with the hold reason Damaged so someone can inspect them first (see Holds). See Receiving.

The order is completed when every unit is received (or on hold for inspection) or cancelled.

Personal data

Return orders contain the customer's address. Completed and cancelled return orders can be anonymized, by hand or automatically. See Anonymization.

Importing return orders

Use Orders › Import › Return order. Columns: Record ID, Destination location, Delivery terms, Customer reference number, Other reference number, Shipping method, Related order, Customer, Pickup contact fields (company name, first name, last name, address lines, postal code, city, country, state or province code, phone number, fax number, email), Line Nr, Product, Quantity, Serial number, Status and Event. See Creating and importing orders.