Introduction - Returns

A return handles goods physically coming back.

A return from request to received goods to the credit that follows.

It is the only sales document that moves stock in the opposite direction, and it settles both halves of the problem at once: the units go back on the shelf and the customer gets their value back.

The Sales Returns screen listing ten returns with columns for Return Date, Return Number, Sales Order Number, Customer, Status, Received and Refund. Every row is Approved, and reads Not Received and Not Refunded until the goods come back and the money goes out. — Receive and Refund are separate columns, because a return settles both halves and they can sit at different stages.

Return or credit note

The question is only ever whether physical goods are coming back.

Raise a Return

Goods are physically coming back

YesPuts units back into stock at a location
YesProduces the credit note for you
YesRecords condition, so damaged goods are not resold
YesKeeps stock valuation correct

Raise a Credit Note

Only value is coming back

YesRight for overcharges, discounts and service disputes
YesFaster, one document
NoMoves no stock at all
NoWrong if goods are physically returning

The four stages

RequestedThey ask
AuthorisedYou agree, warehouse warned
ReceivedGoods arrive, stock moves
CreditedValue goes back

What a return is tied to

A return references the original invoice, and that reference is what makes the credit correct. It is how the returned units are valued at the price actually charged rather than at today's price, and how your margin on the original sale reverses cleanly.