You will learn here how to process customer returns and exchanges.

Processing returns of individual shipments and products

Processing complete and partial returns of individual shipments.

When processing shipment or product returns, shipping costs aren't automatically refunded.

Later on we will explain how to refund shipping costs when processing a partial return.

  1. In the shipment table, mark all products that need to be returned or exchanged.
  2. In the heading row for the shipment table, click Process return.

    The return form opens.

  3. In the return form, define the return settings.

    See also the description of return settings.

  4. In the return form, click Process return.
    A new row marked as a return in progress has been added to the order's shipment table.
    • If you need to refund the shipping costs to the customer, now is the time to make appropriate changes in the Order price details section.
    • For instance, to refund half of the shipping costs to the customer, cut the order's shipping costs by half.
    • See how to edit order shipping costs.
  5. In the return row, click Save the return.
  6. When necessary, refund the payment to the customer by creating a new payment transaction.

    Make sure that you mark the newly created payment transaction as paid in the right-hand Payment transactions menu after you've made the refund.

    You can make refunds directly from the order page when using the following online payment services:

    Also see how to make a refund to the customer.

You've just processed the return. The order has a new return row that has been marked as returned. Thanks to the new payment transaction that you created, you can be sure that the order total matches the payments made.

Processing complete order returns

  1. In the upper right corner of the order page, click Return the whole order.

    The return form opens.

  2. In the return form, define the return settings.

    See also the description of return settings.

  3. In the return form, click Process return.
  4. When necessary, refund the payment to the customer by creating a new payment transaction.

    Make sure that you mark the newly created payment transaction as having been paid in the right-hand Payment transactions pane.

You've just processed the return. The order has a new return row that has been marked as returned. Thanks to the new payment transaction that you created, you can be sure that the order total matches the payments made.

Processing exchanges

  1. On the order's shipment table, select the products that the customer would like to exchange.
  2. In the heading row for the shipment table, click Process return.

    The return form opens.

  3. For each product, select Exchange as the return type.

    See also the description of return settings.

  4. Define the rest of the return settings for each product row.
  5. Select the products that should replace the returned products.

    In the return form, you can either select another variation of the same product or search for another product in the search field.

  6. In the return form, click Process return.

    A new return has been created for the order. The return includes both products that are to be returned as well as a shipment with the exchanged products. If the order contains a shipment that's still in process, the exchanged products will automatically be added to the shipment.

  7. Create a new payment transaction for the order for making a refund or requesting additional payment from the customer, where appropriate.

    Make sure that you mark the payment as paid.

  8. After the payment has been made, mark the exchange as completed:
    1. In the return row, click Save the return.
    2. In the heading row of the new shipment, click Mark as shipped.

Now that the exchange has been processed, a new return and shipment have been added to the order, and the order total matches the payment transactions.

Processing returns and exchanges for archived orders

You can process returns and exchanges even for orders that have already been archived. In such a case, the archived order will remain untouched and a new return order will be created in your online store to account for the changes.

  1. Find the order and open its details from the list on the admin panel page Orders.

    To search for archived orders use the search tool in the right-hand pane on the Orders page.

  2. In the shipment table, mark all products that need to be returned or exchanged.
  3. In the heading row of the shipment table, click Process return.

    The return form opens.

  4. In the return form, define the return settings.

    See also the description of return settings.

  5. In the return form, click Process return.

    A new return order is created in the online store to which you will be redirected.

    In the case of exchanges, products that should be exchanged will be displayed as a separate shipment.

  6. In the return order's shipment table, click Save the return.

    The return order is marked as having been delivered.

  7. If you need to make a refund to the customer due to a return, in the return order's Payment transactions menu, click Create new.

    Make sure that your online store has a payment method that can be used for making refunds (e.g. MyCashflow Refund).

    See also the instructions on how to create payment transactions and how to make a refund.

  8. Finish processing the refund.
  9. Exchanges: Mark the potential products to be shipped as delivered once the customer has made the relevant payments.

    Learn more about marking shipments as delivered.

  10. If order archiving is enabled in your online store, archive the order to bookkeeping once you're sure that you will no longer have to edit it.

The settings in the return form

  • Select processing method: if you've selected multiple products for return but not all order products, use this field to define different exchange/return settings for the selected products. You can see different processing options below:

    • Set the same return settings for all: process all products to be returned in the same way.

    • Process returns and exchanges by product rows: define different return settings for individual products.
  • Return type Exchange/Return
    • If you select Exchange, a new section will open in the return form for selecting another product variation or searching for a new product to replace the returned product.
  • Reason for return: select or create a new reason for a return, which will be saved in the order details. In the near future, we're going to add new features to MyCashflow for viewing reasons for a return in the admin panel.
  • Shipping costs: when processing complete order returns, use this setting to state that the shipping costs should be refunded to the customer in full.
  • Products' marketable quality: use this setting to mark products that should be added back into stock. The product stock levels are going to be updated once you've finished processing the return.

Managing reasons for returns

The reason for a product return or exchange can be recorded in the return form.

You can add, delete, and join codes for reasons for a return in the Return and exchange reasons section on the Settings > Order settings page.

A reason code can contain lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens, but no other punctuation marks or spaces. If you enter letters with diacritics in the reason code field, they change into plain letters or letter combinations (e.g. ä = ae, ö = oe) when saved.

If you delete a reason code, the return reason will be removed from all orders where it has been used. The deleted return reason cannot be utilized in any way.