Contents
- Scenario: Return is delivered late
- Scenario: Shopper uses their own shipping label
- Scenario: Courier doesn't mark the package as “delivered” at your warehouse
- Scenario: An exchange order is out of stock
- Scenario: A partial or full refund has already occurred
- Scenario: Customer returns an extra item
- Scenario: Customer returns the wrong item
- Scenario: Automated refund is not triggering
- Scenario: Customer returns after using multiple forms of payment
- Other Error Codes in the "Needs Attention" Tab
While we’ve discussed the ideal path an RMA may take automatically, incorrect or tardy returns are bound to happen from time to time. In this article, we’ll explore steps to take when an imperfect return occurs.
It’s important to remember that all RMAs in the “Needs Attention” tab will need some level of manual attention from your team.
Scenario: Return is delivered late
1. The shopper does not drop off their package by your delivery date deadline.
a. The RMA automatically transitions to the “Complete” tab with a Missed Delivery Deadline status since Returnly assumes the shopper changed their mind and no longer plans on returning the item. As such, no refund occurs.
2. The shopper sends the item past the delivery date deadline. The package arrives at your warehouse, and the courier scans the package marking it as delivered.
a. The RMA transitions to the “For Review” tab with a Delivered Late status.
3. With auto-settlement enabled, your pre-defined grace period begins to allow your team time to review the return. Once the auto-settle window is complete, the RMA processes programmatically. If this step is not automated, then a team member must review and process the RMA manually.
a. RMA moves to the “Complete” tab and is in a Refunded status.
Scenario: Shopper uses their own shipping label
1. These RMAs must be manually marked as Delivered, since your Return Manager will not receive tracking updates on the label originally provided to the shopper.
2. With auto-settlement enabled, your pre-defined grace period begins to allow your team time to review the return. Once the auto-settle window is complete, the RMA processes programmatically. If this step is not automated, then a team member must review and process the RMA manually.
a. RMA moves to the “Complete” tab and is in a Refunded status.
Scenario: Courier fails to scan the package as “delivered” upon arrival to your warehouse
1. These RMAs must be manually marked as Delivered, since your Return Manager will not receive the delivery status for the RMA’s label.
2. With auto-settlement enabled, your pre-defined grace period begins to allow your team time to review the return. Once the auto-settle window is complete, the RMA processes programmatically. If this step is not automated, then a team member must review and process the RMA manually.
a. RMA moves to the “Complete” tab and is in a Refunded status.
Scenario: An exchange order is out of stock
If Instant Exchanges is not enabled, it is possible that an exchange order goes out of stock from the point a shopper initiates an exchange to when their return arrives at your warehouse.
1. Once the RMA is In-transit, the shopper’s exchange order has since gone out of stock.
2. The RMA transitions to the “Needs Attention” tab.
3. Once the return arrives at your warehouse the RMA will transition to the Delivered status. As the exchange order cannot be fulfilled, refund your customer for their original return and close out the RMA.
a. You might also consider following up with your customer to see if they’d like to exchange for a different product that is in stock. However, the original RMA will still need to be closed out and you will have to manually create a new order on their behalf.
Scenario: A partial or full refund has already occurred
1. A customer is partially or fully refunded for their return outside of Returnly, directly within their eCommerce platform.
2. The RMA transitions to the “Needs Attention” tab.
3. Take the appropriate path to close out the RMA.
a. For customers who have been partially refunded, you can deduct the refund amount from the RMA total using the Deductions & Fees field and process the RMA in Returnly.
b. For customers fully refunded via Shopify or other ecommerce platform, you can mark the RMA as Refunded Externally effectively closing it out.
Scenario: Customer returns an extra item
1. First, click into the RMA and mark the return as Delivered. The Delivered status is required before moving to the next step.
2. Click the + Add items button to add the additional item the customer returned.
3. Process the return, effectively refunding your customer for all returned items, restocking the returns, and sending an accurate refund confirmation for the RMA.
Scenario: Customer returns the wrong item
Since the customer returned an incorrect product, the item listed in the RMA will be different from the return you received. Therefore you must add the product the customer returned and remove the product the customer kept.
1. First, click into the RMA and mark the return as Delivered. The Delivered status is required before moving to the next step.
2. Click the + Add items button to add the item the customer returned.
3. Next, click the Edit button next to the missing item and select Item missing.
4. Process the return, effectively refunding your customer for the correct item, restocking the return, and sending an accurate refund confirmation for the RMA.
Scenario: Automated refund is not triggering
1. Often due to a settlement error where a payment processor blocks Returnly from issuing a refund, this RMA will have a Pending Refund status and transition to the “Needs Attention” tab.
2. You must issue a refund to your customer outside of Returnly, such as through Shopify.
3. Thereafter, you can mark the pending RMA as Refunded Externally, effectively closing it out.
Scenario: Customer returns an item they used more than one form of payment to purchase
When two payment methods are used (gift card & credit card) Returnly automatically refunds the maximum balance possible to the credit card. If there is still an amount left to be refunded, it goes to the gift card used by the shopper when purchasing the order.
Other Error Codes in the "Needs Attention" Tab
As previously discussed, all RMAs within the “Needs Attention” tab require manual review and processing. With Returnly RMA alerting, you can quickly identify the issues that must first be addressed enabling your team to more promptly resolve aging RMAs and close out returns in less time.
Reference the below error alert types and associated solutions when processing such returns:
- Stuck in transit: The RMA has remained in transit for over 14 days. We suggest checking to see if the return has been delivered successfully and simply not scanned. If so, update the RMA status to Delivered. If it wasn’t delivered, follow up with your carrier for a status update.
- Stuck pending refund: This return has remained in this status for several days. We recommend that you retry refunding the customer, or refund the customer through your ecommerce platform and close out the RMA by marking it as Refunded Externally.
- Manual refund required: The refund failed and requires manual processing. Simply refund this return through your ecommerce platform and mark the RMA as Refunded Externally.
- Missing item: there was an item missing from the return received. We suggest following up with your customer to resolve the order before completing the return to ensure they intend on keeping the item.
- Foreign item sent: the item returned is not the one delivered to the shopper. We suggest following up with your customer to resolve the issue.
- Insufficient refund potential value: This RMA has an existing partial refund and Returnly is unable to process the remaining refund amount. In this case, mark the RMA as Refunded Externally and issue a refund through your ecommerce platform.
- Insufficient refund potential units: The number of items within the return differ from what was expected. Confirm the number of items being returned and the number of items in the order(s). If necessary, use the +Add items button to additional products to the RMA and process this return.
- Network error: There was an issue processing the return due to network failure. In this case, simply retry processing the return after a few minutes.
- Http client/server error outgoing: There was an issue communicating with your ecommerce platform. In this case, simply retry processing the return after a few minutes.
- Data out of sync: Something went wrong when updating this RMA. Simply wait a few minutes before retrying your action.
