How to read your returns numbers

Returns are measured in two places for two different jobs. The Returns page answers "what is coming back and why" while you can still do something about it. The Returns report under Reports → Finances answers "how much went back out the door" for a period you pick.

1. 1

   Start on the Returns page

   Open Returns from the sidebar. Above the list sits a row of four figures that recalculate with whatever filters you have applied — so they answer a question about a slice, not just about everything.

2. 2

   Read the customer side

   With the Customers tab active the four figures are:

   • Returns — how many return documents, not how many units.
   • Refund value — the money that went back to customers.
   • Units restocked — how many units actually made it back onto a shelf. Compare this against the returns count: a wide gap means most of what comes back is not resellable.
   • Top reason — the reason chosen most often. This is the one figure that tells you to go fix something upstream.
3. 3

   Switch to Suppliers for the other direction

   The Suppliers tab swaps two of the figures: Credit value is what you are claiming back from suppliers, and Units sent back is how much left your shelf in batches. Refund value and Credit value should never be read as one number — one is money you paid out, the other is money you are owed.

4. 4

   Filter to answer a real question

   Narrow the list by reason, by resolution, or by settlement, and watch the figures follow. "How much did defective screens cost us this month" is a reason filter; "how much store credit did we hand out" is a resolution filter.

5. 5

   Print the dated report for the books

   For accounting go to Reports → Finances → Returns. Pick a date range and you get a row per order with its return total, plus a summary line — printable to PDF. It is deliberately plain: it exists to reconcile against your financial report, not to explain why anything came back.