Resolve a unit

Resolving is the one decision that finishes a piece's repair: what happens to it, what it costs, and what the customer gets. Every exit path — repaired, a part sent, a replacement, a credit, or a plain return — goes through the same Resolve dialog, one piece at a time.

Before you begin

• You need the Update repairs permission. Without it, Resolve and Unresolve are disabled, with the reason in their tooltip.
• The repair must be open. A closed, rejected or canceled repair blocks both buttons with "This repair is closed. Reopen it first."
• A piece the customer described in free text, rather than one matched to a real product, blocks Resolve with "Match the piece to a product first." See Needs product match.
• A unit that's at a repair vendor can't be resolved: it leaves the vendor only through Receive back. While it's there, Resolve is disabled and its tooltip explains why. On a draft dispatch it reads "This unit is on draft vendor dispatch RVD-…. Cancel the dispatch to bring it back to the bench, or ship it and receive it back, before resolving it." Otherwise it reads "This unit is at the repair vendor on dispatch RVD-…. Receive it back from the vendor first, or claim it as missing if the vendor lost it." A unit claimed as missing can still be resolved; unresolving it puts it back in At vendor. See Manage a vendor dispatch.
• Repaired and Refurbish to stock both need the piece already received and its quality checklist complete — resolving to either one too early is refused with a plain explanation.

1. Open the Resolve dialog

Go to Orders → Repairs → List, open the repair, and select the Units tab. Find the unit card for the piece you're finishing (click its header to expand it if it's collapsed), and click Resolve on its Resolution card. The dialog opens titled Resolve unit <number> · <piece name>.

2. Check the suggested outcome

When SKU.io has one, a suggestion appears above the outcome grid: Suggested: <outcome>, with the plain-language reasons behind it (a coverage match, a risk signal, or — for a discontinued piece — "(piece discontinued)"). A discontinued piece with nothing else to go on still gets suggested Can't repair — credit, with store credit. Picking the suggested card is one click; you're always free to pick a different one.

3. Choose how the piece leaves the repair

The dialog asks "How does this piece leave the repair?" as a grid of outcome cards. Each one states, in one line, what it does to stock, cost and the customer:

Outcome	Stock	Cost	Customer
Repaired / replated	No change — parts used were already taken from stock on the bench.	Parts, labour and freight stay on the cost record under their bill-to.	The piece goes back to the customer. A return shipment can be created for you.
Send a part	A zero-priced parts order ships the part from stock through normal fulfillment.	The part's cost posts to warranty or goodwill expense instead of cost of goods sold.	The customer keeps their piece and receives the part with tracking.
Replace	A replacement order ships a new piece. Once the original arrives, it becomes yours.	Replacement cost posts to warranty or goodwill expense.	The customer gets a new piece. No return needed when the claim was replace-first.
Refurbish to stock (once the piece is yours)	Your unit is repaired and received into a target SKU — the same one, a blemished SKU, or a refurbished SKU.	Unit, parts and labour are capitalised into the new stock layer; anything above resale value can be expensed.	No customer impact — this piece is already yours.
Can't repair — credit	The piece becomes yours, to scrap or harvest for parts.	A refund, store credit or discount code is issued and linked to this piece.	The customer gets the credit and an explanation. A discontinued piece defaults to store credit at the price paid.
Can't repair — return as-is (while the piece is still the customer's)	No change, unless the customer asks you to dispose of it.	An assessment fee applies only if the policy allows one.	The piece returns with an explanation letter, or is disposed of with written consent.
No fault found (while still the customer's)	No change — the piece goes back as it came.	Charged per policy — nothing, by default. Counted separately in reports.	The piece is returned with a note.
Customer declined the quote (while still the customer's)	No change, unless they ask you to dispose of it.	Return freight can be billed to the customer.	Returned as-is, or disposed of with written consent.
Not covered (while still the customer's)	No change, unless disposed of with consent.	No warranty cost. An assessment fee applies only if the policy allows one.	Returned with a polite explanation, or disposed of with consent.
Scrap (once the piece is yours)	Your unit is written off through an inventory adjustment.	The unit's cost is expensed.	No customer impact — this piece is already yours.

The grid only shows outcomes that fit where the piece is right now: Refurbish to stock and Scrap appear only once a piece is yours; the four "while still the customer's" outcomes disappear the moment it becomes yours. See Taking ownership of the original piece for how that happens.

"Receive it into stock as brand-owned first"

Refurbish to stock and Scrap both need the exact unit SKU.io already has on hand — never a different, otherwise-sellable batch of the same product. If that can't be pinned down (the piece hasn't actually been received as yours yet), resolving to either one is refused with a message asking you to receive it into stock first. Resolving the same outcome a second time is a no-op — it returns the existing capitalisation or write-off rather than doubling it.

4. Fill in the outcome's own fields

• Repaired / replated — set What was done to Repaired or Replated (it defaults to Replated when the customer originally asked for replating). The piece has to be physically received first — "The unit has to be received before it can be marked repaired" blocks it otherwise.
• Send a part — add one or more parts with a quantity, using Add part or a suggested-part chip. Each chip shows how many are available at the repair warehouse: blue chips have stock, amber chips have none. When you choose Send a part, the first suggested part with enough stock is added for you; a part with no stock is never added on its own. Once a suggested part is on the list, its chip disappears, so it can't be added twice; remove the part row and the chip comes back. The part field shows each product's name, with its SKU under each option in the list. If you pick a part the repair warehouse can't cover, an amber notice reads "Not enough stock at the repair warehouse for <SKU> (N available, M needed). Resolving still creates the parts order, but it will be backordered until the stock arrives." "Add the part to send" blocks submitting with none.
• Replace — pick the Replacement product (the same SKU, a substitute, a refurbished SKU, or — for a set — just the piece that failed) and a Quantity. "Pick the replacement product" blocks submit until one's chosen.
• Refurbish to stock — choose Receive it as: Same SKU, Blemished SKU (name one, or leave it to use the default), or A refurbished SKU you pick yourself — "Pick the refurbished SKU" blocks submit if you choose this without naming one. Click Preview stock value to see the cost breakdown before you commit: unit cost, parts, labour, vendor fee, total, per-unit cost, the target SKU's resale value, and whether it's Capitalised or Expensed. If the capitalised cost would value the piece above what it can sell for, a warning appears and you choose Expense the excess (recommended) or Keep the full cost before you can submit.
• Can't repair — credit — pick a Credit: Store credit (the amount defaults to the price paid, shown already converted into your tenant's currency), Refund (a sales credit against the original order — only offered when the repair has one), or Discount code (a percentage off a future purchase, between 0 and 100). Switching the credit type re-derives the suggested amount for whichever one you just picked, so a figure never carries over in the wrong currency.
• Can't repair — return as-is, No fault found, Customer declined the quote, Not covered — choose What happens to the piece: Return as-is, or Dispose with consent. Disposing needs the customer's written consent (or the abandoned-goods basis) typed into Customer's consent (required) — "Record the customer's consent to dispose" blocks submit without it.
• Scrap — no extra fields. Resolving writes the exact unit off at submit.

5. Set who's billed, what was done, and the rest

• Bill to — Warranty, Goodwill, Customer or Supplier. Left blank, it falls back to the piece's own coverage, and the field says so — for example Warranty (from coverage), or Customer (from coverage) for out-of-warranty work — with the hint "Set from the unit's coverage. Pick another to override."
• Service performed — Repair, Replate, Replace, Parts, Credit or None: what actually happened, kept separate from the outcome for reporting. It defaults from the outcome you picked, and you can override it.
• Ship / receive from — the warehouse, which starts on the repair's own warehouse; type to search your other warehouses and 3PLs by name. Shown only for Send a part, Replace and Refurbish to stock.
• Create the return shipment to the customer — shown for Repaired and for a return-as-is outcome that isn't being disposed of. It's on by default, but disabled with the tooltip "This unit hasn't been received yet, so a return shipment can't go out. Once it arrives, create it from the Shipments tab" until the piece is physically in hand. See Ship repairs and manage loaners.
• Charge the assessment fee (only if the policy allows it) — shown for Can't repair — return as-is, No fault found and Not covered (not for a declined quote, which has its own optional return-freight charge). Turning it on against a policy that doesn't allow a fee is refused at submit: "The warranty policy doesn't allow an assessment fee for this unit."
• A piece that's already physically on hand and becoming yours (Replace or Can't repair — credit) asks where it goes — see the next section.
• Note (shown in the activity log) — internal only. It never reaches the customer; for that, use the Communication tab.

6. Click Resolve unit

SKU.io runs every side effect — the stock move, the cost posting, the credit or order it creates — in one step. The button keeps spinning until the unit card and the repair's header have refreshed, then a confirmation appears. On success you land back on the unit card, now showing the outcome, what was done, and a link to whatever it created.

Taking ownership of the original piece

Replace and Can't repair — credit both end with the piece becoming yours — a new one shipped, or the customer already credited. If the piece is already physically on hand when you resolve, choose its disposition right there in the dialog:

• Add to stock — sellable as new.
• Blemished SKU — sold as open-box (name one, or leave it to create the default <sku>-B product automatically).
• Keep in repair — set aside to refurbish later.
• Discard — scrapped; nothing is added to stock.

If the piece hasn't arrived yet — a replace-first claim, or a credited piece the customer is mailing back later — a note explains: "The original piece hasn't arrived. When it does, use 'Unit arrived — take ownership' on this unit." Once it does turn up, open the unit's Resolution card and click Unit arrived — take ownership: it appears for both a Replace and a Can't repair — credit outcome, with the same four disposition choices, and receives the piece into stock at its original sale cost. To close the Take ownership of the original piece dialog without choosing, press Esc, click the X, or click Cancel.

Change your mind: re-resolve or unresolve

Re-resolving

Opening Resolve again on an already-resolved unit compares everything that matters for the chosen outcome — parts, quantities, bill-to, the return method, ownership disposition, target SKU — against the prior decision. Submitting the same decision again does nothing twice; submitting something different quietly reverses the old decision's documents first, then applies the new one, in one step. If the old decision can't be unwound — its return shipment has already shipped, for example — the whole re-resolve is refused with that reason, and nothing changes.

Unresolving

Click Unresolve on a resolved unit's Resolution card. The confirmation reads "The unit goes back to quality check. Draft replacement or parts orders are canceled and unposted credits are deleted." Confirming also reverses a refurbish capitalisation, deletes a scrap adjustment (the serial returns to In Repair), reverses an ownership transfer, and voids a still-draft return shipment. As with resolving, the button spins until the card has refreshed, then "Unit N is back in quality check." confirms it.

Unresolve is refused once:

• The return shipment has already shipped or been delivered (its tracking number is named) — "so the resolution can't be undone."
• A label has been bought for the return shipment — "Void the return label first."
• A refund has already been paid or applied, or the customer has already spent the store credit.
• Refurbished or scrapped stock — or any part of a scrap, replacement, or parts receipt — has already been sold or moved.

Close and reopen a repair

Once every piece on the repair is resolved, Close repair becomes available from the Actions menu — closing doesn't wait for the piece to physically make it back to the customer. Trying it before every piece is resolved is refused: "Resolve every unit first (or reject the repair)." Reopen repair, right below it, undoes a closed or rejected repair; it's disabled on any repair that isn't already closed or rejected.

Next steps

• Quote, cost and bill a repair — where every cost line a resolution creates shows up, and how to quote out-of-warranty work.
• Ship repairs and manage loaners — buy or log the return shipment a resolution opens.
• Keep the customer in the loop — what the customer is told as a piece moves through resolution.
• Diagnose and work a unit — how a piece reaches quality check in the first place.
• Repair, unit, quote, registration & SLA status reference — every status this page mentions, in one table.
• Returns, credits, and refunds — the sales-credit mechanics behind the Refund credit option.
• Record payments and apply store credit — how the store-credit wallet behind the Store credit option works.
• How serial tracking works — the serial statuses a piece moves through as it's resolved or scrapped.

Video transcript

Go to Orders, then Repairs, then List, to see each open repair with its current status. Scroll down until the right record comes into view. Click its number in the ID column to load every detail of the claim. Select the Units tab, near the top of this repair's page. Find the piece to finish, and click Resolve on its Resolution card. SKU.io shows a suggested outcome, when one fits, just above the outcome cards. The reasons behind it are listed right below. Picking the suggested card is one click, and you can always choose differently. Each card states what the outcome does to stock, cost and the customer. Only the outcomes that fit where this piece is right now are shown. Choosing Send a part reveals its own fields. Add each item and its quantity, or click a suggestion. An amber warning means no stock, so that part goes on backorder. The Bill to field already names who pays, based on the unit's coverage. Your team's own activity log holds this internal note. Once every required field on this form looks right, click Resolve unit. SKU.io then applies every effect of that outcome in one single step. The unit's Resolution card now shows the result and its new parts order. Once a replaced or credited piece is finally back in hand, choose where it goes. Click "Unit arrived — take ownership" on the unit's own Resolution card. To undo an already-resolved unit, click Unresolve on its Resolution card, and confirm. It reverses whatever that outcome created. Then the unit returns to the Quality check stage, ready for a new decision.