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Process a customer return (RMA)

An RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) is the record that a customer is sending goods back. It's the physical half of a return — the sales credit is the money half. An RMA authorizes what's coming back, tracks it in transit, and — when the goods arrive — puts each unit where it belongs: back into sellable stock, onto a separate blemished SKU, or in the bin.

RMA or sales credit?​

The two records are independent. You often use both for one return, but not always.

RMASales credit
What it doesAuthorizes a return and tracks the goods coming backPuts money back on the order
Moves stock?Only when you receive the goodsNo
Moves money?NoYes — it posts its own accounting entry
Needs a fulfillment first?YesNo

If the customer is sending back goods you want on the shelf, raise an RMA and receive it. If you owe the customer money — a refund, a goodwill adjustment, a price correction — issue a sales credit. When both are true, create both. For which step restocks inventory and which posts money — and the COGS effects of a return after fulfillment — see Returns, credits, and refunds.

Before you begin​

  • The order must be fulfilled (or partially fulfilled). Only shipped items are returnable — the create dialog shows "No returnable items found. Items must be fulfilled before they can be returned" otherwise. On the order itself, the RMAs tab stays disabled until the order has at least one fulfillment, with the tooltip "RMAs can only be created after the order has at least one fulfillment." Fulfill the order first.
  • You need the return permissions for your role (for example returns.create and returns.receive). Without returns.create, the Create RMA button on an order's RMAs tab doesn't appear. The list's bulk Generate RMAs action isn't gated by this permission.

Create the RMA​

  1. Go to Orders → RMAs and click Create RMA.
  2. In the Sales Order field, search by order number or customer and pick the order the goods came from. Its returnable lines load.
  3. Set the Return Warehouse the goods are coming back to.
  4. Tick the lines being returned, set each Qty, and pick a Return Reason. A quantity can't exceed the line's Avail figure: what was fulfilled, less anything already credited on a sales credit. Add per-line Notes if they help.
  5. Add any Additional Notes for the whole RMA.
  6. Choose the starting Status — Draft to stage it, or Approved to authorize it immediately. It defaults to Draft.
  7. Click Create RMA. The RMA opens with a number like RMA-2026-00001.

Create RMA stays disabled until at least one line is ticked with a valid quantity and a warehouse is chosen. The lines table lists only lines with a returnable quantity.

Start from the sales order instead​

You can raise the same RMA from the order it belongs to:

  1. Go to Orders → Sales Orders and open the order.
  2. Select the RMAs tab.
  3. Click Create RMA. The Create RMA dialog opens with this order already selected.
  4. Fill in the dialog as in the preceding steps, and click Create RMA.

The order refreshes on the RMAs tab, and the new return appears with its RMA #, creation date, a status chip, and a Received / Expected count. Click the RMA # to open the return's own page.

Amazon FBA returns​

When Amazon fulfilled the order (FBA), Amazon handles the return. On the order's RMAs tab those rows carry an orange FBA Return chip, and the count column reads, for example, "12 returned to Amazon" instead of a Received / Expected figure — the units go back to Amazon's fulfillment center, not your warehouse. See Amazon FBA, MCF, and externally fulfilled orders.

Generate RMAs for many orders at once​

When a batch of orders needs returns together — after a recall, for example — generate the RMAs from the sales orders list.

  1. Go to Orders → Sales Orders.
  2. Select orders with their checkboxes, or switch the scope toggle to All to act on every order that matches your current filters. See Bulk actions on the sales orders list.
  3. From the bulk actions menu, click Generate RMAs. The Generate RMAs from Orders dialog opens and confirms how many orders it covers.
  4. Choose a Default warehouse. Each order uses its own fulfillment warehouse when it has one, and falls back to this default otherwise.
  5. Set the Initial status — Draft or Approved — for every RMA it creates.
  6. Optionally, set an RMA date.
  7. Leave Skip orders that already have an open RMA ticked to avoid duplicate returns. Clear it to force a new RMA on every order.
  8. Click Generate RMAs.

The run starts as a background job. A message reads "Generating RMAs — track progress in the job tray," and each order picks up its new RMA on its own RMAs tab as the job completes.

Move it through its life​

An RMA runs Draft → Approved → In Transit → Received → Closed. The detail page header carries the action for its current state:

  • Approve — authorizes a draft (the return is now expected).
  • Mark Shipped — records the Carrier, Tracking Number, and dates. Adding shipping info moves the RMA to In Transit; it counts as expected inbound until it arrives.
  • Receive Items — records what physically arrived (see below).
  • Close RMA — closes a fully received return. Cancel stops a return that hasn't been received yet.

Receive the goods​

There are three ways to receive a return, depending on how busy your dock is:

  • Receive Items on the RMA — the per-line grid described below. Best when you're working one known return at a time.
  • Receive from the RMAs list — receive a row inline, or select several RMAs and receive them in bulk, without opening each one.
  • The Receive Station — a scan-driven counter that's the fastest for a busy dock, and the only path that can take in a parcel that arrived before its RMA (a blind receipt). See Receive returns at the Receive Station.

Receive Items opens a per-line grid — Expected, Remaining, and three disposition columns whose quantities must add up to what you're receiving:

  • New — the unit is fine; it goes back into sellable stock on the original SKU (a new FIFO layer, restocking inventory).
  • Blemished — the unit is damaged but salvageable; it lands on a separate blemished SKU you name, not the original, so it never ships as new.
  • Discarded — the unit is scrap; nothing is added back to inventory.

A disposition policy can pre-set those New / Blemished / Discard defaults so receivers don't have to decide case-by-case — see Set up return disposition policies. New returns also default to your configured returns warehouse and rules; see Configure returns settings.

Receiving updates the RMA to Partially Received or Received, and the Movements and FIFO Layers tabs show exactly what each disposition did to your stock.

When the return arrives before its paperwork​

Sometimes the box beats the RMA — especially with marketplace returns, where the channel ships the goods back before there's a record. Receive the parcel anyway (a blind receipt at the Receive Station) and SKU reconciles it to the right RMA automatically when the match is found, without counting the stock twice. See How returns reconciliation works for the mechanics, or match one by hand with Link unmatched returns.

Next steps​

The Returns Dashboard (return rate, restock recovery, disposition mix) and the Returns Inbox (matching marketplace returns to RMAs) sit alongside the list under Orders → RMAs.

Video transcript

A customer return starts with an RMA. Create it from the fulfilled order, pick the warehouse it comes back to, and authorize it. Mark it shipped with the carrier and tracking, and it's in transit — expected back at your warehouse. When it arrives, receive each unit — back into stock, onto a blemished SKU, or discarded — and the return is settled.

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