---
title: "Handle a return"
description: "Take a return from request to resolution, approve or reject it, receive the items and pay the customer back."
url: "https://docs.poltura.com/en/returns/handle-a-return/"
lang: en
alternates:
  en: "https://docs.poltura.com/en/returns/handle-a-return/"
  hu: "https://docs.poltura.com/hu/returns/handle-a-return/"
---

# Handle a return

Take a return from request to resolution, approve or reject it, receive the items and pay the customer back.

- Where: Orders → Returns → a return

In the **Full workflow** mode a return moves through fixed steps: **Requested**, **Approved**, **On its way**, **Received** and **Resolved**. The page of a return always offers the next step as its main button.

The page shows the progress on top, a summary with the **Estimated value** and the **Return window**, the items with the customer's reason and photos, the notes, the resolution and the activity. The side column holds the order, the customer, the return shipping with its tracking, and the dates.

## Before you start

- The return mode has to be **Request form** or **Full workflow**. See [Return settings](https://docs.poltura.com/en/returns/settings/).
- In the **Request form** mode a request has one action only: **Mark handled**. The steps below belong to the full workflow.

## Create a return for a customer

Customers usually start returns themselves. Create one for them when they ask by phone or email.

1. Open the order and find the **Return requests** panel.
2. Select **Create return request**.
3. Set the **Quantity** of each item that comes back, and choose a **Reason** for it. Add a note to the item if you need one. Items that cannot come back say why, for example **Not fulfilled yet**, **Digital product** or **Already returned**.
4. Choose the **Resolution** the customer wants.
5. Choose the **Return method**: **Customer sends it**, **Drop-off point**, **In store** or **No return needed**.
6. Tick **Approve now** to skip the review and send the return instructions right away.
7. Leave **Email the customer** ticked to send the confirmation.
8. Select **Create request**. The new return opens.

A return created by staff ignores the return window, so you can accept a late return this way.

## Approve or reject a return

1. Open **Orders**, choose **Returns** and open the return from the **Needs attention** tab.
2. Check the items, the reason, the photos and the customer's note.
3. Select **Approve**.
4. Under **Items to accept**, lower a quantity if you accept only a part.
5. Tick **No return needed (customer keeps the item)** if the item is not worth sending back. Shipping and receiving are then skipped.
6. Choose **Receive at**: the location the items return to.
7. Add a **Message to the customer** if you want. It appears in the approval email next to your return instructions.
8. Select **Approve and send**. The status changes to **Approved** and the customer gets the instructions and your return address by email.

To refuse the request, select **Reject** instead, choose a **Reason**, add a message and select **Reject return**. The customer is told why by email. A statement of withdrawal cannot be rejected as a whole.

### Add tracking

When the customer tells you the tracking number, select **Add tracking**, enter the **Carrier** and the **Tracking number** and select **Save tracking**. The return moves to **On its way**. Customers can also add the number themselves.

## Receive the items

1. Open the return when the parcel has arrived.
2. Select **Mark received**.
3. For each item enter how many arrived under **Received** and how many of them are **Damaged**. **Accept all** fills in the expected quantities.
4. Add an internal **Note** if you need one.
5. Select **Mark received**. The status changes to **Received**.

Items received in good condition go back into stock at the chosen location. Damaged items do not. Loyalty credits the customer earned on the returned items are taken back. If the parcel arrives in parts, you can receive again until the return is resolved.

## Resolve and refund

1. Open the received return and select **Resolve**.
2. For each item choose the **Resolution**: **Refund**, **Store credit**, **Coupon code**, **Exchange** or one of your custom resolutions.
3. Check the **Amount** of each item. You can lower it, up to the value shown.
4. Under **Fees**, check the **Return shipping fee** and the **Restocking fee**. They come from your settings and you can change them for this return.
5. Tick **Refund original shipping** if the customer gets the delivery fee back. It is ticked for you when the whole order comes back.
6. Check **Total to customer**.
7. Select **Resolve for** with the amount. The status changes to **Resolved** and the customer gets an email.

What each resolution does:

- **Refund**: the money goes back to the original payment. For cash on delivery and bank transfer orders the refund is listed as **Record by hand**: open the customer's bank account with **Reveal**, send the transfer yourself, then select **Mark done** and note what you did.
- **Store credit**: the customer gets a gift card balance by email. This needs [gift cards](https://docs.poltura.com/en/marketing/gift-cards/) switched on.
- **Coupon code**: the customer gets a single-use discount code by email.
- **Exchange**: the return records the variant the customer asked for. Send it with an [exchange on the order](https://docs.poltura.com/en/orders/claims-and-exchanges/#exchange), then select **Mark done**.
- Custom resolutions, for example a repair, are completed by hand with **Mark done**.

> **Warning**
>
> Resolving pays the customer and cannot be undone. Check the amounts before you confirm.

## Notes and messages

At the bottom of the **Activity** section choose **Internal note** to leave a note only your team sees, or **Message to customer** to send the customer an email from the return.

## Cancel a return

Open **More actions** and select **Cancel return**. Anything the return already created on the order is reversed. You can add a message that the customer gets by email. A resolved return cannot be canceled.

## Good to know

- Fees are never charged on a withdrawal or when the reason is marked as the store's fault.
- A refund is capped at what is still refundable on the order.
- **Refund due soon** and **Refund overdue** warn you about the refund deadline of a withdrawal, which is 14 days after the statement was sent.
- Revealing a bank account is recorded in the activity of the return.

## If something goes wrong

- **"This return has moved on. Reload to see its current state."** A colleague or the customer changed it in the meantime. Reload the page.
- **"The payment provider refused the refund."** Try again, or send the money yourself and record it by hand.
- **"Nothing to resolve: no item was received or approved."** Receive the items first.
- **Store credit cannot be chosen.** Switch on gift cards first.

## Related

- [Returns](https://docs.poltura.com/en/returns/)
- [Return settings](https://docs.poltura.com/en/returns/settings/)
- [Withdrawals](https://docs.poltura.com/en/returns/withdrawals/)
- [Payments and refunds](https://docs.poltura.com/en/orders/payments/)
- [Loyalty](https://docs.poltura.com/en/marketing/loyalty/)
- [Inventory](https://docs.poltura.com/en/inventory/)