We're in an age where anything and everything can be purchased online and delivered to your doorstep. Things can go wrong during any step of the process though, such as delivering the wrong product or ordering the wrong size. Product returns are thus an inevitable part of any business. With 92% of consumers agreeing that they will buy again if product returns are easy, it's clear how important handling sales return is for your business.
But managing the entire returns process is no piece of cake! There's incoming merchandise to record, inventory to adjust, customer refunds to issue, and RMAs to track. This can take up considerable time and resources. We at Zoho Inventory have always tried to improve your business experience, and now we present to you a strong Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) process to manage your returns easily.
Benefits of Zoho Inventory's RMA process
1) Record item returns from ecommerce sites
Suppose that you sell your goods through Amazon, Etsy, eBay and Shopify. If you receive return requests through all of these channels, you will have to adjust the stock for each one manually. This can be a time-consuming process.
Zoho Inventory integrates with multiple ecommerce platforms, so you can record a sales return against an order whenever you receive a return request. This will update your stock across all of your marketplaces automatically.
2) Configure items that can be returned
Have total control over which items can be returned. Zoho Inventory allows you to determine the items that are eligible to be processed for RMA. This ensures that, for instance, perishable commodities like food items cannot be returned, while non-perishable items are eligible for return.
3) Update your stock correctly
Imagine that you run a firm that sells flooring tiles. One of your customers received a few broken tiles, which caused the entire order to be returned. How will you make sure that the damaged and whole returned items are updated in your inventory correctly?
In Zoho Inventory, you can handle this by specifying the quantity of damaged goods separately in the sales return. These goods will not increase your available stock, while the other returned goods will be added back to your stock. You can also create credit notes for the damaged products. This way, you get both a satisfied customer and an accurate inventory!
4) Issue customer refunds promptly
Let's say that one of your frequent customers ordered a dress, but found that it didn't fit her and so returned it. However, her credits were accidentally applied to the wrong customer, and by the time the problem was resolved, she'd waited weeks to get her refund. This kind of experience can frustrate even the most devoted customer.
Steer clear of such mishaps and refund customers on time with Zoho Inventory. Upon receiving the returned item, you can create customer credits directly from the RMA. Depending upon your company's return policy and the customer's preference, credit notes can be applied to future transactions, converted to a refund, or used for an exchange.
5) Track and follow up your returns
A product return doesn't end with creating a return request. You still have to answer customer inquiries and follow up on the status of returns internally. The sales return history report in Zoho Inventory comes in handy here by allowing you to track the status of each RMA and check customer balances too.
How do you get started?
Log in to your Zoho Inventory account and mark items as returnable to make them eligible for RMA. Whenever you receive a return request for one of the marked items, you can easily create a sales return for the corresponding sales order.
To learn in depth about how to handle product returns in Zoho Inventory, head over to our help document and FAQs. Have further questions? Our support team is always here to help you out. Try out the new sales return feature and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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We work with composite items and sometimes a part needs te be replaced, how can I manage this within the RMA process? It only gives me the option to completely process the composite item, which isn't necessary..
Hi Damian, Thank you for writing to us. As of now, you cannot return a part of a composite item. You can perform a sales return only for the composite item as a whole. However, if you are a Zoho Books user, you can create a credit note for the item to be replaced, and then apply it to an invoice. If you need further clarifications, feel free to contact our support team at support@zoho-inventory.com
I can't figure out a way to make an exchange without making an entirely new Sales order for the item I am sending to replace the return. Is this the only way to make an exchange?
Hi Katerina, Thank you for writing to us. When you are making a product exchange, you will have to create a new sales order for the replacement item. For more details on how to make an exchange, check out our KB on the same. Hope this helps.
Do you have a point-of-sale application? POS Point Of Sale. Thanks.
Hi there, We have this in our roadmap to build a native POS application in Zoho Inventory. But we cannot promise a timeframe on this as of now. We will keep you posted when we take it up.
If a customer purchased items on credit. Will the refund feature be necessary since no payment has been received on the goods being returned.
Hi David, Thank you for writing to us. If a customer purchased an item on credit and then did a sales return, you will still have to raise a credit note to restore the credits which the customer used to pay for the item. If you need further clarifications, feel free to contact our support team at support@zoho-inventory.com.
This will be a great additional function/module when we are able to print and email an RMA. When this be available?
Hi Warwick, Thank you for your suggestion. We have passed on your request to the concerned team and will keep you updated about the progress.
Hello, thank you for taking the time to add this module, it makes your system more complete. However, this is only 50% of the RMA process. To make it 100% complete, it needs to tie into a Vendor Return module too. If returning product to a vendor, we need to issue a Vendor Debit, which in theory, should all be a part of this RMA process. Can you add this feature and give a time line on how long you can implement it?
Hi Andrew, Thank you for your suggestion. As you have mentioned, an RMA process is indeed complete only on supporting vendor returns. However, we have currently focused more on customer returns. We will keep you posted about when we take up vendor returns too.
this is huge well done (like)
Thank you Ashique! :)