Selling
Returns and exchanges
Take goods back, swap them for something else, or refund the customer - and keep your stock right.
For: Owner, Manager, Sales Person
A customer brings goods back. Usually they want a different size or a replacement for something faulty; sometimes they want their money back. iTrade records both on one screen, puts the goods back on your shelf, and keeps your sales figures honest.
Anyone can record a return, including a Sales Person. The person at the counter when the customer walks back in is the one who has to deal with it.
Recording a return
- Open Returns & Exchanges and click Add.
- Find the original sale. Pick it from Original sale. iTrade then shows what is still returnable on it, and the price the customer actually paid - so a shirt bought at 25% off is credited at what it cost them, not at today's shelf price.
- Under Coming back, add what the customer handed over.
- Under Taken instead, add what they are walking out with. Leave it empty if they just want their money back.
- Check the box on the right. It tells you whether to give the customer money, collect money from them, or neither.
- Choose Settled by, then Save.
The three ways it can end
| What happened | What to do |
|---|---|
| An even swap - same price both ways | Nothing to settle. Leave Settled by on the even-swap option. |
| You owe the customer - they took something cheaper, or nothing | Choose how you paid them: cash, EcoCash, card, bank, or leave it on their account to spend later. |
| The customer owes you - they took something dearer | Choose how they paid the difference. |
iTrade won't let you save a return that doesn't add up - if money changed hands, you have to say how.
Faulty goods you can't sell again
Tick Can't resell on any line that came back damaged, faulty or opened. Those goods do not go back into your stock, because counting them would tell you that you have something to sell when you don't. Their cost shows up with your other stock losses on the Profit & Loss, so you can see what faulty goods are costing you.
No receipt?
You can still record the return - leave Original sale as "No receipt / sale not found" and enter the price yourself. The return is marked as recorded without a sale, so an owner can see it.
When a return is linked to a sale, iTrade checks it: goods that weren't on that sale are refused, and the same goods can't be returned twice. None of that can be checked without a sale, so if returns without receipts start piling up, it is worth asking why.
What it does to your figures
- Stock goes up for goods that came back sellable, and down for whatever the customer took instead - exactly as if you had sold it.
- Profit & Loss shows goods returned as a deduction from sales. An even exchange nets out to nothing, which is what really happened.
- Cash Flow counts only money that actually moved. An even swap moves none. Money left on a customer's account isn't cash out yet - it leaves the till later, when you pay them.
Fixing a mistake
A return can be edited or deleted afterwards, and the stock goes back with it. A Sales Person can only delete returns they recorded themselves; owners and managers can delete any of them.