Ecommerce returns: restock, quarantine, or write-off

Do not receive a customer return into sellable stock. Put it in a returns or QC location that sits outside the primary storage zone. Channels should only see available-to-sell from storage, so units in returns, quarantine, or reserve stay off the storefront until you decide.

The receipt is not the restock

The receipt is not the restock. Receive everything, inspect it, then bin-transfer the good units into storage. That transfer is what puts the SKU back on sale. Set a preferred bin per variant and sort at receiving so putaway stays in one aisle instead of a warehouse tour.

Work a 40-unit return. Receive all 40 into QC. After inspection: 28 are resellable, 8 need photos or a vendor claim, 4 are scrap. Transfer 28 to the preferred bin. That is the restock. Leave 8 in quarantine. Write off 4 (lost-and-found or an inventory adjustment). If you receive the 40 into primary storage, the channel publishes 40, including damaged, and you oversell clean units you do not have. Unidentifiable inbound with no SKU gets written off too. Found stock with no RMA comes in as a cycle count, not a fake return.

Quarantine versus write-off

Quarantine is a holding pen, not a grave. Use it when you still need to look at the unit. When the decision is already scrap, write it off. Marking a return received is an inventory event. If nothing physical comes back, cancel it. You cannot un-receive. Wrong receipts get cleaned up with an adjustment.

Link returns to orders and refunds

Every return needs a link to the original order, a reason code, and a credit note if money moves. No original order (wholesale, pre-migration) means a dummy unfulfilled order used only for linkage. Restock and refund are separate signals. A gift-card return that refunds $68 and leaves the restock box unchecked is a financial-only return: the warehouse never sees the unit, on-hand stays short, and the next sale oversells. Gift-card and store-credit returns still have to tell the warehouse to restock. One system should own on-hand. If the channel also restocks from the return, quantities double-count.

Handling returns at a 3PL

At a 3PL, most WMSs will not send item-level disposition (resellable vs damaged). Default the 3PL's returns location to non-sellable storage, transfer after QC, write off the rest. Agree on one searchable ID, often the return tracking number, before go-live. Return shipments that land in the 3PL's inbound PO queue are noise. Reconcile counts before you try RTV. If the ERP shows 0 and the 3PL shows 12, the RTV will bounce.