Returns and refunds
Independent return, inspection and refund decisions with provider reconciliation.
6 stages · 2 approvals
Roles and responsibilities
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Step 3Receive and inspect goods
Return AuthorizationOrder LineReceived QuantityAccepted Quantity
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Step 5Approve the refund
Refund NumberOrderAmountCurrency
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Step 6Confirm the external outcome
Refund NumberOrderAmountProvider Refund ID
Process steps
Follow the process from start to finish. Select a step to see who acts and what changes.
Request the return
Order Desk identifies the original shipped lines, requested quantities, reason and policy version. Existing live return commitments reduce the remaining eligible quantity. The request retains customer evidence and cannot manufacture shipped capacity from an unfulfilled order.
Approval required
Decide return eligibility
Order Manager approves a different requester's ReturnAuthorizations record or rejects it with a reason. Any exception states its scope explicitly. Approval permits the identified goods to enter the receiving process; it is separate from any decision to refund money.
Receive and inspect goods
Returns Inspector records each partial receipt with a stable identity, actual condition and disposition. Sellable stock increases only after accepted inspection and stock-authority acknowledgement. Quarantined or damaged goods remain unavailable. A correction links to the previous inspection and reverses its attributable effect.
Prepare the financial allocation
Order Desk creates a refund proposal with its capture reference, currency, reason and line, tax and shipping components. The amount is checked against the original accepted values and verified captured money. Return evidence supports the request but does not automatically approve it.
Approval required
Approve the refund
Finance Reviewer approves another requester's exact RefundRequests revision. Approved, sending, unknown and succeeded refunds all reduce remaining capacity as appropriate. A changed amount or disputed payment blocks dispatch until reviewed again; administrator access cannot bypass that decision.
Confirm the external outcome
Integration Operator sends the immutable approved command using the original provider idempotency key. A timeout remains Unknown until a provider lookup or reconciliation proves success or failure. Finance Reviewer reconciles the receipt and the separate accounting credit acknowledgement before treating the financial case as complete.
Approvals and exception handling
2 approvals required in this process
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Decide return eligibility
Order Manager signs · receive and inspect goods waits
ReturnAuthorizations -
Approve the refund
Finance Reviewer signs · confirm the external outcome waits
RefundRequests - A repeated receipt or refund command cannot create an additional physical or monetary effect.
- Returning goodsRefunding money have independent authorities and evidence; neither action implies the other succeeded.
- Unknown provider outcomes continue to reserve refund capacity. Creating a new key to escape a timeout is prohibited until the prior outcome is established.
- Reconciliation checks component roundingCurrency, capture identity, concurrent refund requests and out-of-order provider events.
When the process needs attention
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reject
Decide return eligibility
Order Manager approves a different requester's ReturnAuthorizations record or rejects it with a reason.
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hold
Receive and inspect goods
Quarantined or damaged goods remain unavailable.
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exception
Approve the refund
A changed amount or disputed payment blocks dispatch until reviewed again; administrator access cannot bypass that decision.
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reject
Confirm the external outcome
A timeout remains Unknown until a provider lookup or reconciliation proves success or failure.
Follow goods and money separately
A customer may receive return authorisation before goods arrive, and a payment provider may complete a refund after the warehouse finishes inspection. This process preserves both timelines. It also supports cancellation and documented goodwill refunds where no physical return is required. Eligibility rules, tax treatment and payment-provider permissions must be agreed during configuration.
Records and postings
| Stage | Records | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Request the return | ReturnAuthorizationsReturnLinesOrderLines | Reserve eligible return quantities |
| 2 Decide return eligibility | ReturnAuthorizations | Authorise receipt of the specified goods |
| 3 Receive and inspect goods | ReturnInspectionsReturnLinesInventorySnapshots | Establish condition and controlled stock disposition |
| 4 Prepare the financial allocation | RefundRequestsOrdersPaymentEvents | Propose a bounded refund |
| 5 Approve the refund | RefundRequests | Independently authorise the immutable amount |
| 6 Confirm the external outcome | IntegrationMessagesRefundRequestsPaymentEvents | Record verified provider and accounting results |
Process reports
All reportsOrder Fill Rate
Compare accepted units with shipped units by order cohort, channel and SKU; show cancellations separately and never silently remove unmet demand.
Return Reasons and Disposition
Compare authorised, received and inspected quantities by SKU, reason and condition without equating returns to refunds.
Stock Commitment Reconciliation
Compare active reservations and pending dispatch debits to authority snapshots, highlighting stale stock and unacknowledged movements.
Promise Reliability
Compare first accepted promise and latest agreed promise with evidenced delivery; retain revised commitments and exclude unconfirmed tracking outcomes from on-time claims.
Order Cycle Time
Measure source acceptance to release, dispatch and delivery separately, with holds and unresolved stages visible.
Refund Exposure
Show approved, in-flight, unknown and confirmed refunds against verified captured amounts in each currency.
Run by an agent
Agent support
The assistant cannot approve its requester's own commercial exception or refund, invent stock or provider evidence, assume customer consent, or treat a timeout as a failed payment. It cannot expand its permissions or treat a credit export as a confirmed accounting posting. Product substitutions, commercial exceptions and refunds retain their specified human decisions.
# Example after configuration
curl -fsSL https://www.erp.ai/skill.md
# Paste the output into your agent
returns and refunds · request the return on ReturnAuthorizations, ReturnLines, OrderLines
Order Desk identifies the original shipped lines, requested quantities, reason and policy version.
returns and refunds · decide return eligibility on ReturnAuthorizations
approval · waiting for the order manager
# 4 more stages after approval: receive and inspect goods, prepare the financial allocation, approve the refund, confirm the external outcome
Other processes
4 moreOrder intake and approval
Capture, duplicate checks and independent commercial approval before release.
5 stages · 1 approval
Allocation and backorders
Reservation, uncovered demand, customer promises and consented substitutions.
6 stages · 1 approval
Split fulfilment and tracking
Location-specific warehouse work with partial shipment and tracking reconciliation.
6 stages · 0 approvals
Order changes and cancellation
Revision-bound changes that respect accepted warehouse work and customer commitments.
6 stages · 1 approval