Goods return
RMA · return · returned goods · return request
A goods return is the restitution to the distributor of an already delivered part, for credit or exchange. The term covers four situations with opposite liabilities: customer error, distributor error, faulty part, and commercial change of mind — which only a recorded reason can tell apart.
Director of publication : Florian Précigout
The reason is the data almost always missing. Without it, a return flow is an aggregate cost that can be neither reduced nor charged to the right party: there is no way to know whether the problem lies in identification, picking, a supplier or commercial policy.
With it, the same flow becomes a signal. A rise in identification-error returns on one part family points at a data or method problem at the counter. A rise in defect returns on one brand points at a supplier problem. Two different actions, invisible when everything is filed as "return".
Acceptance conditions are decided when the case opens, not when the parcel arrives: part unfitted, original packaging, within the window. Stating those conditions at return time avoids the second-level dispute — the one about the refusal itself.
The trap
Recording every return under a single reason. The flow then becomes a loss line instead of a diagnosis, and nothing in the reporting says what to fix.
Frequently asked
Can a fitted part be returned?
As a rule no, except for a proven defect or a commercial agreement. It is the most frequent source of disagreement, and the condition best stated as soon as the return is opened.
Are returns and warranty the same procedure?
No. A return concerns a part that does not match the order or was never used; a warranty claim concerns a fitted part that failed. Deadlines, evidence and contacts all differ.