Returns Overview

The Returns dashboard is utilized by both Kibo eCommerce and Order Management solutions of the Kibo Composable Commerce Platform.

The guides in this section walk through the Returns user interface in the Kibo Admin, but see the Returns API documentation for the API calls associated with managing returns. Additionally, fulfiller users can manage returns for their fulfilled shipments through the Fulfiller UI. 

To Return or Not to Return

You don't always have to open a return case to fix accounting issues - credit and refund actions are available on the order after payment has been captured. The key distinction between the credits and refunds is that credits affect the order balance, whereas refunds do not.

• Use credits to fix accounting issues by returning money to the customer and reducing the order balance.
• Use refunds to provide appeasements by giving money to the customer without changing the accounting and order balance.

If you choose to provide a refund, then you can perform it via one of two methods. Only one actually involves creating a return case:

• A manual refund through the payment actions of the Order Admin UI, in which you know the exact amount of money you want to refund.
• Initiate a return refund, in which the system will automatically generate a refund and calculate the appropriate amount. 

Both manual and automatic refunds can be refunded to a gift card. When performing an automatic refund, the system will always generate a new gift card and email the card information to the customer instead of refunding back to the original gift card. However, a manual refund can either refund back to the existing gift card used for the order payment or to a new gift card depending on which behavior is selected in the payment settings.

Return Types

There are two types of returns that specify the primary action the shopper wants completed for the return: Replace and Refund. When a shopper returns a product, you can ship them a replacement, refund their payment (partial or in full), or both. Both types of returns allow you to replace and refund products at the line item level, so your return actions are not limited for one or the other.

However, note that replacements are only supported for eCommerce implementations or Order Management-Only that includes a catalog. If your OMS-Only implementation does not have a catalog, you will not be able to offer replacements.