Returns

• Something has to have shipped. Returns are created against fulfilled items, so an order with nothing on a live shipping label has nothing to return. If a shipment is voided, the items it carried stop being returnable.
• Quantities are capped at what shipped, less what is already coming back. Rejected and canceled returns release their quantities again; every other return holds onto them.
• Domestic orders only. The order must ship within a single country, and that country must be enabled for returns. This is stricter than landed cost, which treats EU-to-EU as domestic.
• You need a fulfillment center in the order's country. That is where the return ships back to, and it supplies the person and address the carrier needs on the label. Without one, Dashboard cannot create the return.
• Canceled orders cannot be returned. Create the return before canceling the order.
• An order with open returns cannot be canceled. Close, reject, or cancel its returns first.

1. Go to Dashboard -> Orders -> All orders.
2. Select the order the items are coming back from. You can use the search bar or the filter in the top right.
3. Scroll to the Returns section and click Create return. If the button is disabled, the section says why—nothing has shipped yet, the order is not domestic, or everything on it has already been returned.
4. Select items. Check each item coming back and set its quantity. The number beside each field is the most you can return for that item.
5. Choose a Reason for every item you selected—Defective, Wrong item, Not as described, Changed mind, Damaged in transit, or Other—and add a per-item note if it helps. A reason is required; you cannot continue without one.
6. Add notes if you need them. The Customer note is shared with the shopper on their return confirmation. The Internal note is for your team only.
7. Check Returning to. It defaults to a fulfillment center in the order's country, which is where the items will be sent. Change it if you receive returns somewhere else.
8. Click Continue to rates.
9. Choose a return service. Zonos packs the items into boxes and quotes the return; pick the service you want. To change the packaging, edit the boxes and re-quote.
10. Click Create return. Dashboard takes you to the new return's page.

Note: Return quantities are checked again when you submit. If someone else created a return, or a shipment was voided while you were working, Dashboard refreshes what is returnable and asks you to adjust.

Each return has a Steps to complete return checklist at the top of its page. It shows where the return has got to and carries the button for whatever comes next, so you never have to go looking for the action.

1. Approve the request. Confirm the items and quantities coming back.
2. Quote return. Price the return so a label can be bought against it. A return created in Dashboard is already quoted; re-quote if rates have gone stale or the packaging changed.
3. Get a return label. Optional—skip it if the shopper is shipping the items back on their own. See Return labels below.
4. Mark the return in transit. The shopper has sent the items back.
5. Receive the items. The items have arrived at the returns address.
6. Inspect what came back. Record what happens to each item. See Inspect a return below.
7. Complete the return. Closes the return once the shopper has been made whole.

The rest of the page holds the return's Items, its Return shipment once one exists, the Customer note and Internal note, and a History of every status change with who made it and when.

Completed, Rejected, and Cancelled are final—a return in one of those statuses can no longer be edited or moved.

When each action is available 

• Edit items — until a label is issued. After that, the parcel has been priced and bought against those lines.
• Re-quote — until a label is issued. Once a label exists it carries the quoted addresses, so void and reissue the label instead of repointing the quote.
• Reject — from Requested only, and a note explaining why is required.
• Cancel return — any time up to and including In transit, but not once the items have been received.
• Internal notes — any time the return is not final.

A return can carry a Zonos label, a label you bought elsewhere, or no label at all.

Buy a label from Zonos 

Quote the return first—a label is bought against the saved quote—then click Generate Zonos label on the Get a return label step. The label appears in the Return shipment section, where you can Download label or Print label.

Note: ZPL labels cannot be printed from Dashboard. Download the label and send it to your printer instead.

Record a label you bought elsewhere 

Click Record label on the Get a return label step, then enter the Carrier and Tracking number. A Label URL is optional; if you add one, Download label opens it. Recorded labels are tracked by the carrier and tracking number you entered—Zonos has no shipment behind them.

No label 

If the shopper ships the items back on their own, skip the label step entirely and mark the return in transit when they send it.

Once a return is received, inspecting it records what happened to each item.

1. Open the return and click Inspect on the Inspect what came back step.
2. Set a Disposition for every item:
   1. Restock - The item is resellable and goes back into inventory.
   2. Damaged - The item came back damaged.
   3. Destroy - The item will not be kept.
3. Add per-item notes or an overall inspection note if you need them.
4. Click Record inspection.

Every item needs a disposition—the inspection cannot be recorded until they all have one. Once it is recorded, the return moves to Inspected and the last step, Complete return, becomes available.

Returns is its own item in Dashboard's sidebar. Go to Dashboard -> Returns for every return across your orders.

• Tabs group returns by where they are: Requested, In progress (approved through inspected), Completed, and Rejected (which also holds cancelled returns).
• Status narrows within the tab you are on.
• Date filters by when the return was created.
• Search matches the tracking number.

Each row shows the order it belongs to, the return's status, how many items are on it, its tracking number, and when it was created. Click a row to open the return; click the order number to open the order.

A single order's returns also appear in the Returns section of the order itself, so you can see what is coming back without leaving the order.