Articles on: Returns Management

Delay Auto-Mark as Received Status Update

Plans: Pro, Premium, Enterprise Platforms: All platforms

Overview



AfterShip Returns’ automation rules allow you to select and enter the days after the return is delivered to delay the auto-mark as received status update.

Go to Return policy > Automation rules > Auto-mark as received > Select the checkbox to Delay status update by x days after the return is delivered



Once enabled, a delay will be applied to update the status to Mark as received once the shipment status updates to Delivered in AfterShip Tracking

This delay will allow you/ warehouse personnel to inspect the returned item and see if it passes the quality check without creating a backlog, in case it takes you more time than anticipated to do the quality check, and just auto-mark a return request as received after sitting at a warehouse for a certain amount of time

Subsequently, the delay will also allow you to trigger the related automation triggers like auto-refund, auto-create replacement orders, order fulfillment control, and auto-restock while keeping the same SLA based on the outcome of the delay

This delay/buffer time can be internally regarded as the time for quality inspection. If any item fails to meet the quality standards, you can flag the RMA (forfeiting all the subsequent automated events) and convert it to manual processing, instead of our system

Automatically marking it as received
Initiating auto-refund
Auto-creating an exchange or replacement order
Turning the exchange order fulfillment from “On hold” back to “Unfulfilled”

Applying delay for subsequent processing events



Merchants can align internally to consider the Mark as Received event as a sign that a return request has been inspected by the warehouse team. In this way, you can use the Mark as Received event to trigger different automation rules to process your return resolution more safely.

Auto-refund after RMA is marked as received



The delay here will imply that you want the item to pass the quality check before automatically initiating the refund. The number of days by which the status is delayed will give you the time to process the return item.

Auto-create replacement after RMA is marked as received



The delay here will imply that you want the item to pass the quality check before a replacement order is automatically created in your eCommerce store. The number of days by which the marked as received status is delayed will give you the time to process the returned item.

The delay will work similarly for creating orders for exchange requests placed via Stripe checkout



Exchange orders fulfillment control



The delay here will imply that you want the item to return to the warehouse and undergo a quality check before turning the status from On hold to Unfulfilled. The number of days by which the marked as received status is delayed will give you the time for the returned item to reach the warehouse and pass the quality check.


Reject return request





In case, your warehouse team finds something unusual, wrong, or amiss with the returned item during the delay you have configured to update the status to mark as received, you can manually reject the request from the RMA detail page and further process the request as you deem fit.

Flag request for review



Once the RMA is approved, you can flag it for review, in case you find something amiss with the RMA or the items don’t pass the quality check. On the RMA detail page, click More actions, select Flag for review, and hit Flag.

The action will stop all of the automation rules for that particular return request, so you can manually review the return request and process it as you see fit.



Once the request is reviewed, you can remove the flag by clicking on the Remove flag button on the banner or inside More actions.

Oonce the request is flagged, all automation rules will be forfeited. The merchants will have to process all flagged return requests manually even after they are un-flagged.

Updated on: 12/12/2023

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