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Who is this for?

You manage outbound fulfillment of exchanges for a Shopify brand. You are most likely a developer that works directly for a brand, or a 3PL that fulfills orders for a brand.

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Overview

When managing outbound fulfillment of exchanges, there are three key points in the Return Lifecycle to be considered:
  1. Return In Progress, Exchange Unreleased
  2. Return In Progress, Exchange Processed & Released
  3. Return Processed

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1. Return In Progress, Exchange Unreleased

At this point, the Return has been approved by the merchant, but it is not yet processed. This means the merchant is expecting to receive the Return and process the Exchange, but is waiting for some event to release the Exchange and add it to “Committed” Inventory. Since the Exchange is “Unreleased”, it is not yet a LineItem on the Order, and thus is not visible in any Inventory Adjustments. Stage 1 Activity Exchange Unreleased

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2. Return In Progress, Exchange Processed & Released

At this stage, the Return is still pending processing, while the Exchange is processed and released, thus ready to be fulfilled. The LineItem has now been created on the Order, and Inventory Level has moved from “Available” to “Committed”. Stage 2 Activity Exchange Released Exchange Inventory Adjustment Note that since the Exchange was Processed before the Return, there is currently a Sales Agreement for the Exchange but not yet for the Return. This results in the Order’s Financial Summary appearing “Partially paid”, and this will resolve itself once the Return is Processed. Partially Paid

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3. Return Processed

At this stage, the Return is processed, which creates the Return Sales Agreement. This removes the outstanding balance shown in the previous section, which settles the Order’s Financial Summary. Stage 3 Activity Return Processed

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Conclusion

This guide demonstrated the three key stages in the Return Lifecycle that must be considered for whoever manages outbound fulfillment of exchanges. The most important of the three stages is the second stage, where the Exchange LineItem is created, and the Inventory Level moves from “Available” to “Committed”. This is the point at which the Merchant expects the Exchange to be fulfilled.