Field Notes
Partial refunds that never touched inventory
Why completed orders can still erase margin two weeks later — and what to check on the return desk.
A partial refund looks small in a customer service queue. In a margin workbook it can quietly reverse the profit on a SKU that operations still treats as sold-through.
Match refund events to settlement adjustments
App or OMS refund timestamps should line up with negative lines in the settlement. When they do not, you either have delayed platform adjustments or refunds issued outside the channel you are reviewing.
Walk the return desk once
Ask how damaged goods, missing sachets, or opened packs are tagged. If staff mark “refunded” without a restock or write-off code, your inventory valuation will drift from cash reality.
Sample, do not boil the ocean
For the first assessment we sample high-volume SKUs and known problem campaigns rather than every order. Patterns appear quickly when the same packaging defect repeats.
Hand back a checklist
Our Refund & Return Leakage Assessment ends with a short desk checklist: tag, photo, restock decision, settlement confirmation. Teams that keep that list near the packing table need fewer emergency audits later.