RMA status reference
A quick reference for the RMA (customer return) lifecycle. For the walkthrough, see Process a customer return.
Statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Staged but not yet authorized. Editable; can be deleted. |
| Approved | Authorized — the return is expected. Awaiting shipment or receipt. |
| In Transit | Shipping info (carrier / tracking) is set; the goods are on their way back. Counts as expected inbound. |
| Partially Received | Some — but not all — expected units have been received. |
| Received | Every expected unit has been received. Ready to close. |
| Closed | The return is complete and settled. |
| Canceled | Stopped before receipt (with an optional reason). Reversible via Restore. |
Open statuses are Draft, Approved, In Transit, and Partially Received. A return can be canceled while it's Draft, Approved, or In Transit — as long as nothing has been received yet.
Amazon FBA returns are auto-received at Amazon — they're created already Closed (restocked at Amazon, no physical receipt) and can't be received or reopened by hand. Partially Received means some but not all of the expected units are in.
Receive dispositions
When you Receive Items, each returned unit is dispositioned into one of three columns. The choice is what determines the inventory effect:
| Disposition | Inventory effect |
|---|---|
| New | Restocked as sellable inventory on the original SKU — a new FIFO layer. |
| Blemished | Landed on a separate blemished SKU you name, so it never resells as new. Fires the blemished-listing flow. |
| Discarded | Scrapped — no inventory is added back. |
The columns for a line must add up to the quantity you're receiving, and can't exceed what's still Remaining. Deleting a return receipt reverses its inventory movements; deleting the RMA reverses everything and unlinks any sales credit.
These are the labels on the RMA's Receive Items grid. The scan-driven Receive Station shows the same three dispositions as Add to Stock (New), New Blemished SKU (Blemished), and Discard (Discarded).
Receipt reconciliation status
Every return receipt also carries a reconciliation status that tracks whether it's tied to an RMA:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Matched | The return receipt is linked to an RMA (any receipt with an RMA becomes Matched). |
| Unmatched | A blind receipt — physically received with no linked RMA yet — awaiting linkage in the Unmatched Returns report. |
| Needs Review | More than one plausible RMA / receipt match was found, so SKU.io did not auto-link — a person resolves it. |
A blind receipt already added its stock; linking it records which RMA / order it belongs to and never adds stock again. For the full model, see How returns reconciliation works.
Related
- How returns reconciliation works — the matching model behind these statuses.
- Receive returns at the Receive Station — scan and disposition units.
- Link unmatched (blind) returns — tie a blind receipt to its RMA.
- Returns reconciliation reference — fields and states in one place.
- The Returns Inbox reconciles marketplace-originated returns (Shopify, Amazon, and others) into SKU.io RMAs.
- A sales credit is created and linked separately — receiving an RMA doesn't post one on its own.