At Pharmacie Bonne Santé in Parakou, Bernadette Zannou checks the boxes that Grossiste Pharma Nord delivered last week. Twelve boxes of syrup are damaged, and thirty boxes of tablets are close to their expiry date. Dr Aminatou Chabi wants them sent back, and she wants the pharmacy’s stock to show that they have left. If the wholesaler issues a credit note, she also wants to owe less. The same steps apply to any business that sends goods back to a supplier.

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Choose the kind of return

Exowpee has two kinds of return, depending on what Bernadette knows:
  • A supplier return from a purchase is tied to a purchase, or to one received delivery or pickup of it. It says what the supplier will do: a credit note that lowers what the pharmacy owes, or a replacement of the goods. A return cannot have both.
  • A supplier return without a purchase is tied only to a supplier. It is for goods in stock that came from this supplier. It expects no replacement and changes no purchase balance.

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Prepare a return from a purchase

Bernadette starts with Create a purchase return, choosing the purchase and saying whether a replacement is expected or a credit note applies. She lists the items: the purchased line, the quantity, and where in the stock the boxes are taken from. The return stays a draft, and nothing leaves stock yet. She adds a forgotten box with Add item to purchase return, changes a quantity with Change a purchase return item, and removes a line with Remove a purchase return item. Edit a purchase return changes the header, and Delete a purchase return removes a draft.

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Confirm the return

When the boxes leave the shop, Bernadette confirms with Confirm a purchase return. The quantities leave the chosen locations. With a credit note, the value of the returned goods lowers what the pharmacy owes for that purchase. With a replacement, the returned quantities become receivable again on the purchase, and a completed purchase goes back to pending: the replacement is received like any other goods, see Receive purchased goods. From then on the return cannot be edited or deleted. She reads returns with List purchase returns and View a purchase return.

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Return goods to a supplier without a purchase

For goods tied to no purchase, she uses Create a vendor return, then the same steps with the actions for a return without a purchase: add, change and remove items, edit, delete, and Confirm a vendor return, which takes the goods out of stock.

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The rules

  • A return from a purchase is created from a purchase or from a confirmed reception, never both. The purchase must be pending or completed. A return from a reception counts only that reception’s lines.
  • Replacement expected and credit note cannot both be true. Both are required when the return is created. A VAT amount above 0 needs a credit note.
  • A returned quantity cannot exceed what was received and accepted (damaged goods excluded), minus what other returns of the purchase already take. Drafts count as well as confirmed returns, so a draft reserves its quantity until it is deleted or changed. A line appears once per return.
  • For a product tracked in stock, the stock sources are required: each one a location or a group, never both, with enough stock from this purchase. Their quantities must add up to the line’s quantity. For an untracked product, sources are refused. A return without a purchase has sources that must hold stock tagged with that supplier, beyond what other drafts of the same supplier reserve.
  • A return that expects a replacement needs quantities that convert exactly into whole units of the purchase unit. A return without a purchase cannot expect a replacement.
  • With a credit note, the value of the goods cannot exceed what remains of the invoice after debt adjustments and earlier credit-note returns, and the VAT cannot exceed the value of the returned goods, nor the VAT recorded on the purchase minus the VAT of earlier credit-note returns. Without a credit note, the amount owed does not change.
  • Confirming needs at least one line. It is checked again against the quantities and the stock at that moment. A return is confirmed only once.
  • A return is editable and deletable only while it is a draft. A confirmed return is refused. Deleting removes the return for good, and its quantities become available again.
  • Changing a line’s quantity without sending its stock sources checks the existing sources again. The purchased line (or, for a return without a purchase, the product) of an item cannot be changed.
  • The reference, when sent, is unique among the company’s returns of the same kind. A deleted return frees its reference, and empty references can repeat.
  • No accounting entry is posted. Item actions need the permission of the item action and purchase_returns.update (or vendor_returns.update).

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All the actions of this topic