Send Goods Back to a Supplier

Return damaged, expired or wrong goods to a supplier, get a numbered credit note that comes off what you owe, print it, and undo a return made by mistake.

Purchase returns is the owner screen for sending stock back to a supplier. When you send goods back, the stock leaves your shop, a numbered credit note is created for that supplier, and its value is taken off what you owe them. Use it for damaged, expired or wrong items and for goods the supplier sent in excess.

Read this first

Only the owner login can open this screen. A store admin who types the address sees Access Restricted.
Saving a draft changes nothing. Stock and what you owe move only when you select Send back.
A sent-back return is never edited. If you made a mistake, use Undo this return; the stock and the amount you owe go back as before.
Repeating a tap is safe. The same request is never posted twice.

Open the screen

Screen: classic sidebar Purchasing → Purchase returns; new sidebar, the Purchasing group, Purchase returns. You can also use Counter devices → Settings → Buying & stock → Return goods to supplier, or go to /settings/pos/purchase-returns. The page title is Send goods back to a supplier. In the new layout the breadcrumb names the page Purchase Returns, under Counter Sales. If you cannot see Purchasing at all, read Find the Purchasing menu.

The page lists earlier returns, newest first, or says Nothing sent back yet. Each row shows the supplier, then the credit note number (once one exists), the reason and the date, a stage chip, the total, and Open.

Stage chip	Meaning	What Open does
Draft	Saved, nothing has left your stock	Opens the form so you can edit it
Sent back	Posted: stock left and the credit note exists	Opens the detail page
Undone	A sent-back return you reversed	Opens the detail page
Cancelled	A draft you cancelled	Opens the detail page

Send goods back

Start a return

Select New return. The title reads New return to supplier.

Choose the supplier

Open Supplier and select Choose a supplier. Archived suppliers are not offered. Changing the supplier later removes any lines you took from a delivery.

Optionally start from a delivery

Once a supplier is chosen, From a delivery you received (optional) lists that supplier's deliveries, each shown as Delivery of (date) · 3 items (or Delivery of (date) · 1 item when it had one line) with the date in your browser's format. Pick one to fill the item lines from it. Each line starts at the quantity you accepted on that delivery and shows At most N can still go back from this delivery. Pick No delivery, I will add items myself to add items by hand.

Choose the shop (only if stock is tracked shop by shop)

Send from shop appears when your store tracks stock per shop and at least one active shop is available to choose. One shop is enough; you do not need several. If your store does not track stock per shop, the field is not shown. Picking a delivery fills in the shop it was received into. Stock is taken from the shop you choose.

Give the reason

Open Why are you sending it back and choose Damaged, Expired, Wrong item, Too much sent or Other. Add a Note (optional).

Add items

Type a name or barcode in Item name or barcode and select Add item. If the item has types, you are asked Which type of (item)?; choose one and select Add this type. A search with no match says No item found with that name or barcode. Remove takes a line off the return.

Set the quantity and price

For each line enter How many (in the item's unit). Once the return is saved, a line counted in pieces reads 1 piece or 3 pieces; other units are written after the number, for example 2.5 kg. For items you add yourself you must also enter Price per unit (₹) and GST %. Price already includes GST starts ticked on every line you add yourself; untick it if the price you typed does not yet contain the tax. Lines that came from a delivery do not ask for a price; they use the delivery's unit cost. The Total does not change while you type: it appears under the list after you select Save draft, and is hidden again while you have unsaved changes.

Save or send

Save draft keeps the return for later (you see Draft saved.) with no stock effect. Send back posts it. Both stay disabled until a supplier is chosen, there is at least one line, every quantity is valid, and every hand-added line has a valid price and GST rate. Under the buttons the page says: when you send this back, the stock leaves your shop and a credit note is made for your supplier. Cancel this draft appears on a draft you already saved.

After Send back the page says, for example, Sent back. Credit note PCN/2026-27/000012 made for ₹1,180.00. and opens the detail page.

What a sent-back return does

Stock leaves the chosen shop. For items you track by batch (lot), stock is taken from the soonest-expiring lot first, or from the lot you chose when you arrived from Stock nearing expiry. An expired lot can be sent back.
A credit note is created. Its number starts with PCN/, followed by the financial year and a six-digit serial.
What you owe the supplier goes down. The detail page shows ₹X taken off what you owe (supplier) for the part that reduced the balance. If the credit is bigger than what you owe, the remainder shows as ₹Y kept as credit for your next bill.
The Supplier balance screen gets a Return credit note entry. Undoing the return adds a Return undone entry.

Print the credit note

On the detail page of a Sent back or Undone return, select Print credit note. The browser print window opens with the credit note only: your shop's name, address and GST number, its heading (Credit note and the number), the date, the stage, supplier (with the supplier's GST number when there is one), reason, each line with quantity and amount, the total, and the taken off or kept as credit line. The rest of the admin screen and its buttons are not printed. The taken off line is left out when nothing was taken off what you owe (for example when you owed the supplier nothing).

The detail page shows the same header details on screen, under the credit note number. Each one is left out when its value is missing, so a missing GST number never leaves a blank line.

Header detail	Where the value comes from
Date (date)	The day the return was sent back (the day the note was made if that is not known), written in the language of the screen.
Shop name	Legal name, or Store name when the legal name is empty, at Online Store → Theme → Look & Feel → General.
Shop address	Address line 1, Address line 2, City, State and Postal code in the same place.
GST number (number) for the shop	The GSTIN in the invoice builder (Templates → Invoice Settings → Open invoice builder, under Details). See Invoice customization.
GST number (number) for the supplier	The GST number kept on the supplier's record. The Add supplier form asks only for a name and phone, so this line appears only for a supplier whose record already holds a GST number.

If your shop details cannot be read when the page opens, the shop part of the header is simply left out; the rest of the note is unchanged.

Drafts and cancelled drafts have no credit note, so there is no print button on them.

Undo a return made by mistake

Open the return from the list and select Undo this return.
The page asks Undo this return? The goods come back into your stock and what you owe (supplier) goes back up. Select Yes, undo it, or No, keep it to leave it as it was.
You see Return undone. The credit note is cancelled out. The stage chip becomes Undone and the detail reads This return was undone. The stock and what you owe (supplier) are back as before.

Undo is offered only on a Sent back return. To send the goods back again, make a new return.

If the return was changed in another tab

If you leave a return open in one browser tab and someone (or you, in another tab) undoes it there, the tab you left open is out of date. Selecting Undo this return and Yes, undo it in the old tab does not undo it a second time. The page refuses with one plain sentence, This return was changed somewhere else. Go back and open it again., and then:

The question and the Yes, undo it / No, keep it buttons close, and the action buttons (Print credit note, Undo this return) are hidden, so nothing on the old screen can be acted on.
The page reads the return again from the server. Until that read arrives it shows no stage chip and none of the stage notes, because the stage it holds may be wrong. Once it arrives, the chip shows the real stage (for example Undone) and the notes for that stage.
Back stays at the top. Select it and the list shows this return with its real stage chip (for example Undone), not the stage the list had before. You do not need to reload the page. Open the return from the list to get its buttons back for the stage it is really in.

Limits and what the refusals mean

What you see	Why, and what to do
At most N can still go back from this delivery. (hint under How many)	N is what the delivery brought in minus what earlier returns already sent back. Enter N or less.
You can send back only N of this item from that delivery.	The server counted the same limit. Lower the quantity.
You are sending back more than that delivery brought in. Lower the number.	Same limit, when no count was returned.
You do not have that much in stock to send back.	The chosen shop holds less than the quantity. Lower it or pick the right shop.
Enter a number above zero, up to 3 decimals, within what can still go back.	The quantity is empty, zero, has more than 3 decimals or is over the limit.
Enter a price like 120 or 120.50. / Enter a GST rate like 5 or 18. / GST cannot be more than 100.	Fix the price or GST on that line.
The total comes to zero. Enter a price for each item.	A return worth nothing is refused.
That delivery is from a different supplier. Choose the right supplier or delivery.	The delivery does not belong to the supplier you picked.
That delivery was corrected, so it cannot be used. Choose another delivery.	Pick a different delivery or add the items by hand.
The batch you chose was not found in this shop. Remove the item and add it again.	The lot is not in the chosen shop.
A stock count is open for this shop. Finish it, then try again.	Close the stock count first.
This item cannot be sent back from stock.	The item is not a stock item you can return.
This return was changed somewhere else. Go back and open it again.	Someone else saved, posted or undid it first (for example in another tab). The page shows its real stage and hides the buttons; select Back and reopen it.
That return or delivery could not be found. Go back and open it again.	It was removed. Select Back.
Only the owner can do this.	You are not signed in as the owner.
No answer came back, so it may have gone through. Tap the same button once more; it will not be done twice.	The connection dropped. Tap the same button again; do not start a new return.
Some details are not right. Check the items and try again.	A field failed the server's check.

Troubleshooting

Question	Answer
Why don't I see Purchase returns in the menu?	You are not the owner login, the plan has no counter module, the subscription is suspended or the plan is still loading. See Find the Purchasing menu.
Why does a store admin get Access Restricted?	This screen is owner only. The page says Your role does not have permission to access this page. Please contact the Store Super Admin.
Why is Send back greyed out?	The supplier is not chosen, there are no lines, or a quantity, price or GST value is invalid. Fix the line that shows red text.
Where is Send from shop?	It appears when your store tracks stock per shop and at least one active shop is available, even a single shop. If the store does not track stock per shop, it never appears.
My credit note has no shop name, address or GST number	Fill them in at Online Store → Theme → Look & Feel → General (name and address) and in the invoice builder (GSTIN), then reopen the return. A line with no value is left out.
The supplier is not chosen when I arrive from Return to supplier	The lot did not come from a delivery you recorded here (for example it was counted at opening), so no supplier is known. Choose the supplier yourself and enter the price.
A yellow message says The item from the link is added below. Enter the price and choose the supplier.	You arrived from a lot. The item, lot and quantity are filled in, and the reason starts as Expired. Enter the price and check the supplier (it is already chosen when the lot came from a recorded delivery).
Could not load the item from the link. Add it by name below.	Add the item with Item name or barcode.
What happened to the stock when I used Save draft?	Nothing. Only Send back moves stock.
I pressed Undo this return and got This return was changed somewhere else.	The return was already undone (or otherwise changed) in another tab or by another login, so nothing was undone twice. The stage chip shows what it is now; use Back, where the list also shows the real stage, and reopen it from there.
Why does the detail page show no stage chip for a moment?	After a refusal like the one above the page does not trust the stage it was holding, so it hides the chip until the server's current version arrives.

Return to the Point of Sale overview or go back to Suppliers & Purchase Orders.