Return Managment

Regardless of whether you are the supplier or the retailer, we recommend the following approach for communicating an agreement with your partners.

Creating a returns process with your trading partners.

Retailers and suppliers must decide whether returns are accepted based on:

• Business agreements between the supplier and retailer.
• Product value (e.g., low-value items may not be worth returning).
• Operational costs associated with handling returns.
• Do the supplier and retailer have a well-known point of contact for managing returns.

Supplier-Managed Returns

If the supplier accepts returns, they must:

• Ensure they can identify the returned order sent from the end customer.
• Issue a refund through their e-commerce platform or an external invoicing process. If Mothership has managed the finances on the order, it will issue a refund via the original payment method (e.g., credit card, Stripe invoice, credit memo).
• Possibly issue a return shipping label to the end-customer or return merchandise authorization (RMA).

Retailer-Managed Returns

• If the retailer accepts returns, they must:
  • Manage the return process with the end-customer.
  • Maintain returned inventory for future order fulfillment.