Inventory Restocking on Refund

4 min readPublished April 12, 2026

Four Restock Actions

When creating a refund with items (Full or By Item type), each item has a restock action that determines what happens to the returned inventory when the refund is processed.

  • Restock (Good Condition) — the item is returned to good inventory. BranchStock quantity is incremented for the item at the sale's branch. Serial numbers are set to In Stock status with the soldAt date cleared. Use this when the returned item is in sellable condition.
  • Damaged (Customer Damage) — the item is recorded as returned but not restocked. Serial numbers are set to Returned status. No stock quantity increment occurs. Use this when the item was damaged by the customer and cannot be resold.
  • Defective (Factory Fault) — the item is flagged for inspection. Serial numbers are set to Defective status. No stock quantity increment occurs. Use this when the item has a manufacturing defect that needs to be reported to the supplier.
  • No Restock — the item is not returned to inventory. Serial numbers are set to Returned status. No stock quantity increment occurs. Use this when the item is not being physically returned by the customer.

Stock Quantity Updates

Stock quantities are only incremented under specific conditions to ensure inventory accuracy.

  • Stock is incremented only when the restock action is Restock AND the item has trackStock enabled.
  • The increment is applied to the BranchStock record for the item at the branch where the original sale was made.
  • The incremented quantity matches the refunded quantity for that item.
  • Items with trackStock disabled receive a financial refund but no stock adjustment, regardless of the restock action selected.
Note

If an item was sold from Branch A, the refunded stock is returned to Branch A. Refund restocking always targets the original sale branch.

Serial Number Handling

For serialized items, Fixmo identifies the specific serial units that were sold and updates their status based on the restock action.

  • Fixmo fetches the serial numbers linked to the original sale line items to identify which units were sold.
  • Restock action — serial status is set to IN_STOCK and the soldAt date is cleared. The serial becomes available for future sales.
  • Defective action — serial status is set to DEFECTIVE. The serial is flagged for inspection and cannot be sold until its status is manually changed.
  • Damaged or No Restock action — serial status is set to RETURNED. The serial is removed from active inventory but preserved in the system for record-keeping.

Items Without Stock Tracking or Serials

Not all inventory items use stock tracking or serial numbers. Fixmo handles these gracefully during refunds.

  • Items with trackStock disabled receive a financial refund (the refund amount is recorded) but no stock quantity changes are made.
  • Items without serial numbers skip the serial status update step entirely. Only the financial refund and optional stock increment apply.
  • The restock action dropdown is still available for record-keeping purposes, but Damaged, Defective, and No Restock have no inventory effect on non-serialized items.
  • By Amount refunds never trigger inventory changes since no specific items are selected.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does every refund restock affect inventory?+
No. Only items with the Restock action and trackStock enabled will have their branch stock quantity incremented. The Damaged, Defective, and No Restock actions do not increase stock. Items without stock tracking only receive financial refunds.
What happens to serial numbers during a refund?+
Fixmo fetches the serial numbers that were sold in the original sale and updates their status based on the restock action. Restock sets them to In Stock and clears the soldAt date. Defective sets them to Defective status. Damaged and No Restock set them to Returned status.
Can I choose different restock actions for different items in the same refund?+
Yes. When creating a By Item refund, each item has its own restock action dropdown. You can set one item to Restock and another to Damaged within the same refund.

Related Articles

Refunds4 min read

Refunds Overview

Understand how refunds work in Fixmo — three refund types, four statuses, analytics dashboard, search and filtering, role-based access, and the complete refund lifecycle.

Read article
Refunds3 min read

Creating a Full Refund

Step-by-step guide to creating a full refund in Fixmo — initiate from the sale detail page, auto-select all remaining items, choose a reason, and submit for approval or auto-approve.

Read article
Refunds4 min read

Creating a Partial Refund

Create partial refunds in Fixmo by selecting specific items and quantities (By Item) or entering a custom dollar amount (By Amount). Includes restock actions, tax handling, and step-by-step instructions.

Read article
Refunds4 min read

Refund Approval Workflow

Understand the refund approval process in Fixmo — from creation to approval or rejection, and final processing. Includes role permissions, the Admin shortcut, and the detail page timeline.

Read article
Inventory4 min read

Serial Number Tracking

Track individual units by serial number through their entire lifecycle — from stock entry through sales, repairs, returns, and warranty claims.

Read article