A full stocktake once or twice a year is the right cadence for counting everything. Returns need a lighter, more frequent pass, because each one is a chance for a unit to go astray, and the trail goes cold fast.
Here is a monthly pass that takes about twenty minutes and ends with a number you can write down.
1. List every refund from the month
Export refunds for the period. For each, note the refunded lines and whether each line was restocked. Every line with a zero restock is a candidate for follow-up. Total their value.
2. Find every open return
Any return started during the month that has not been received and dispositioned is a unit in limbo. List them with their age. Anything older than your normal return window needs a decision this month, not next.
3. Reconcile confirmed losses
Returns dispositioned as damaged or missing are real. Make sure each one has been written off, so it is recorded as a loss rather than lingering as phantom sellable stock. Total them.
4. Spot-check restocks against the count
Pick a handful of returns your process (or your app) marked as restocked. For each, confirm the inventory adjustment happened at the right location and quantity. If any did not, widen the check.
5. Write the number down
Three totals: unrecovered from refunds, unrecovered from open returns, and confirmed losses. Together they are what the month's returns cost you. Keep a running line of these. The trend matters more than any single month.
What the number is for
It is not there to alarm anyone. It is there so that a change in process can be seen to work. If the unrecovered total falls after you fix the refund habit, the fix is real. If it climbs after a new hire starts on returns, you know where to look.
Making it take five minutes instead of twenty
StockReclaim runs steps one through four continuously and keeps the totals current, and on Growth it emails a monthly reconciliation packet to your bookkeeper with the same figures. The headline figure is free on install. See plans.