How to check returned items for missing parts

Why a received scan isn't a check

A parcel scan tells you the box arrived. It says nothing about what was inside. If the refund follows the scan, an incomplete kit refunds in full, and the short kit can go back on the shelf for the next customer.

Take a $340 kit: camera body, zoom lens, battery + charger. If the $109 lens stays at home and the scan releases the refund, the store pays for a lens it never got back, and nobody can later show whether it went missing at the bench or on the shelf.

1. Write the kit list per SKU

The packing slip is the checklist. For every kit you sell, list each part that must come back, how many, and which ones carry a serial label.

• Main unit (and its serial)
• Each accessory, with the count (two batteries is two lines, or one line with 2)
• Small parts that are easy to leave behind: caps, tips, guards, cables
• Packing that never counts: paper, foam, bags

2. Count in one place, once

Unpack over one marked tray and count an item only when it is set down there. Counting as things come out of the box invites double counts: a hand lifts the same item twice, or an item is picked up and put back.

Paper and foam stay out of the tray, so a wad of kraft paper can't pass for a part.

3. When unsure, hold. Don't guess

Two parts stuck together, a serial you can't read, a part that looks like a substitute: each of these is a hold, not a judgment call made at speed. A hold is cheap to undo. A refund isn't.

4. Keep the record with the decision

Write down what was counted, what was missing, which policy clause applies, and who released the refund and why. That record is what you dispute with later, and it shows whether the routine is working.