Returns is part of The Counter in Windward System Five. System Five includes 13 documented capabilities here — 12 in the standard set and 1 optional. Trades that lean on it include RV Dealers, Outdoor Power Equipment, Consumer Electronics.
These 13 capabilities sit within System Five's 1287-capability documented set — a selection, not a ceiling.
Send a customer's faulty goods back
From a customer RMA, Send to Supplier raises the supplier RMA automatically, splitting into several supplier RMAs when the returned items come from different suppliers, and Return to Customer books the repaired or replacement item back out to the customer.
Let a gift be returned without the receipt
A printed gift enclosure, optionally barcoded, carries everything the recipient needs to return an item bought for them by someone else, and can be reprinted.
Take a gift return without showing the price
A gift enclosure printed on a slip printer gives the recipient everything needed to return an item without showing the price, including a code that drives the return at the original purchase price. Cash-refund cheques can be blocked entirely, handwritten with a number entered, printed on the spot, or batched for later printing, with the journal entry created against the default bank automatically.
See which returns are still open
Outstanding RMAs list every open customer RMA with its linked supplier RMAs, viewable by customer or by supplier, with unfinished supplier-side lines shown in red and any line opening its invoice on double-click. The completed report pairs each closed customer RMA with the supplier RMAs behind it.
See what this customer paid last time
The sale can show what this customer previously paid for an item — optionally line by line, by contact, by ship-to, or by the attached unit — and pull those lines onto the current sale for return or matched repricing.
Settle a return the way the customer wants
A return can be settled as a refund by cash, cheque or another tender, as a credit against the customer's account balance, or as a replacement handled on the same invoice, either the identical item or a different one.
Price a return off the original sale
A returned item is attached to the invoice it was originally sold on, so the return is priced and costed from the original transaction.
Only let trusted staff give refunds
The ability to return an item on an invoice is a per-user setting, so only authorised staff can process returns.
Know why the goods keep coming back
Up to ten return reason codes can be defined, each with an effective date and the ability to be deactivated without losing history. Each code sets what happens to the goods: straight back to stock, written off against a nominated ledger account, or taken in as an RMA from the customer. Codes feed a return analysis report.
Handle a return the right way every time
Up to ten user-defined return reasons drive one of three automatic behaviours: return to stock, write off the cost to a nominated ledger account, or create a customer RMA that removes the item from saleable inventory.
Walk a return through step by step
A guided flow that creates the customer RMA, finds the original invoice, picks the returned lines with their quantity and supplier, raises the matching supplier RMA, and gives direct access to outstanding and completed RMA reports sorted by customer or by supplier.
Track a return from customer to supplier
RMAs run on both sides of the business: a customer RMA for goods coming back from a customer and a supplier RMA for goods going back to a supplier, implemented as dedicated invoice types U (In on Customer RMA) and O (Out on Supplier RMA). One physical item can travel customer to you, you to supplier, supplier to you and back to the customer, tracked throughout.
Know where a returned item is now
Separate document types track an item coming in from a customer for repair or exchange and going out to the supplier, so the item's whereabouts are known through the whole loop.
Yes. A returned item is attached to the invoice it was originally sold on, so the return is priced and costed from the original transaction. This is optional in System Five.
Yes. RMAs run on both sides of the business: a customer RMA for goods coming back from a customer and a supplier RMA for goods going back to a supplier, implemented as dedicated invoice types U (In on Customer RMA) and O (Out on Supplier RMA). One physical item can travel customer to you, you to supplier, supplier to you and back to the customer, tracked throughout. This is optional in System Five.
Yes. Separate document types track an item coming in from a customer for repair or exchange and going out to the supplier, so the item's whereabouts are known through the whole loop. This is optional in System Five.
Yes. A gift enclosure printed on a slip printer gives the recipient everything needed to return an item without showing the price, including a code that drives the return at the original purchase price. Cash-refund cheques can be blocked entirely, handwritten with a number entered, printed on the spot, or batched for later printing, with the journal entry created against the default bank automatically. This is optional in System Five.
Yes. The sale can show what this customer previously paid for an item — optionally line by line, by contact, by ship-to, or by the attached unit — and pull those lines onto the current sale for return or matched repricing. This is optional in System Five.
Yes. A return can be settled as a refund by cash, cheque or another tender, as a credit against the customer's account balance, or as a replacement handled on the same invoice, either the identical item or a different one. This is optional in System Five.
Every capability on this page is documented in the System Five capability index. Last updated 2026-11-05.