RMA Form Template for Small Makers (Free Excel)

An RMA, a return merchandise authorization, is your yes to a return before it's sent: a number the customer writes on the package, and a form that says what's coming back, why, and what they'll get for it. When it arrives, the same form records what it looked like, what you did with it, and what you credited. For a maker, the most useful part is the one that's easiest to skip: the lot and the cause, because two returns from the same batch are a pattern. In the example below, a leather maker authorizes the return of four belts with loose buckle screws, and the form points to the 14 belts from the same lot still on the shelf. Below is what goes on an RMA form, the example filled in, a log with a return rate, and a free template.

The short version

• Issue an RMA number before anything is sent back, and ask for it on the package.
• Record the original order, the item, the lot and the quantity.
• Record the reason, from a short list, and the resolution: refund, replace, repair, credit or exchange.
• Inspect what arrives, and record the disposition: restock, repair, seconds, scrap or back to the supplier.
• Look for patterns by reason and by lot.
• Keep a return rate: units returned ÷ units sold.
• TaroStack puts a customer return back into the lot it left in, so a recall still finds it, and records it with its reason. More below.

What goes on an RMA form

A filled-in example: four belts

Big Sioux Leather Co., a made-up leather goods maker in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, I use in these examples, sold a shop twelve belts in September. In October the shop asks to send four back:

The cause line is what turns a return into a fix. Lot BL-260915 is a batch of belts cut and finished together, and the same mistake is in every one of them, on the shelf and in other shops. How lot numbers make that possible is in what is lot tracking.

The RMA log and a return rate

Nine units came back against 620 sold in the two months, a return rate of 1.5%. By reason, hardware is four of the nine, all from one lot, and stitching two; the wrong color and wrong size are about the listing, not the workmanship. Return rate = units returned ÷ units sold, over the same period. When something comes back that can't be sold, it leaves stock with a reason, the way inventory adjustment form describes.

Get the template

Download the RMA form template. Three sheets: a blank RMA form to fill in or print; the belt example, filled in; and an RMA log with days to close and status filling in, returns by reason, and a return rate from the units sold you type. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

The form says which lot the belts came from; it doesn't say which other shops got that lot, or how many of it are on the shelf. Finding that means going through invoices, and a returned belt put back in the drawer is stock nobody recorded.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack puts a customer return back into the lot it left in, so a recall still finds it, and records it with its reason.

Back into its lot. A customer return goes back into the lot it left in, so the belts from BL-260915 are still BL-260915 when they're back on the shelf, and a recall still finds them.

Every lot's customers. Each order records the lots each customer got as it ships, so one recall report shows which shops got BL-260915, and what's still on your own shelves. A lot can be put on hold while it's checked, kept from sale until it's released.

Losses with a reason. A return that can't be sold leaves stock as an adjustment with its reason, recorded with who, when and why, so returns show up in the waste report by item. How a hold works is in hold and release procedure.

Lots, holds, recalls and adjustments are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

What is an RMA form?

A return merchandise authorization: a form and a number issued before a customer sends something back, recording the item, lot, quantity, reason and resolution, then the inspection, disposition and credit when it arrives.

What should an RMA form include?

The RMA number and date, the customer and original order, the item, lot and quantity, the reason, the resolution asked for, the return-by date and shipping, and, on arrival, the inspection, disposition, credit and cause.

How do you calculate a return rate?

Divide the units returned by the units sold over the same period. In the example, 9 returned against 620 sold is 1.5%.

Do small businesses need RMA numbers?

Once returns come from shops or by post, yes: the number matches the package to its form, and the form keeps the lot and the reason together.