Every returned item is a decision. Make it on evidence.
Returns are received against the order, not the item. Condition is a guess. The disposition is a default. The channel is whatever is easiest, and recovery follows. Upstream makes each of those a decision made on evidence, inside the operation you already run.
At the dock, with or without a record
What it is and what it is worth
Where it goes, by your rules
Sold where it recovers the most
Picked and shipped from your system or ours
For a retailer or brand, the middle three stops. Receiving and shipping stay where they are.
What lands on the floor.
Returns without a record
The order says what was sold. Nobody has recorded what came back, in what condition, or what it is worth now.
End of season with no plan
Inventory that will not sell at full price, waiting to become a liquidation lot.
Channel and price rules a partner has to honor
Do not touch the primary channel. Do not list below a floor. Do not sell in this geography. Rules that a manual process forgets.
Where it applies.
Returns identification and grading
Identity and condition from a photograph at receipt, bound to the order and the item, so every return has a record before it has a shelf.
Disposition by rule
Restock, repair, resale, donation or disposal, chosen by your rules and the item's evidence rather than by habit.
Channel routing and resale
Sale through the channel that recovers the most for that item, with brand and channel restrictions honored and the full price channel untouched.
Overstock and end of season
The same engine applied to inventory that will not sell at full price, before it becomes a lot.
With the money and the record.
Recovery per returned unit
Each item priced by the market and sold in the channel that pays the most, with the result written to the record.
Your channels protected
Off price recovery that never touches full price. The rules travel with the item.
A record for every item
Identity, condition, value, basis, decision and photographs, back in your system.
Alongside, not instead.
Your returns system stays
Upstream picks up where the RMA ends, at the item, and writes the outcome back.
Your 3PL can run it
If a partner receives your returns, Upstream runs on their floor by your rules and reports to you.
Your stores, when that is the answer
For networks with stores, the rule can send an item back to a store instead of a channel.
Can we keep an item off certain channels?
Yes. Channel, price floor and geography restrictions are rules per brand, applied automatically to every item.
Who sells the item?
You, from your own store, or Upstream as seller of record from a resale hub. Either way the proceeds and the record come back to you.
Does this handle overstock, or only returns?
Both. The same identification and routing apply to end of season and overstock before it becomes a liquidation lot.
See what your returns are worth.
A 30 minute walkthrough on a live account, then a scoped start on the returns you have now.