From parcel to refund.
A return touches the warehouse, the invoice and the money. laeuft takes the parcel at the door, finds the order from a photo, books every item and prepares the correction and the refund. A person only steps in where it matters.
AU-2026-31841 #1
eBay
L. Becker · 28195 Bremen · 2 of 2 items returned
Milestones
Announced
eBay return · reason: defective
Received
2 photos · order matched from the label
Checked & stored
1 × bin B-07-3 · 1 × disposed (defective)
Invoice corrected
GS-2026-00297 · automatically, complete return
Refunded
Refund order waiting for your release
The problem
Returns get lost between warehouse and office.
The parcel arrives without a note, the marketplace refunds on its own schedule, the credit note is written by hand, and nobody sees that the money left before the goods came back. In laeuft, every return is one case with five milestones, and each milestone is backed by evidence.
How it works
Six steps, most of them automatic.
Parcel photo
Label read
NameL. BeckerPostcode, city28195 BremenTracking no.00340434…731801
Photograph the parcel
At the returns desk, take one or two photos of the parcel and its old label. Several AI models read name, address, order numbers and tracking numbers in parallel.
Which order?
AU-2026-31841eBayL. Becker · 28195 Bremen
Matched from photo · tracking no.
Scan, order no., name or postcodeWrong order
02
The order is found
A tracking number that hits exactly one order is taken at once. Otherwise laeuft only picks an order when every model found the same one in the last 180 days. In doubt, you choose. Scanning, order numbers, name or postcode work too.
- Scan item2 / 2USB-C cable 2 m1 / 1GaN charger 65 W1 / 1One lessOne more
03
Scan every item
Each returned item is scanned against the order lines, with quantities. Partial returns are normal: what is missing stays open in the case.
- StoreB-07-3
Why dispose?
DefectiveDamagedIncompleteOtherUndo works on every booking
04
Store or dispose
Good items go back to a bin you scan, with a fresh article label if needed. Everything else is disposed with a reason. Every booking can be undone.
- Refund ordersGS-2026-0029747.80 €
Standard return · released
GS-2026-00298129.00 €Partial · waiting for you
05
Correction and refund prepared
For a complete standard return, laeuft writes the invoice correction itself, if you turn that on. Each correction gets one refund order with the exact amount; standard returns are released automatically, everything else waits for a person.
- Inbox
Refunded, goods missing
AU-2026-31802 #1 · Mirakl
Parcel arrived · closed itself
06
The case watches itself
Refunded without goods, refund missing, correction missing, refund different from the correction: each lands in your inbox once and closes itself when the contradiction is resolved.
Return labels
Return labels by your rules.
Create a DHL or GLS return label for an order and send it by email. Carrier and who pays follow your rules per channel and reason: you, the buyer, or deducted from the refund. For defective, wrong or damaged items the seller always pays, and no rule can change that.
From refundSeller
SellerCustomerDHLGLSSent to the buyer by email10:44
Details
The fine print.
- Five milestones
- Announced, received, checked and stored, invoice corrected, refunded. Each with time and evidence. The case status is the next open step, not a channel status.
- Returns from the channel
- Announced returns are read from Mirakl, Amazon, eBay, Kaufland and Shopify. Refunds are read where the channel exposes them; where it does not, the case says so instead of inventing a deviation.
- Partial and repeat returns
- Several parcels for one order stay one case. A second return later, or after 90 quiet days, becomes a new case with its own number.
- Your deadlines
- Return window, grace period for missing goods, deadlines for missing refunds and corrections, and an amount tolerance are settings per company.
- Refund order
- One per correction: items, shipping and return costs, plus the exact call for the channel (for example eBay issue_refund or Mirakl OR28). Orders on invoice are never released automatically.
- Return costs on the correction
- When the buyer pays, the deduction appears as its own negative line on the correction, and the case expects the refund minus exactly that amount.
- DHL and GLS returns
- Return labels are booked directly with DHL and GLS. A label's tracking number is recognised first when the parcel comes back.
- Order page
- On the buyer's order page you can show your return cost rule and, when you switch it on, let buyers register a return with a reason.
- Phone, handheld or iPhone app
- Return intake runs on the Floor in any browser and in the iOS app with the camera as scanner.
- The office is told
- When a return is finished, laeuft sends a short mail: what came back, where it is, and what is still to do.
Questions
Asked often.
Does laeuft refund the buyer by itself?+
laeuft prepares the refund order with the exact amount and the channel's call, and a person releases it unless it is a standard return. Whether laeuft sends it to the channel itself is a switch you turn on per company; until then you refund in the channel as before, and the case reminds you if a refund is missing.
What if the photo is unreadable?+
Then laeuft does not guess. You scan the label, type the order or channel order number, or search by name or postcode. If a match was wrong, “Wrong order” takes you back and that order is never suggested again for this parcel.
Marketplaces refund on their own. Does that break anything?+
No. A refund the channel already made is evidence in the case. laeuft then does not release its own refund automatically, and if the money left before the goods arrived, you see “Refunded, goods missing”.
Who decides who pays the return shipping?+
You, with rules per channel and return reason. The legal guardrail is built in: for defects, wrong deliveries and transport damage the seller always pays, whatever the rule says.
Can my own agent process returns?+
Yes. Return labels, intake and refunds are capabilities like everything else, available via API, CLI and MCP. Anything that reaches the buyer, a carrier or money waits for a person's approval.
We onboard sellers one at a time.
Tell us where you sell and how you ship, and we’ll show you laeuft on your own orders.