How Luminous resolves the restock bin and lot on a return line

When a return order is marked Received with restocking enabled, Luminous moves the returned unit(s) back into on-hand inventory and records exactly where they landed on each return line. This covers three workflows:

  • Immediate create — marking a return as Received when first creating it.
  • Shopify / channel-synced returns — returns pulled automatically from Shopify or another order source.
  • Pending → Received transition — updating a return from Pending status to Received.

Bin (location) assignment

If your account has a Returns warehouse group configured (set under Settings → Warehouses), restocked units go to that group's default receiving bin. Luminous stamps that bin's ID on the return line once the inventory movement posts successfully.

If no Returns warehouse group is configured, the system falls back to the bin the item shipped from on the originating order.

Important: The bin is only written to the return line after the inventory adjustment posts. If a posting error occurs, the line keeps null so it never claims a location for stock that never moved.

Lot assignment (lot-tracked products only)

For SKUs with lot tracking enabled, Luminous looks up the lot the item shipped under in the source warehouse and inherits it onto the return line. This ensures the returned unit is valued against the correct cost layer rather than landing on a $0 layer.

For SKUs that are not lot-tracked, the lot field stays blank by design — FIFO costing handles those products without a lot reference.

How to check the restock bin and lot for a return

  1. Open the original Sales Order.
  2. Go to the Refund / Return Orders tab and select the return.
  3. Each line item shows Bin Location and Lot (for lot-tracked products).

You can also retrieve this data programmatically via GET /returns — the location_id and lot_id fields on each return line item reflect the restock bin and lot.

Historical returns (backfill)

Return lines created before this fix may still show blank bin and lot fields. A one-time backfill was applied to repair those records for accounts affected. The backfill only fills previously-null fields on Received returns with restocking enabled — it does not re-post any inventory movement and does not overwrite values that were already set.