Returns Not Applying to Item Tracking

ThriftWarehouse — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 21:30:35 GMT

The title of this thread has been edited by a Square Moderator from the original: Returns and item tracking

Hello,

We are a charity thrift shop and do keep track of department sales. For example women’s clothing vs furniture. I have tried both ways: creating an item for each department and a category then an item within it. Since we don’t track inventory (all donation based), we have one item in each category and staff input the price. My question is if a return is done (I’ve tried whole transaction to individual items) why is it if I test it and sell one piece of furniture then return it, my daily sales still shows 1 piece of furniture sold? If all I sold is one then returned it, why do my item sold and category sales not show the returned item? This is enough of a big decision that if it’s not available we may look at other POS systems. Thanks!

Re: Returns and item tracking

Sammie_C — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 21:27:46 GMT

Hi @ThriftWarehouse, thank you for your post. I totally understand your concern with this.

I went ahead and check in with our Account Services team on Returns with a business like yours. They said that everything you described is expected behavior, and they sent over a bit of explanation that I will paraphrase below:

Why you still see “1 item sold”
• “Items Sold” is a gross count of completed sales only. Returns aren’t subtracted here, as they go into separate “Items Returned” or “Units Returned” columns.

• So if you sell 1 item and then return it, your report will show:
– Items Sold: 1
– Units Returned: 1
– Net Sales: $0

How to see the return reflected

In the web Dashboard:
• Go to Reports → Sales → Item Sales (or Category Sales)
• Show/Add the “Items Returned” (or “Units Returned”) column next to “Items Sold.”
• Calculate net quantity: Items Sold – Units Returned.
In an exported CSV:
• Download the Sales Detail or Item Sales export.
• You’ll have separate columns for Items Sold, Items Returned, Units Returned, etc.

I hope this helps a bit. Please let me know if you end up having any other questions in the meantime.

thread Returns Not Applying to Item Tracking in Orders, Menu Items, Catalog & Fulfilment

Returns Not Applying to Item Tracking

Re: Returns and item tracking