Walmart Returns

[00:00:00] Danielle: Today we are going to be going over Walmart returns. So we'll be going over some of the basics, but we'll also dive into the finer details. But before we do that, we always like to introduce ourselves. My name is Danielle Gloy. I will be monitoring the chat today. And then leading our content is the incredible Allie Truong. 
 

SupplierWiki's Content Research Manager. So, here on the SupplierWiki team, we help research and write some of the content that you see or may have seen on our website. We want to create resources that are easily accessible and beneficial to you. So, if you think of specific topics that you would like to see covered, or if there is certain content that you maybe want to see more of, Please feel free to reach out to us. 
 

We want to make educational resources that are going to be the most beneficial to you. So for today's agenda, we are going to start with an introduction to what the Walmart return process is. We'll go over, we'll go over how to prevent returns, how to dispute invalid returns, And then we will wrap it up with a live Q& A at the end, as well as a product preview. 
 

So there's going to be a lot of great content to cover. All right. So here are a few FAQs that we typically get during webinars. So the first being, will we be getting a copy of the slide deck? Yes, absolutely. 100%. You can expect to see the PDF version of the slide deck, as well as the recording of this webinar appear in your email inbox in about three to four business days. 
 

So don't worry about quickly trying to take any notes or screenshots of any of the slides. We will make sure that we get those resources to you. And then secondly, What is the best way to ask a question? So at the bottom of your screen, you'll see a chat tab and then you'll see a Q& A tab. So the chat tab will be a great place to submit any insights or just to engage in conversation throughout the webinar. 
 

And then the Q& A tab has two little speech bubbles, and this is where we ask you to please submit any questions related to the content as I will be able to monitor them and then tee them up for Allie for the Q& A time at the end. Okay, so last little thing before we get into the content, if you're new to our webinars or have never heard of SupplyPike, we are a Northwest Arkansas based software company who helps suppliers reduce revenue loss by detecting compliance issues and fighting them through business logic and automation. 
 

So we do this in a lot of different ways and with multiple different retailers like Walmart, Target, Amazon, all Home Depot and Kroger. And just a little shout out, we work with a lot of great suppliers across the box in almost every product category. We have some of them up here today and if your logo is not up here, we would love to see it at some point. 
 

Our goal is to help you get paid and get better. And with that, I'm going to hand it over to Allie to get into today's content. 
 

[00:03:04] Allie: Awesome, thank you guys. And if you were here for Danielle's awesome question, the one thing I would not want to rain from the sky is more Walmart returns. So, we're going to get into that today. 
 

So, we'll start with the Walmart returns process. All right, so just to kind of zoom out, you may be in the weeds when it comes to the different codes that you're getting and you're kind of seeing these stack, but it's really important to understand kind of the overall picture of what's happening with returns. 
 

So at Walmart specifically, Return fines kind of are grouped together to signify the different components of a return fine. So there's going to be a freight charge and a handling fee, as well as a fine for the return. And we're going to get into what these codes mean, but we just wanted to call out that If you see, let's say, a code 92 in your, inbox, or rather in APDP, there is probably, most likely, a code, 97, as well as a code 44 attached to your claim. 
 

So it's important to look out for those and dispute them together. So we'll talk about why Walmart has set it up like that and how you can dispute them together, but really want to zoom out and just make sure we clarified that ahead of time. And if we wanted to zoom way, way out, out of returns and into the revenue loss space at Walmart, there can be stacking return codes on a single PO, but they're going to also be. 
 

deductions or fines that can be on the same claim type. So, for example, let's say you have, code 22. You can also have an OTIF fine or a SQEP fine on that code. Same with a return code, on the, on the same PO level. So, we want to just call out that overall, these things can stack and get really hairy. 
 

It can make your supply chain process a bit confusing and frustrating, but we're going to get into how you can mitigate that as well as dispute them if they ever arise. And like I said, you can have a single issue on a, on one PO, and it can affect the different compliance or revenue loss spaces at Walmart. 
 

Important thing to note, a question we get quite often with suppliers is, okay, well, why is Walmart giving me a deduction? Why are they giving me an OTIP fine and why are they giving me a SQEP fine? Another example, tying it to returns could be, you could get a SQEP fine on some, on a P. O. And then ultimately it's returned. 
 

Or same with an OTIF fine. You can get an OTIF fine attached to that PO and then it ultimately gets returned because of specific issues. And basically you could have a double dip when it comes to the money that Walmart is going to take from you for the issues that occurred. Whether that's legitimate or not, we'll get into if those claims are valid. 
 

But the reason that these Claims can stack in different compliance and deduction programs is because these programs don't necessarily talk to each other. They're separate entities within Walmart and are disputed differently are handled by different teams. So it's really just a lack of visibility and it's up to the supplier to dispute those and make sure POs that have several claims in different programs are disputed effectively. 
 

So we're here to help you do that. And we're going to get into how you can specifically. Focus on your returns. And if you have questions about SQEP, OTIF, other deduction codes, there's about 70 plus at Walmart. That is a story for another webinar and we can share that content with you in the chat or go find it on SupplierWiki. 
 

All right, so how do you get started on Walmart returns? First place that we ask suppliers start is review your OSA. Each supplier will have a unique process that they agreed to in their online supplier agreement, and it is important to understand what your agreement outlines so you can, one, adhere to that, two, maybe change it if it doesn't make sense for your product or your category, etc. 
 

As well as find those, find those, Those pathways that are required for you to dispute, which may be different from others, depending on what your OSA outlines. The second here is review those reason codes. So you can understand exactly what those claim, those code claims mean. So we saw the numbers code 91, 92, code 44, code 97. 
 

Understanding what those mean so you can accurately avoid them, but also dispute them when they arise. The third part of this is checking current return disputes for validity. So we'll, we'll get into that later. But let's say You have a whole, a whole section of disputes to go through that are based on claims. 
 

You want to make sure that those are accurate, that Walmart filed the process that you outlined in your OSA, and that everything has adhered to from that process, as well as that A return was the correct, action to happen rather than either the product shouldn't have been returned, it was returned to the wrong place, etc. 
 

The fourth part of this is disputing invalid returns. So you've done a validity check and you've realized, you know, hey, this return shouldn't have happened this way, or, it shouldn't have happened at all. You can go in and dispute those. And then create processes to avoid those valid returns and deductions. 
 

And we'll kind of go through all of these step by step. So here's a little roadmap for what we're covering today. All right. So I said the term OSA, if you were, you know, still reeling from that and you're, you're asking yourself, okay, I think I know what an OSA is. I don't know where it is in my Retail Link account, not to worry. 
 

So if you were a supplier, If you've been with Supply for a while, OSAs have kind of moved around. Currently, they're in your My Agreements section in RetailLink. They are no longer through the OSA or GSM apps. So to access your OSA, you have to click the top button. Profile icon in the right, and then select my agreements on Retail Link. 
 

And then it will, you can select, the business unit under your agreements. So if you have, a business unit within Walmart, Ecom, as well as Sam's Club, you can select that. And then finally, you can go into view slash edit, and you will view that. You can download the PDF. Both are options available to you. 
 

Alright, so you've downloaded that. We'll get into some of the ways you can review that, but I did want to cover high level, what are the different codes for returns at Walmart. So first is going to be code 44. You'll see that attached to your, your codes. Your main code. So, The main code that you're going to get is going to be attached to the reason why you're receiving that return. 
 

So that's going to be a code 91 to a code 95, and we'll get into what those mean, but essentially you can kind of read through the reasons here starting with code 91 that you can have. You know, destroy, damage, defective. There's returns for overstocks or recalls. You, there's returns for damaged merchandise, which we'll talk about how that's different than a code 91. 
 

We'll talk about code 94s, which are goods returned. So that's actually, when. the defective merchandise was, discovered, and that's based on, you know, when the consumer, if the consumer has seen it, taken it home, purchased it, and then brought it back, versus if it was damaged or defective, if that was found in the DC or in the U. S. store before it was actually purchased. So we'll talk about what codes mean, in that timeline. And then code 95 is a merchandise return. That's going to be your wrong item. We'll talk about that, but makes, makes sense. And then I'm going to actually toggle back to code 44 to talk with code 97. 
 

We have these in order of what they are, but essentially that code 44 is going to be the freight cost to return that merchandise to either, a Facility to destroy it or back to the supplier, wherever they've, the return address that they've listed on their OSA. Same with code 97. That's going to be the handling charge. 
 

That's any labor that's going into the specific claim. And then the code 120 is for the Walmart discretion program, which we won't get a ton into today. And that will be more on a case by case basis. 
 

All right. So we're going to talk about these. A little bit more in depth, so Code 44, it means Freight on Returns Merchandise and Returns Good. It's going to refer to those freight charges, like I said, required to ship merchandise back to the supplier. Code 44s are always going to come across on a claim that will also re include that return deduction like that we mentioned before. 
 

So if you, we'll talk about this later, but if you're an APDP and you see a code 44, make sure that you're finding the matching claim that will probably be a 92 through a 95. Alright, now what is the Code 91 destroyed, damaged, defective? It's going to be for that damaged or defective merchandise that the retailer could not return and was therefore destroyed. 
 

So it wouldn't have been something that was necessarily purchased by a consumer, but it was, let's say, got to a DC, let's just say an elephant smashed a whole pallet of merchandise, it couldn't be returned, it Some, a couple of different product categories that would be common, like house goods, if a whole pallet of, let's say, drinking glasses, were destroyed, that would be a situation where there would be a code 91. 
 

The option to destroy unreturnable merchandise, if that's going to be negotiated in your supplier agreement. So that's why it's really important to read that. It will depend on the type of category you're in and what was negotiated, but. Some suppliers may read that now if they have that in their agreement and not want the product destroyed actually when it's sent back to the supplier to process themselves. 
 

And that's something that you can change in your supplier agreement. Second here we have is the Code 92 Merchandise Return, an overstocker recall, pretty cut and dry. So it's going to be returned when Walmart couldn't sell the product, so it's being returned to the supplier, that would be an overstock, as well as a recall when suppliers, consumers, regulators, or manufacturers discover safety issues or defects that may pose a risk. 
 

a problem to consumers. So I think we can kind of understand both of those pretty cut and dry. Code 93. This is where it gets a little bit hairy in terms of when that timing happens, what code is applied. So code 93s are for merchandise returned due to damages that prevented the item from being sold. 
 

This claim is going to be applied before the merchandise is placed on the store floor. Back to my elephant stepping on a whole pallet of product example, This would apply if that elephant was in the D. C. or, in the back storeroom and stepped on that whole pallet and it couldn't actually go out on the shelves. 
 

So, really silly example, but easy way to remember it. Then a Code 94 is going to be different because this is when it refers to a customer return that's considered defective merchandise. So this claim is, Always going to be applied after the merchandise is placed on the store floor and the customer has purchased the item. 
 

And then it's brought back to Walmart to then be returned. Code 95 is going to be wrong item. So these are for merchandise returns to suppliers, to the supplier as the wrong item or an overage that the warehouse cannot keep. So this code has more potential for impact on several compliance programs because this could Come back to, you know, some of the SQEP finds. 
 

If you're unfamiliar with SQEP, Danielle can send those resources in the chat, the chat, as well as the OTIF program. So let's say your pallet got there on time, but then as it's getting distributed, they realize it's the wrong item. That would be void for that in OTIF. So you could get an OTIF find as well for that particular in full item. 
 

section. Same with an overage, that could kind of overlap into, the deduction space as well as the SQEP space. So that's why it's really important to make sure that you understand overages as well. We have a webinar on overages. Danielle can send that in the chat. I'm gonna make her work, behind the scenes to get those in there. 
 

But this is, this is one that we would point out can be quite convoluted and has the most potential to hit. Suppliers on the same PO for multiple compliance or deduction programs at Walmart. All right, the other code that we're going to cover is code 97 for returned goods. Remember my callback to code 44, that's for the freight charge. 
 

This is for your handling charge, so this is any manual labor required. to return the merchandise. This code is not going to be standalone. If it is, then you should, you know, look out for that code 91 or 95, cause it would be coming. And if not, it's a great way to dispute it and make sure that it is something that it shouldn't be, being used. 
 

issued as a standalone charge. Couple other things with code 97 is, this, this will be based on, you know, the type of product, where it's being processed, manual labor. We don't have specifics into what is being actually charged. So what that handling charge would come through like, but we have seen it in the range of a hundred to, fifty to a hundred dollars. So Danielle, I see you popped on the screen. I want to. See if we had a question in the chat. 
  [00:17:36] Danielle: Yes. We had a good question just in regards as we continue speaking about codes. The question that came through is where, how would we receive, see or receive these returns or return codes via our EDI system, question mark. 
 

[00:17:53] Allie: That is a great question. I have slides on that, so I'll save that one, but we will get to that in a second. It will depend, depending on where it is, but we can, we can get through that here in a second. Sorry to not answer it, in full at this moment, but we'll get to those slides. Thank you. Yeah, of course. 
 

All right, like I said, I'm not gonna spend a ton of time on Code 120. They're gonna be issued from the Return Center, and they're similar to Code 94s. So, the difference with Code 120s is that they're discretionary claims for Walmart. Essentially, it means the supplier has elected to not have their merchandise, their defective merchandise, returned and have left it to the handling of Walmart's discretion. 
 

So you, if you're in that program, you will be issued that. If you're not, you should dispute that or see if it's, you know, your supplier agreement has been updated. And another thing to remember with Code 120s is they'll come through In bulk for multiple defective items. So if you have a code 120, you're probably going to have either, just a different product category that would be, more focused on returns, probably have more smaller SKUs, possibly something in like the dollar section, or that, that impulse alley. 
 

You can see some of those possibly being in this type of program. So again, it follows a different process than some of the other claims, so we won't go into it too much today. All right, so we're going to talk about preventing returns. So knowing your OSA or your, your supplier agreement can really help with understanding how should customers return product to the supplier or should they even go to the supplier specifically. 
 

What are your handling fees? What are those going to look like? What's the cost of the defective returns? What can you expect? Maybe that even goes into your allowances. Do I need to have a defective allowance and am I actually applying that allowance to, specific POs? Bulk return charges. So if you're in that larger program, with more 120s as your code that you're receiving, are those processing correctly? 
 

Are you supposed to be receiving those? Overstocks, addressing overstocks, making sure that you have your replenishment correctly. If there's a reason why you are, you know, focusing on having overstocks and you're having a lot of those, having some kind of plan in place with Walmart to make sure you're moving through that inventory correctly. 
 

Another part of, you know, Knowing your OSA is wrong item returns. So making sure that, you know, you're not getting double dipped or triple dipped in the different compliance programs with overages, and making sure that you have a great strategy if overages is something that is. happening to you consistently. 
 

So here's a couple of important details to remember, when you're looking at your OSA, if you have a defective allowance, make sure that you are using that percentage well. There have been cases in the past where we've worked with suppliers who have a really high percentage and they're not using it. 
 

So that's really just money that you're, you're burning saying, Hey, I think that I'm going to have, out of all my orders, 10 percent of them are going to get returned, but then you go back and look at year over year, historical data, and you see that you're only using 1%. That's a time where your team should think about how do we negotiate that down because we're not actually using that, that allowance. 
 

Or on the flip hand side of that, let's say you have a 1 percent or you have no defective allowance, but you are seeing outrageous, numbers of, Defective merchandise. Maybe your merchandise is, you know, particularly fragile or would be a, like in the apparel section where there may be more returns. 
 

That's probably something that you should focus on seeing if you can have a returns or a defective allowance, added to your OSA. The latest supplier address. This is, feels basic, but is so important. Make sure that any returns are being addressed, are being addressed to the correct place. We've had suppliers in the past who, you know, they change their manufacturing location or the place that they'd like any defective merchandise returned, and that can just create more errors and more fines if the old address is listed and it's showing up at the wrong place. 
 

Another important detail is defining responsibility of defective merchandise fines with your 3PLs. So depending on if you're a collect or prepaid, if you're seeing a ton of defective merchandise fines, talking to the team that you're working with, whether if you're prepaid and you're owning that yourself, talking to those 3PL teams that you're working with, and, you know, seeing why, What's happening, in that supply chain process. 
 

If the, if you're receiving a lot of defective allowances and you realize, you know, the way that the team is unloading the trucks, or, there's just a myriad of reasons that could happen. Making sure that they're owning their responsibility, if that's outlined in your contract with your 3PL, as well as just level setting, it really depends case by case with 3PLs, if you're able to kind of pass some of those fines on, but if they want to be long time partners, it's really important to make sure that everyone is in agreement of how merchandise should be moved, You know, making sure that BOLs, are updated, etc. 
 

So, there's a lot of things that you can do with your 3PLs to make sure that you are sharing in that compliance, when working with Walmart. Another important detail to remember is Walmart will typically deduct the retail price of the item. Not the cost to cover their lost revenue. So that is something that suppliers in the past we've seen try to dispute saying, well, the cost was X, but we got disputed at the retail price. 
 

That is how Walmart is typically going to deduct. We put typically just because, you know, keep it open in case there, there are some Smaller outliers where that could be the case, but know that that's how it's going to impact your bottom line. So it's really important to make sure, even more so that you are understanding how to avoid these as well as disputing them correctly. 
 

Because we all know that that is, that really adds up. And then lastly, understand Walmart's packaging standards. They outline it, Crystal clear, for the most part on how they want you to pack your merchandise, how they want you to apply the labels, where they want you to put labels. And this is going to help, especially with a lot of the automation that is going on in the DCs, that you are being compliant to what they're asking for. 
 

But also if your, your DC and it's being, automatically processed instead of with manual labor, if you don't have your, your labels on the correct places or your box is packed correctly, you're going to see damage because there's a specific way that you have to have everything for it to go through that automatic process, as well as just human error. 
 

You know, if we're used to scanning A barcode on the top of a box or on the long side of the box and it's on the short side, we're probably going to miss it. And it may be a shortage or it may be counted as, not in full. The list can go on and on. So making sure you read that packaging standards guide. 
 

And we've got some resources on that as well. All right. I talked about this a little bit. Still kind of under the preventing fines. If you are, you know, top, if you're thinking to yourself, I should probably renegotiate my OSA. Here are some questions that we've seen suppliers ask. When can you make addendums to your supplier agreement? 
 

That may depend on your specific supplier agreement, so talk to your team. You can usually do that on a yearly basis, usually with a meeting. with your specific supplier team, that is at Walmart. So just check to see when that time is for you. What are the specifications for all your business? So when you're looking at your different BU's, your Sam's Club, Walmart International, Ecom, Walmart US, you know, what are the needs you have for each of those contracts? 
 

Should they be the same across Etc. Other questions to ask are does your category, your method of shipping, whatever it is about your specific supply chain process, is it creating specific and chronic returns and going down to those root causes, understanding those, and then kind of working your way back and saying, okay, looks like we may need to switch our 3PL, or we need to follow this packaging guide to be more compliant. And going from there, not only to reverse returns, but also to make sure that you are being compliant in other areas of Walmart. Last thing here is asking yourself if you should add a defective allowance to better plan your cash flow. 
 

So having that Defective allowance can help a supplier say, okay, I already know that 10 percent of all of my POs are going to be defective. Just that's the nature of my business. I want to go ahead and count those out and not be hurting for that, that specific revenue or those invoices to come through from Walmart and then be disappointed when you're, you're having to deal with that. 
 

Returns that you weren't, you know, expecting. All right, now let's get into disputing returns, what we're all here for, right? All right, so, to answer the question that was asked earlier, where can you dispute? So, there's a couple different options, and I'll talk about the specifications and the limitations of all of these. 
 

So, the first one is through APDP. First thing is to start by checking if the code is disputable through APDP and RetailLink's Dispute Portal. You can dispute return claims. On OnePO as a group, and that's what's really helpful about APDP. The caveat here is that APDP has changed a little bit in the last couple months, so make sure that the claim that you're going into dispute is actually actionable in APDP before you start, you know, poking around looking for the claim line number and you're getting frustrated that you can't actually dispute. 
 

The second option is through the return center. So when a return deduction is issued through Walmart location, 9462, that's a Walmart return center claim. This is going to be a more manual process and is. Again, we'll get into some of the details. There's certain claims where you can only dispute them in those locations. 
 

It'll have to be listed. And it's not necessarily recommended if this is, not an option for you because it's going to be more manual. However, if you are disputing through the return center, what is nice is that the suppliers we have seen dispute through the return centEr. They're working with people who deal with returns every day. 
 

So they're going to have a better understanding of what those return issues are, the deductions, and they may better understand, versus through APDP, which is disputed through Genpak, some of the nuances that happen with returns. Return claims. And then lastly, and I'll put the caveat before I kind of talk through disputing with your buyer, the option to dispute through your buyer should be a last resort and should be based on the relationship you have with your buyer. 
 

If you've been on a SupplierWiki webinar, you know we usually say, Your mileage may vary, and that's going to be based on, you know, you've already gone through the automated setup channels. This claim is worth bringing to your buyer. It's a fairly large claim, probably a bulk claim. And, you know, With 99, if not 100 percent certainty that this claim is invalid. 
 

You don't want to bring things to your buyer, because they, you don't want to bring little issues to your buyer because they've got, you know, several suppliers that you're working with. You want to make sure that you're, you're coming with your best foot forward and being a great partner. But again, if there's something that you're not getting access to, or you're not, you know, seeing headway on, that is an option. 
 

Our other recommendation there is if you are going to, if you've disputed through APDP and you're not able to do that, or it's not from the Returns Center, you could escalate to your buyer. Make sure that, again, that this process is as simple and clear for your buyer as they've probably got. Like us all, 700 emails in our inbox, so you want to make sure that you're making that easy for them to help you out with that issue. 
 

Alright, let's talk about the return center dispute process. So, you realize that on the claim, it's from the return center. You can download and review backup details and documentation in APIS. What is APIS, Sally? I haven't been to any SupplierWiki webinars. We talk about the Accounts Payable Inquiry System pretty often in a couple of our webinars. 
 

It's great for pulling, check details, just the documentation you need to kind of start that paper trail understanding of what happened with your claim. You can find that in RetailLink. So you just go to RetailLink, go to the App section, and Type in AllPapsAPIS. It's the easiest way to find that, and then you can search via the claim line number. 
 

What you'll do is you'll download the Defective Merchandise Handling Fee in RTV freight claim form after you've gotten your backup documentation. You'll fill out the Defective Merchandise form. I won't read the whole title, but with claim number, invoice date, the amount you're disputing, and the reason for disputing. 
 

Again, claim number and invoice date. Pretty cut and dry. What I would say for the amount you're disputing, go ahead and dispute the full amount. This is what we recommend in APDP. So there are some cases where suppliers say, hey, I see the issue with the, with the particular claim. You know, I would say 80 percent of it is invalid, but this 20 percent is. 
 

Go ahead and dispute the 100%, 100 percent of the amount that, you're owed. so that you can just let Walmart decide what they need to dispute. They'll go through that as well. We've seen in some of the matching situations that it's a little bit more confusing for you to make that determination, of what's valid and what's not. 
 

So we would recommend the full amount that was being deducted from your check. And then again, the reason for the dispute. This is the same in APDP, but I'll just mention it here. So If you're laying out your reason for your dispute, make sure that you're editing it for clarity. You're including the key points that are helpful for your claim. 
 

And I would say if you're seeing claims that are being won and then claims being lost, compare those those reasons for disputes and maybe you can build a template with the best dispute reasons or the best wording. that help with your claims. That's something that we've seen some suppliers do. It's just having a template, a copy paste, dispute reason that usually gets their claim. 
 

It gets their point across clear and it gets their claim moved to approved rather than denied. Second, the fourth step is including any backup details and documentation for each claim. Documentation is key. That is going to be your smoking gun. You want to make sure that if there is any documentation, whether that is your OSA or, a literal picture of the case, of the product in question or any shipping documents that can be helpful in these particular instances. 
 

And then you can submit your claim for the return center dispute process with partner support. You go to Returns, Return Chargebacks, and then Defective Merchandising, Handling, RTP, Freight Claims, etc. So you have to include the documentation in forms mentioned above for your claim to be reviewed. So that's, that's a little bit more manual. 
 

We'll get into some of the other processes here. And I double clicked. So here's the ReturnCenter. com. Contact information, this is just additional. We found that some suppliers who have more questions about dot com returns, it's going to be listed under division 46 and store 9462. So again, this is going to be more of the returns claim centers. 
 

And then this is the email that you can use. And then if you're in Sam's Club, we've been talking about Walmart, but of course Sam's Club is adjacent to that. The claim numbers, we'll start with that. 184919. And then we've also included the email here as well. All right. We're going to get into disputing these codes. 
 

Specifically, and some of the information that you'll need when disputing them, no matter where you're disputing them. Okay, so we're going to talk about code 44s first. Check your OSA. So if you have a code 44, we know it's going to be attached to a claim, but let's get into if it's valid or not. So does your agreement allow for returns to be shipped back to you as the supplier? 
 

You can still claim the return is invalid if the handling charges were in, are invalid. So we're gonna, we'll kind of get into that, but let's talk about the no. If your agreement does not allow for returns to be shipped back to you and you're receiving this, provide the supplier agreement showing that the merchandise should not be returned to the supplier and this code should be removed. 
 

What I would say too is making sure that you're bulking those disputes together, that it may be that you. The code 93, let's say, the main code is valid, but you're not supposed to receive this back to you specifically, so disputing that. Back to the yes, if you can claim that the return is invalid, if the handling charges were invalid, that's going to be tied to if the, particular main code, those 91 to 95s, are invalid. 
 

All right, disputing code 60 and 97. Again, checking your hand, your OSA. What you're checking for is, does your agreement specify handling fees not to be charged? Okay, let's say that your OSA says yes, We do, we're not supposed to be charged with handling fees, then this code is going to be invalid regardless if the anchoring return deduction. 
 

So those 90 to 95 is invalid. So what we're trying to, what I'm trying to say here is essentially your code 60 or code 97 for handling fees is going to be null and void regardless if that main reduction code is invalid. So, You may still receive that, you know, 93 deduction code, but at least you're knocking off some of these, tag along codes that are attached to them. 
 

Let's say no, let's say the situation is no, you can still claim the return is invalid if the anchoring, Reduction, you can, oh, I'm getting my words all confused. You can still claim, the return is invalid if the anchoring deduction is invalid. So what you're basing here is these handling fees are going to be tied to if that anchoring term is valid. 
 

is invalid. So you're going to want to focus on that code 91 to 95, making sure that's, you're checking for validity there, to then determine if this is something you can dispute. All right, now we're getting into some of those main codes. Again, we're pointing to check your OSA. What you're going to check for is does your agreement outline supplier's consent for damaged merchandise to be returned, not destroyed, or not considered defective? 
 

So if the answer to that question is yes, you can still claim the return is invalid if those handling charges are invalid. So if they've, if Walmart has misrepresented what is on your OSA in terms of how you're supposed to be returned, then you can dispute those. If no, provide your supplier agreement showing that the merchandise should not be returned to the supplier, and you should be able to claim that as invalid. 
 

What I would say here is if, before I move on to some of the other codes, if let's say they've issued the wrong code, it may re pop the code. populate and say, okay, we messed up that process, but again, it's still going to be invalid. Make sure you're holding on to that documentation. It may have some of the keys, in your research to then dispute that claim or apply it to other issues, in other compliance deductions. 
 

Compliance deductions, meaning your OTIF fines or SQEP fines, or even other deduction claims like a Code 22 or an overage claim. Alright, here is kind of where it gets a little bit more hairy. We're talking about Code 92s, 93s, and 94s. Walmart's expectation for these codes is that they are going to be disputed along those codes that we talked about previously. 
 

And there are four areas for you to check in your OSA that could make your claim invalid. So the first is that defective allowance. So essentially, if you have a defective allowance, make sure that that is being applied. If it's not, you want to make sure that is applied, because you don't want to double pay essentially for, a defect on your allowance and then a defect claim. 
 

If you've gone past that allowance amount, make a note of that. That's why you would get, return code, and that may be good cause to increase your, defective allowance, or just investigate in root cause of why you're going over your defective allowance, if that's been working for you. Another section to look in is responsibility. 
 

So in your supply agreement, it should outline, if your defective returns are your responsibility as the supplier, that they're sent back to you, or if they're not. Then again, you can go in and dispute, Hey, these aren't supposed to be returned to me. These are supposed to, you know, Walmart's supposed to handle those for me, and I'm not supposed to receive any of the defective merchandise. 
 

That would be issued as a different code. You may have to dispute that or just Claim it as invalid and write that, loss off. Another area is failure to return. So your supplier agreement, if it shows that the goods, the defective goods were supposed to be returned to a supplier and they were never received, first check and make sure you have the correct address. 
 

And if the correct address is listed on your OSA, Then you should go in and dispute and say, Hey, you were supposed to return these to me, you failed to return them, which goes against our contract, and you can dispute this claim. Again, it may populate as a different claim, but at least you're being, you're being fined for the correct issue. 
 

Or you can go in, save that documentation, like I mentioned before, and dispute it that way. And then last is pricing. So if your pricing info is showing that the actual cost of the item is less than the cost of the item, deducted per item on the claim, you want to dispute that as well. You want to make sure that those are matching up correctly, for your dispute codes. 
 

So those are four areas where you can go in and dispute, as well as if it's just a completely incorrect claim. Let's say, you know, it's not even your merchandise. If, you know, something kind of outlier, that's where you would also dispute as well. All right, Code 95. We talked about this a little bit, but check your OSA for failure to return. 
 

That could make your claim invalid. And here are a couple reasons, valid reasons, why Walmart would not ship, these items back to the supplier. If you have hazardous materials that are not in shippable condition, That could be, let's say, the elephant in this situation stepped on a whole pallet of shampoo. 
 

That's just going to be not worth it to ship back, even if the supplier agreement says that you're supposed to receive that merchandise back. So that may be something you want to amend in your supplier agreement. Same with like broken glass, anything that presents a clear danger or just not going to be worth it to ship back. 
 

And these are going to be considered a virtual claim. So if you receive a virtual claim and it doesn't meet those criteria, you don't have any product that would be this way, or you have another kind of reason to believe that it shouldn't be a virtual claim, then you can dispute that on APDP. And then virtual claims, just to make sure I'm outlining all this, will be listed with the division of 13 and a store number 9070. 
 

So I want to call that out there as well. Alright, like I said, we won't spend too much on Codes 120s, but here are two areas that you could check to make sure that claim is valid. So going back to that defective allowance, so first off, if you get a 120 and you don't, you're not necessarily in that particular program, go ahead and dispute it. 
 

They should issue a different claim that would make sense for you as a supplier. The second area is defective allowance. So if you have a defective allowance and that's not being applied, making sure that you're getting applied to your defective allowance, and having any, any defective, excessive defectives disputed through that. 
 

So, and then last is pricing discrepancy. So that's going to be a dollar discrepancy between the amount deducted for a certain quantity of the item and the actual cost of the item. If you're seeing an issue between those, making sure that you're disputing that. And that it's not, you know, an error where you're paying much more than you should be for that particular claim. 
 

All right, another question we get often is proof documentation for winning your disputes. So like we talked about, your OSA or your online supplier agreement is going to be really helpful for outlining some of those returns. Some of the sections are the Handling Fees and Destination, the Returns Process for Defective Damage and Recalled Merchandise, and your Defective Allowance. 
 

Also going in and looking at your Pricing Info and making sure that that is correct, and that it's the actual cost of the item is less than the cost of the item. It's deducted per item on the claim. Something I want to call out here, because we do have a webinar tomorrow if you haven't joined. 
 

It's our last one in the OneWorldSync series. We partnered with OneWorldSync to put on these webinars and then for them to share their expertise on item setup. Management and Optimization. An issue that we have seen with suppliers when it comes to making sure you're setting up your items correctly. 
 

This is a textbook example. If you have gone in and not updated your pricing info or if there's been a change, you want to make sure you're doing that as soon as possible since that's approved through those, those processes. So it doesn't affect you downstream in returns, or on your website and you're getting a return saying, you know, hey, I I saw that it was listed for this product, this price, but when I went in and I scanned it, it was actually scanned for this price. 
 

That's going to create frustration for your consumers, frustration on your supply chain, and then ultimately that frustration will get passed back to you in the form of deductions, or compliance fines. All right, that is the end of our content. I did great on time giving myself a pat on the back, and we'll get into the the QA section. 
 

[00:46:29] Danielle: Yes, thank you for running through all that content, Allie, and thank you, for everybody joining us today. It looks like we didn't have any further questions, but I'll just give it a little bit more time and just in the meantime, call out some of our resources. So if you're looking for more hands on material, we have multiple free educational eBooks with topics ranging from OTIF to SQEP to Walmart Shipping and Routing Transportation Guide. 
 

I know that a hot topic that has been going around is Luminate. So we know that there has been some confusion and a lot of questions when it comes to the platform. So we have put together an eBook that is a guide to Walmart's Luminate. So I will go ahead and just send that in the chat. Go for it, Danielle. 
 

And then, it, it looks like we don't have any further questions, but if you guys think of any questions later on, or would like to share, oh, we just had one pop through, do you have any insight on how to accurately pull defective and return information in Luminate that will report your defective rate? 
 

[00:47:33] Allie: That's a great question. I have not spent too much time in Luminate. So I'm going to say no. That's something that I will say. Our team is working on more Luminate resources. So our current one, I don't believe the one that's out, our guide to Luminate has anything on pulling defective and return information, but we are putting together some more content on that. 
 

So look out for that, Luminate webinar that should be coming up soon. And that's something we can add to the docket. So I'll, I'll make sure that that gets added in if that's something that we can pull up. So 
 

[00:48:07] Danielle: thank you. So like I said, if you have any other questions, Oh, okay. We got another one. For returned items, will we be getting an invoice from Walmart for those returned items or will they take that 1 percent off any future POs? That is a good question.  
 

[00:48:27] Allie: Yeah, that's a great question. So, just to clarify, what Jeremy's asking is, will they take that 1 percent off of any future POs? That would be like a defective merchandise, allowance. So, that would come off of, You wouldn't necessarily want to get those. Let me make sure I'm answering this correctly. 
 

So, Jeremy asks for returned items. Will we be getting any invoice from Walmart for those returned items? You should get a, I don't want to speak out of turn. I believe you do get documentation on that. And I think you can, that's issued through APIS. Don't fully quote me on that. And then for that 1%, that should be applied to those particular POs. 
 

So you want to make sure those get applied to the correct POs. If not, what they'll go back and do is they'll take them off anyways. They'll, and that can be an issue when it comes to post audits later. So hopefully that, that fully answers that question. 
 

[00:49:30] Danielle: Okay, then we have another one that's come through. How do you dispute returns that are from third party items and in departments that we have no agreement on file for? For example, we have agreements in department 2 and 92, but our effective defects reports have charges for items under department 46 and 95. We also get a lot of excessive defects for item numbers that do not belong to us, but we are third party sellers. 
 

[00:49:58] Allie: Okay, so this sounds, since it's a third party seller, and Jacqueline, you can correct me if I'm wrong, it sounds like you're doing e com sales and someone is doing that for you on like walmart. com or maybe a different, But it sounds like walmart. coM. but how do you dispute for third party items in apartments you have new agreements on file for? 
 

I think the part that is tripping me up, and I can, I can follow up with you on this, Jacqueline, I'll just make a note, to email you after this, is that you have no agreements on file for them particularly, because you would want to start with, you know, what your agreement is with Walmart and maybe that is If it's a third party agreement on your third party side, or it's added in as like, an additional portion of your contract. 
 

So I apologize. I can't answer that specifically. I think what's throwing me is just not having a supplier agreement on file for it. So I'll follow up with you after on this. 
 

[00:51:05] Danielle: Okay, now, it officially does look like we don't have any further questions. Thank you all so much for joining. Our emails are up here on the screen, so just feel free if you want to have any more questions or if you just want to share any insight, please feel free to reach us, on our emails or you can find us at supplypike.com. Perfect. So if this is where you have to hop off, we completely understand. Once again, thank you for taking the time to join us. In the meantime, we are going to do a little bit of a product preview. So just, how SupplyPike is able to help with, Walmart. We're going to just see a few different categories and deductions, overages, etc. So I'll just go ahead and hand that back off to you, Allie. 
 

[00:51:50] Allie: Perfect. Yeah, so if this is where you hop off, no worries. We're going to talk a little bit about what we do at SupplyPike. So here is our Walmart dashboard and I'm going to fly through this, but what Danielle will do is if you want something more comprehensive, with your data in it specifically, so actually seeing your information pulled from RetailLink. 
 

In our dashboard and want to dispute some deductions, you can set up a demo, on SupplyPike. com. And if you are a current customer, and you're seeing something that you don't currently have on your particular dashboard or in your functions or features, let us know, talk to your CSM and they can make sure that you're, you're up to date and have all of the latest features. 
 

So. Here's our dashboard. It's really exciting because you can see at a high level without having to have APIS or APDP pulled up and you can actually see the disputes that you want to focus on, at a high level as well as by claim level. So high level, you can see from this demo company, what's been approved with SupplyPike. 
 

So what this supplier would have disputed. through our application and it gets processed into APDP and is actually approved. So really exciting. You can also see some of the fun features of what's been disputed, automatically. So not touched by suppliers or bulk disputed because you can dispute, several claim lines at a time. 
 

And these numbers are again dummy data. Not that impressive for one, but we have suppliers who, are racking up double, triple digits in terms of auto and bulk disputes. And then we also have auto preps deductions, which comes into, you know, what documents got prepared and were sent out with those auto disputed deductions. 
 

The deduction percentage of invoice, which is just helpful to understand for more of a health metric. And you can see that you can actually look at this data, and understand what each one means, so you don't have to remember what all of these, health metrics mean. And the deduction's clear. So it's, it's really fun to see some of those high level stats, of your deduction process. 
 

I'll zoom through this here pretty quick, but this is essentially a deductions breakdown. It pulls from your Retail Link account, your information, so you can see what deductions you've received, what money you have on the table, so what is actually actionable that you can go after, what's awaiting repayment from Walmart, And your total paid back. 
 

And then you can also see that dispute win rate of, okay, what are you actually disputing and what's being approved? And, that difference there. You can also see this from a deductions by status. So similar to what's going on here. But you can kind of see the buckets of money and where that's sitting for each of them. 
 

And these are always going to match, we're in Walmart specifically, so this is going to match Walmart terminology, but if I toggled over to, you know, one of our other applications for other retailers, it would match the language in that one as well. And this is another great dashboard feature that I'll scroll through, is deductions by claim code. 
 

So you can actually see the amount and count of a specific claim code. We'll see in the dummy data if there is any, yep, there's a merchandise return. So the supplier only got one of those, but it's, you know, over 500. So maybe that's something that they want to focus on. But sounds like they're getting more quantity discounts. 
 

And by count, by amount, they're getting Lots of shortage claims, so that's another way to kind of toggle through and strategize with your team. We also have a new feature that is getting built out about root causes, so I talked about that a little bit. This helps suppliers that we work with identify what's going on based on some of the data that we're able to pull and kind of piece together so they can go address, you know, what's happening, whether it's an invoicing error, receiving error, etc. 
 

And then really quickly, you can see deductions over time, as well as claim lines by item number, and deductions by location. So maybe it's helpful to address with your 3PLs who are shipping to Grantsville saying, Hey, what's going on here? We're seeing, You know, a large amount where we can toggle and see, yep, that's the largest amount, or we're seeing the most claims at this, this particular DC, what's going on there, and really diving into, you know, who's accountable for that and why those issues are happening. 
 

Last thing, another feature we see a lot of suppliers use is toggling between deductions amount by count. So, We have some suppliers who will start to work with us and say, Hey, I only want to focus on disputes over a thousand. But then we show them, you know, this chart and they say, Oh, okay, I'm actually leaving a lot of money on the table by not disputing, claims under a hundred dollars. 
 

Same with amount, you can use it for that, that purpose too. All right, so that's kind of the dashboard that's helpful for communicating to your team, getting everyone aligned, to what's going on in your revenue loss space with deductions, and can be just really helpful to not have to pull a report that may take you, you know, a day or two to get put together. 
 

This is getting updated, every day with your RetailLink data, so you have, you know, the best source of truth. But the fun part is when we get into the actionable part of actually disputing deductions for Walmart and SupplyPike. So what you can do is there's lots of different features that are, lots of different filters we have, to dispute. 
 

So you can go in and say, you know, I want these claims to be invalid with that business logic baked in. And this one is definitely invalid. We can go ahead and just Dispute that if we wanted to. But let's click in and just review the details since it's our first time in here. We would review this claim. 
 

It's got all the claim information. It's actually pulled in all of the proof documentation automatically, and there's even business logic kind of built in that says, you know, this is ready to just sub this is ready to dispute. You can go ahead and submit that and click it and have it disputed, and it can let you know why Walmart failed to receive a dispute, and kind of how to troubleshoot that and then re make sure that that claim gets submitted. 
 

Some other features, let's say, you know, that, that was fast. That was a lot faster than the 15 to 20 minutes it takes to dispute one claim at, in APDP. You can also bulk dispute, so you could filter by the types of disputes, the code, if they do have documents attached, and just to submit, you know, 25 of the selected deductions that are in your backlog here. 
 

Last feature I'll cover before we head out is Autodisputing. So this is a really great feature because you can go in and select by claim code and validity criteria, as well as the deduction amount limit. Let's say I only wanted to dispute all of those claims under 100. I wanted to go ahead and autodispute those. 
 

I could set that up here and never have to touch those particular deductions. If I felt confident that I wanted to do that, and, you know, those are already just claims. Zero clicks and you're, you're disputing, even while you're on vacation or, you know, not sitting at your desk. So really great stuff. 
 

I'll end saying if this is something that's interesting to you, Danielle has sent that demo link. If you want to, you know, trial this out, I will say we launched Home Depot today, so that product is available and live. Really exciting as well as we have products in Amazon, Target, Kroger, and always expanding to other retailers. 
 

So with that, thank you all for joining. Really appreciate you being here and we hope to see you at another webinar.