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DEAR Inventory provides sellers with the ability to manage manufacturer warranties for their products. This helps facilitate the Return Merchandise Authorisation (RMA) process, particularly when products are returned during the warranty period. This leads to better customer support and helps track and reduce repair costs. 

 

Prerequisites


Table of Contents


Managing Warranties

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Warranties are created in Settings → Reference Books. Only users with full access to the Settings: Stock - Warranty Setup permissions can create warranties (see User permissions explained for more information).


Warranties can be set to start from any of the following:

  • the sales order posting date
  • the invoice posting date
  • the shipment date.

 

You can have DEAR generate the warranty registration number automatically, or you can enter the warranty registration number manually.


Warranty terms can either be for a set period of time or the entire lifetime of a product.


NOTE: This feature does not cover extended warranties, only manufacturer warranties.


Add a Warranty

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To add a warranty:

  1. Navigate to Settings → Reference Books, scroll down to the RMA section, then click Warranties
  2. On the Warranties page, click the button.
  3. On the New Warranty page, enter a name for the warranty.
  4. Select an option for the start date of the warranty.
    • Sales Order means the warranty terms come into effect the date the sales Order is authorised.
    • Invoice means the warranty terms come into effect from the date the sales Invoice is authorised.
    • Shipment means the warranty terms come into effect from the Ship date of the product.
  5. By default, the warranty registration number is Auto generated, meaning that DEAR will automatically assign the warranty registration number during the Pack stage of the sales order. Change this to Manual, if you want to manually enter the warranty registration number for sales orders after the pack step is authorised.

NOTE: If warranty registration numbers are to be set manually, make sure that they are unique to prevent any issues.

  1. By default, the warranty term is set to Lifetime, meaning that the warranty will be valid forever. You may change this by selecting Calculatedthen setting the number of days, months, or years for the warranty term.
  2. On the Warranty agreement box, enter either the text of or a link to the warranty agreement.
  3. Since the warranty is already Active by default, click Save to go back to the Warranty page, where you will see the newly created warranty appear on the Warranty list.


Search for a Warranty

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Warranties are listed on the Warranties page. From here, you can search for a warranty that you can then edit, deactivate, or delete. If you have several pages of warranties already, it may be cumbersome to search for it manually. In this case, you can use the Search bar to look for the warranty.


To search for a warranty, enter the name of the warranty in the Search bar, then either press Enter or click the Search button. To further limit the search results, filter the list by the appropriate start date (Sales Order, Invoice, or Shipment).


Edit a Warranty

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Warranties can be edited at any time.

  1. Either look for the warranty from the list on the Warranties page or search for the warranty (see Search for a Warranty).
  2. Click the warranty to open it for editing.
  3. On the Edit Warranty page, make your changes to the record, then click Save.


Deactivate/Delete a Warranty

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Deleting a warranty means that it becomes permanently unavailable for use within DEAR. Deactivating a warranty means that the warranty becomes unavailable for use until you activate it again.


A warranty can be deleted or deactivated at any time unless it has been applied to a product in your inventory. If the warranty is already in use, you need to apply another warranty to the product before DEAR allows you to delete/deactivate the warranty.


NOTE: Regardless of whether a warranty has been deleted or deactivated, all sales orders to which a warranty has been applied remain subject to the warranty, i.e. the warranty is considered valid and not removed from sales orders and invoices made prior to its deletion or deactivation date


To deactivate a warranty:

  1. Either look for the warranty from the list on the Warranties page or search for the warranty (see Search for a Warranty).
  2. Click the warranty to open it for editing.
  3. Under Status, click Inactive to deactivate the warranty, then click Save.


To delete a warranty:

  1. Either look for the warranty from the list on the Warranties page or search for the warranty (see Search for a Warranty).
  2. Once you find the warranty, click the X icon to its right. 
  3. Click Yes to confirm record deletion.


Setting a Product's Warranty

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Once a warranty is created, it can be applied to both new and existing products as well as product families in your inventory from the product detail screen. 


When a warranty is applied to a product family, all products belonging to the family become eligible for the warranty. 

 

In case a separate warranty is applied to a product belonging to a family, the warranty applied to the product takes precedence over the warranty for the family.


Warranties can only be added to the following product types:

  • Stock
  • Non-inventory
  • Fixed assets


If the product type is Service or Gift Cards, the Warranty list is not displayed.


See Products and Product Families for more information.


Registering a Warranty

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After a warranty is set for a product, every time the product is included in a Sales Order, warranty registration takes place once the Sales Order reaches the Pack stage. This is true for both Simple and Advanced Sales. The process is also the same for sales orders consolidated from third-party eCommerce platforms, e.g. Amazon, eBay and Magento.


NOTE: Warranty registration always occurs during the Fulfillment stage of a Sales Order, specifically the Pack step in Pick - Pack - Ship. To follow the discussion in this section, it is recommended to learn more about Processing a Sale and Advanced Sales - Multiple Fulfillments in DEAR.


Only users with full access to the Sale Task - Pack authorisation and Sale Task - Invoice and Credit note authorisation permissions can register warranties (see User permissions explained for more information).


At the Pack stage, the order line displays two (2) additional columns:

  1. Warranty – the warranty for the product, as defined on the product's details page
  2. Registration # – the warranty registration number generated when the product is added to the Sales Order.


When the Generate warranty registration # is set to Auto during warranty setup, the warranty registration number is auto-generated during Fulfillment, specifically at the Pack stage. In this case, the Registration # column displays the registration number once the sales order is authorised.

When the Generate warranty registration # is set to Manually during warranty setup, the warranty registration number is manually added at the Pack stage. In this case, the Registration # is entered manually before pack authorisation.


If the order line does not have a warranty registration number and you click Authorise, you will be prompted to manually enter a warranty registration number.


Once the Pack stage is authorised, the warranty becomes effective on the required dates (see To Add a Warranty). The warranty registration number is displayed on the Invoice and the warranty certificate can be generated and provided to the customer.


If packing is set to Automatic in General Settings → Sales process customisation, Sales Orders will still be authorised, but you have to return to the Pack step and enter the warranty registration number into the appropriate column. If a warranty registration number is not entered at this stage, the warranty will not be applied to the Sales Order and the invoice will not include a warranty registration number. A warranty certificate cannot be generated either.


Emailing a Warranty Certificate

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Once a warranty registration number is generated, the warranty certificate becomes available for emailing to the customer.


To email a warranty certificate:

  1. Navigate to Sales, and search for the sales order.
  2. Open the sales order once found.
  3. Click Email → Warranty Certificates.
  4. Enter the customer's email address and other required information on the Email form, then click Send. The email containing a PDF copy of the warranty certificate is then sent to the customer


NOTE: Users with full access to the Settings: Manage Document Templates permissions may edit the Warranty Certificate in Settings → Document & E-Mail Templates. See Manage Document and Email Templates for more information. 



Printing a Warranty Certificate

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Once a warranty registration number is generated, the warranty certificate becomes available for printing.


To print a warranty certificate:

  1. Navigate to Sales and search for the sales order.
  2. Open the sales order once found.
  3. Click Print → Warranty Certificates.
  4. Save the PDF copy of the warranty certificate to your computer, then print it.


NOTE: Users with full access to the Settings: Manage Document Templates permissions may edit the Warranty Certificate in Settings → Document & E-Mail Templates.


Handling a Warranty Claim

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The list of warranty registrations is available in Sales → Warranties. Users tasked with handling your RMA process must be assigned Sale: Warranty Search access permissions before they can access the list (see User permissions explained for more information). 


When a customer files a warranty claim, you can check the list to see if their warranty is still valid or already expired.


To search the Warranty list:

  1. Navigate to Sales → Warranties.
  2. All valid warranties are displayed on the list by default. Enter the warranty registration number in the Search Bar on the top right. If found, the warranty is then displayed on the page.


NOTE: If you're not able to retrieve the warranty registration number during your initial search, you can change the filter to All (retrieves all warranties, valid or expired) or Expired.



FAQs

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  1. What happens if I undo a sales order for a product with a manufacturer warranty?

    If Undo is performed on the whole Sales Order, the warranty registration number is reset together with all other operations done on the Sales Order.

  2. What happens if I void a sales order for a product with a manufacturer warranty?

    Voiding the whole Sales Order deletes the warranty registration for the Sales Order.

  3. What happens if I undo the Pack stage for a sales order containing a product with a manufacturer warranty?

    DEAR stores all warranty registration numbers generated for a Sales Order. If Undo is performed on the Pack stage, the authorisation of the packed products is reset and other products can be selected.

    When the same product is selected for the Sales Order, it is possible to use the previously saved warranty registration number for the product. To use the previously-stored warranty registration number, select it under the Registration # column on the Pack tab.

    When a new product is selected for the Sales Order, a new warranty registration number is auto-generated if the Generate warranty registration # is set to Auto, or added manually if the Generate warranty registration # is set to Manually during Warranty setup. In the latter case, if you fail to enter a warranty registration number, you will be prompted to enter one.

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