Retail Chargebacks on Apparel

Every retailer’s guide is different, and guides change. Treat each one as a living document and send updates to your warehouse as soon as you get them.

Retail apparel orders often specify how garments are packed: prepacks with a fixed size ratio, a set number of units per carton, folded or on hangers, with or without polybags and hang tags. A pack-out that is fine for your website is often wrong for a retailer.

• Write the pack-out rules for each retailer and each order type, with photos.
• Confirm size ratios before the order is released to the floor.
• Make sure every garment carries the barcode the retailer expects. See apparel barcodes.
• Agree how short-shipped sizes are handled before it happens: ship short, hold, or substitute.

1. The purchase order arrives, through EDI or from your team, and is reviewed against the routing guide. See EDI for apparel brands.
2. Stock for the order is allocated so it is not sold through your website at the same time. See allocating stock between DTC and wholesale.
3. Units are picked by scan, packed to the retailer’s pack-out rules and labeled to the guide.
4. Cartons are palletized if required, and the ASN is built from what was actually packed.
5. The shipment is routed as the guide requires and leaves inside the ship window.
6. Exceptions and deductions are reviewed weekly so the same mistake does not repeat.

One apparel brand on our results page grew from 500 to 5,000 orders a day and moved into big-box retail, with OC3PL handling compliance with retail delivery requirements and routing guides. See what changes from 500 to 5,000 orders a day.

Not every deduction is right. Keep the evidence that lets you dispute one: the ASN as sent, carton labels, pick and pack records and carrier proof of pickup. OC3PL photographs every SKU at receiving, which also helps when a discrepancy starts with your supplier.

When a deduction does land, ask your account manager to trace the order. Your account manager works on site at our Anaheim fulfillment center, in the same building as your inventory. When something is urgent you call and talk to a person who can walk to the shelf and fix it. Call anytime. We are here. We got you.

Retail orders run on dates. Keep one calendar that you and your warehouse both see, with every purchase order’s start and cancel dates, the production arrival dates that feed them, and the date each ASN is due. A missed ship window is one of the easiest chargebacks to avoid, as long as somebody is watching the dates.

Plan retail orders around your own drops and promotions too. A purchase order due in the same week as a big website drop needs labor planned for both. See building an apparel launch calendar.