Was the unit that came back the unit you sent?
Return fraud is not usually dramatic. It is when a customer swaps an older model for a new one. Or returns a broken unit after ordering a working one. Or returns a unit that was never yours at all. Without a record of what serial number you shipped, you have no way to tell.
One search, before the refund goes out.
Your agent types in the serial number from the returned unit. If you shipped it, the order comes back, with the date, the customer and the rest of that shipment. If you did not, nothing comes back. Either way you know before you refund.
The unit arrives
Your agent opens the box and reads the serial number off the label or the housing.
They search it
They type it into one box and get one answer. Nobody opens a spreadsheet or calls the warehouse.
They decide
They approve the refund knowing you shipped that unit. Or they decline it, and can say why.
Tell them which unit you are expecting back.
You do not have to wait for the box. When a customer asks for a refund, search their order number and you see the serial number you shipped them. It has been on the order since the day it left. Put it on the return authorization.
Someone planning to send back a different unit now knows you have the serial number on file and will check it. Most of them send back the right one instead.
Catching a swap at the box is the worse outcome anyway. You are holding a unit you never sold, the customer still wants their money, and the two of you have to work out what happens to both. Stopping it before it ships is cheaper than winning the argument after.
It adds a few seconds to your packing process.
Anything that adds a minute to packing gets skipped by week three. Most people mount the scanner on a stand at the packing station, pointed at one spot, the way a grocery checkout works. Your packer waves the packing slip under it, then each unit as it goes in the box. Nobody picks anything up.
Nobody types anything
Someone typing serial numbers into a spreadsheet gets a digit wrong eventually, and one wrong digit loses you the argument. A scanner does not mistype.
It writes back to your system
We also write the serial number into the order's notes in ShipStation or Shopify, so your agent finds it where they already work.
Start recording on the next shipment.
Connect your store, scan one order, and look at the record. About five minutes to set up, and nothing to pay for thirty days.