Scooter parts order and returns record

The problem it solves

Return windows close quietly. A part arrives, gets put on a shelf until the weekend, and by the time it turns out to be wrong the window has gone — and the evidence of what was claimed in the listing has gone with it, because the listing has been edited or removed.

Buying parts for a machine no catalogue covers means a proportion will be wrong. That is not a failure of anybody's diligence; it is the market. What decides whether a wrong part costs you money is entirely down to admin: whether you noticed in time, and whether you can show what you were told.

Two habits make the difference and both take a minute. Write down when the return window closes, on paper, where you will see it. And screenshot or save the listing at the moment of ordering — because a listing that claimed a dimension can be edited afterwards, and a screenshot cannot.

The third column is the one that turns this from admin into an asset: what the outcome was. Over time that becomes a record of which suppliers are worth using, which is the most valuable thing on the page.

The mistakes this sheet exists to prevent

• Leaving a part in its packaging until the weekend, by which time the window may have closed.
• Not saving the listing, so a claimed dimension cannot be shown later.
• Fitting the part before comparing it against the old one, which usually ends the right to return.
• Not recording the order number, which every returns process asks for first.
• Throwing the packaging away, which some sellers require for a return.

How to use it

1. 01Fill in a row at the moment of ordering, including when the window closes.
2. 02Screenshot or save the listing then, not later.
3. 03Open and compare the part the day it arrives, before fitting anything.
4. 04Record the outcome, so the supplier column becomes useful over time.