Where do I find my returns on OTTO?

Where OTTO puts your returns

The OTTO Partner Connect menu has no main item called „Retouren“ (Returns). The table shows where to find what. The names are as OTTO writes them, and the routes have been clicked through in the partner portal. OTTO gives deadlines, processes and the content of the documents in its Partner Helpdesk, which is where these details in this article come from.

Two more places are only described by the Helpdesk. Under „Aufträge“ → „Kundenbelege“ (Customer documents) you download all refund documents to customers as PDF and CSV. Under „Analysen“ → „Controlling“, the demand and revenue analyses show the value of your returns in euros per item.

OTTO updates the return data once a day, usually between midnight and 6 a.m.

How a return moves through OTTO

Your customer registers the return with OTTO themselves. They'll find the return label in their OTTO customer account. From registration on, the return appears under „Kundenretouren“, but not yet in the order overview.

Under „Kundenretouren“ you filter by the statuses „Angekündigt“ (Announced), „Unterwegs zu Ihnen“ (On its way to you), „Irrläufer“ (Misdirected), „Zugestellt“ (Delivered) and „Bearbeitet“ (Processed). By default OTTO only shows „Unterwegs zu Ihnen“. If you want the whole list, you have to change the filter.

Once the parcel has reached you, you have 2 working days to accept or reject the return. The 2 working days start with the working day after delivery. For freight goods, meaning goods brought by a freight carrier instead of a parcel carrier, you collect the return yourself and for free from the customer and have 7 working days from collection. When you accept or reject, you enter the condition of the goods and a reason. Only a return that has been accepted or rejected appears in the order overview in the „Retourniert“ tab.

How punctual you are is measured by OTTO under „SLA & Verstöße“. More than 85% of your delivered returns in a calendar month should be processed within 2 working days. OTTO puts it the other way round, as a limit of 15% late returns.

Three return rates on OTTO

OTTO always calculates the return rate in units, never in euros. Depending on the place, OTTO calculates it differently.

So when you compare two return rates, first check where they come from.

Two kinds of reasons

At OTTO a return has two reasons. Your customer picks one when registering, from a fixed list, for example „Produkt passte nicht“ (Item didn't fit), „Produkt entsprach nicht der Beschreibung“ (Item didn't match the description) or „Produkt war defekt, beschädigt oder funktionsunfähig“ (Item was defective, damaged or not working). You see this reason under „Kundenretouren“ and „Retourengründe“, but not in the order overview.

You enter the other one yourself when you accept or reject the return. Along with it you enter the condition of the goods, meaning how good the returned goods still are. OTTO has five levels for this, „Originalverpackt“ (Original packaging), „Wie neu“ (Like new), „Leicht gebraucht“ (Lightly used), „Stark gebraucht“ (Heavily used) and „Irrtum“ (Error).

What OTTO shows you in terms of money

What a return cost is on three kinds of documents, each with its own rhythm.

• Under „Finanzen“ → „Zahlungsbelege“, a statement arrives every week. It lists the refund to the customer, the OTTO commission given back and the payment fee given back as separate lines.
• Under „Finanzen“ → „Marktplatzgebühren“, every Wednesday there's a „Rechnungskorrektur“ (invoice correction) next to the invoice. With it OTTO gives you back the OTTO commission for accepted returns, as PDF and CSV.
• Under „Finanzen“ → „Paymentgebühren“, every week there's a separate document on the payment fee OTTO gives back for returns. OTTO writes that it comes back in full or in part, but doesn't say when which applies.

If you only give your customer a price reduction and they keep the goods, there's no Rechnungskorrektur, because OTTO keeps the OTTO commission and the payment fee in full. What the return shipping costs you isn't at OTTO at all, it's on your parcel carrier's invoice. OTTO expressly doesn't provide reports other than those named in the Helpdesk.

How to find your returns in OTTO's partner portal today

1. Open „Aufträge“ → „Auftragsübersicht“ and the „Retourniert“ tab. The filter is „Auftragsdatum“ (Order date), so by the day of the order, not of the return. That's why you look up individual orders here, and you'll find the returns of a period in step 3. Expand a position and you see whether the return was accepted by you or by OTTO. There's no export here, and you page through at most 100 rows per page.
2. Click an order number. The „Auftragshistorie“ tab shows „Retoure akzeptiert“ (Return accepted) with date and time. In the „Belege“ tab you download the refund as a single PDF.
3. Open „Analysen“ → „Logistik“ → „Logistik Details“ and the „Retourendetails“ tab. The numbers at the very top always count the last 90 days from the return's registration. Below that you choose the period yourself, such as the last 30 days. In the sub-tabs „Kundenretouren“, „Retourengründe“ and „Retourenquote“ you download one CSV file each with „Download“.
4. Open „Analysen“ → „SLA & Verstöße“ and click the „Verspätete Retourenbearbeitungsquote“ tile. The table gives the latest processing date for each return and whether you were on time.
5. Under „Finanzen“, download the Zahlungsbelege, the Rechnungskorrekturen under „Marktplatzgebühren“ and the documents under „Paymentgebühren“, week by week. They list the items per return. Then, under „Kontoauszüge“ (Account statements), use „Auszug erstellen“ (Create statement) to create a CSV file with opening and closing balance for a period of your choice, and use it to reconcile the total of the weekly documents.
6. Combine everything in a spreadsheet. You connect the rows through the order number, the position ID, meaning OTTO's number for a single item in the order, and the SKU, your own number for the item. Under „Kundenretouren“ the columns are called „Auftragsnummer“, „Auftrags-Position-ID“ and „SKU“, in the CSV of the Rechnungskorrektur „AuftragsNr“, „PositionItemId“ and „SKU“. Add the return shipping from your parcel carrier's invoice.

Each place counts a different period. The „Retourniert“ tab filters by order date, the return details count 90 days from registration, late processing counts per calendar month, and the documents come week by week. A return rate in euros, the cost of returns per item or the comparison with your ad spend is something you calculate yourself. In practice, return shipping and warehouse handling are often missing from this calculation because neither is at OTTO. Which tools take the combining off your hands is covered in What software is there for OTTO sellers?

Pulling together the returns of a garden chair on OTTO

Say you want to know how the returns of your acacia chair for 119 € look over the last 30 days, from 27 September 2026 to 26 October 2026. Your account has a target return rate of 8%, so at most 8 out of 100 units sold. All numbers are an example.

OTTO doesn't know your target return rate, so you make the comparison yourself. With 50 chairs, 8% allows exactly 4 returns. With 6 returns the chair is 2 above your target.

You get the rate from a single table. For the 714 € you go through the Zahlungsbelege of several weeks and pick out the chair's lines. For the OTTO commission and the payment fee you do the same twice more, with other documents and other cut-off dates. You can't calculate an amount in advance here. The OTTO commission depends on the rate of your commission group, and OTTO doesn't say whether the payment fee comes back in full or in part, so the amount on the document is what counts.