Black Friday is a sales rocket… and a chargeback magnet. When promo calendars compress, orders surge, and fulfillment windows shrink, even well-run suppliers see OTIF, shortage, labeling, and promo-settlement deductions pile up fast.

Open Call is buzzing—a two-day sprint (Oct. 7–8) with nearly 600 entrepreneurs, ~750 pitch meetings, and a lot of hopeful “golden ticket” selfies around Walmart’s new home office campus in Bentonville. It’s a serious platform to reach Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Walmart.com.

For many mid-market suppliers, shortages make up 40–70% of deduction volume. The fastest wins don’t come from analyzing everything—they come from triaging the few lanes, DCs, and SKUs that drive most of the pain.

Returns aren’t just refunds—they’re fees. When return ratios cross certain guardrails, many retailers assess handling, freight, and processing add-ons. That “18% surprise” doesn’t show up in your promo plan, but it absolutely hits your P&L.

December closes clean. February lands a six-figure claim. It’s not just you. Many retailers run their deepest promo and freight...

Retailers operate on week-based fiscal calendars that don’t always match your month-end close.

Black Friday is supposed to be a sales rocket. For many suppliers, it’s also a deductions magnet. Why? Because promotions multiply risk....

The big idea: if you want fewer retail deductions, faster closes, and calmer audits, you don’t start with deductions—you start by building an audit-ready finance team.

Retail chargebacks are like speaking a foreign language—only no one bothered to give you the dictionary.

You closed the books. The year looked solid. Everyone celebrated hitting margin goals. Then six months later, a notice lands on your...

Every supplier is looking for ways to manage deductions faster and more efficiently. Enter retail deduction software. These tools promise automation, visibility, and streamlined workflows. And they do deliver value—up to a point.

Here’s why deductions never really go away—and why having a proactive recovery strategy matters.

At first glance, that structure makes sense. After all, every retailer plays by different rules. But here’s the problem: those silos create blind spots at the top. And in the world of retail deduction recovery, blind spots get expensive.

On paper, deduction recovery software looks like a quick fix. Plug it in, and watch it chase claims automatically. But here’s the catch: cheap tools can actually cost you more in the long run.

Let’s be real: peak season is chaos. Trucks run late, warehouses overflow, and every second counts. That’s exactly when shortage deductions—claims that your shipment didn’t arrive in full—start stacking up.

Imagine this: a shopper buys a blender, uses it twice, then decides it doesn’t match their kitchen aesthetic. Back it goes. But instead of chalking it up as a return, the retailer marks it as “defective.”

Imagine this: You’re a supplier of countertop kitchen appliances sold in Walmart stores nationwide. One of your hottest items—a digital air fryer with dual cooking zones—has been a top performer in the housewares aisle. Reviews are solid. Sell-through is strong. And then... a deduction notice hits your inbox—excessive defectives.

Most brands assume deductions come from poor performance. But many stem from inadequate documentation or miscommunication between departments—or between suppliers and retailers.

Some losses hit you like a freight train. Others sneak in like a slow leak. When it comes to excessive defectives , the danger is in the...

Fictional Scenario: Granite Peak Foods  waited until year-end to review their deductions. By then, half of their disputes were past the...