What Is RTO in Meesho and How to Reduce It

What RTO means in Meesho

RTO means Return to Origin. An order becomes RTO when you have dispatched it but the courier could not deliver it, so the parcel travels back to your pickup address. The customer never received the product.

RTO is sometimes called a courier return, because the courier brings the parcel back without the buyer ever opening it.

RTO and customer return: the difference

The difference is delivery. An RTO parcel was never delivered; a customer return was delivered and then sent back by the buyer.

Why Meesho orders come back as RTO

Orders come back as RTO when the buyer does not take the parcel or the courier cannot reach the buyer.

• The buyer refuses the parcel at the door. This is more common with cash on delivery, because nothing was paid in advance.
• The buyer is not at home or does not answer the courier’s calls, and the delivery attempts run out.
• The address is incomplete or wrong.
• The parcel took too long and the buyer no longer wants it, or has bought it elsewhere.
• The order was placed by mistake or on impulse.

What an RTO costs you

An RTO order costs you the sale and everything you spent to ship it. There is no payment for an order that was not delivered.

You also lose the packaging material, the label and the packing time. Your stock is locked while the parcel travels out and back, and it can come back damaged. If Meesho deducts a charge for an RTO, it is listed in your payment file. Check the file instead of assuming a figure, because marketplace charges change.

How to find your RTO rate and worst SKUs

You find your RTO rate by counting RTO orders against the orders you dispatched, and you find the cause by splitting that count by SKU and by state. Doing this by hand in the order report is slow.

1. Download the order report, the payment files and the returns files from the Meesho Supplier Panel.
2. Upload them to the free Meesho seller dashboard. It does not ask for your Meesho password.
3. On Overview, read how many orders are courier returns (RTO) and how many are customer returns, with the rate for each.
4. Open Returns & RTO to see customer returns and RTO by SKU, with the charges and the return reasons Meesho gives.
5. Note the few SKUs with the most RTO. They are where your work will pay back first.

How to reduce RTO on Meesho

You reduce RTO by working on the things you control: dispatch speed, the listing, and which products you keep selling. Meesho and the courier handle the delivery and the contact with the buyer.

• Dispatch on the same or the next day. A parcel that arrives sooner is refused less often.
• Keep stock correct, so that you never accept an order you cannot ship quickly.
• Make the listing honest: real photos, the correct size chart, the real colour and material. A buyer who doubts the product refuses it at the door.
• Look at RTO SKU by SKU. Fix or stop the products that come back the most instead of treating the whole catalogue alike.
• Look at orders by customer state in the dashboard, to see whether RTO gathers in some areas.
• Pack so the parcel looks neat and intact on arrival.
• Print labels clearly at 100% scale so the barcode scans at every hub. The Meesho label crop tool keeps the label sharp on 4x6.

What to do when an RTO parcel comes back

When an RTO parcel comes back, check it before it goes back on the shelf.

• Match the parcel with the order and check that it is your product, complete and undamaged.
• Record a video while opening returned parcels, so you have proof if something is wrong.
• If the product is wrong, missing or damaged, raise a claim in the Supplier Panel within the time Meesho allows.
• Put good stock back into inventory and update your count.

Frequently asked questions