What should a pharmacy confirm before returning stock to a supplier?

Who this is for

This guide is for owners and pharmacists at independent pharmacies in Taiwan, in the situation where a lot is approaching a supplier's return threshold and you need to know what to confirm and prepare. It is not legal advice and says nothing about patient medication.

What to confirm before filing a return

1. 01

   The return window and deadline

   What does this supplier actually accept? The common approach is a threshold on remaining shelf life, but how many days it is, and which date it counts from, differ by supplier. Confirm it with each one and write it down.

2. 02

   Which products and conditions qualify

   Must the packaging be intact and unopened? Are cold-chain items, controlled drugs, or discounted purchases excluded? Conditions can differ between products from the same supplier.

3. 03

   The paperwork and data required

   Most returns need matching receiving documents: invoice or delivery note, lot number, expiry, and quantity. Keeping lot-level receiving records as a habit is what saves you from digging through boxes on the day.

4. 04

   How the money comes back

   Cash refund, credit against the next order, or a replacement? How long until it lands? This determines what the return is actually worth and therefore whether it is worth filing.

5. 05

   Who to contact and how

   Your sales rep, a support line, or a ticket in their system? Does it need to be flagged in advance? Keep every supplier's contact route and process in one place so someone else can file it too.

6. 06

   Tracking after you file

   Filing a return is not the same as completing one. Track receipt confirmation and the credit, and record whether each lot was actually accepted and for how much. That record is the only way to know whether expiry management saved real money.

The real rules vary by supplier, product, and contract. This guide gives no fixed number of days and no universal threshold. Rely on each supplier's written answer and your contract.

Where uYao fits

uYao records lot numbers and expiry dates automatically from receiving scans, creates work in Store OS with a Web Push reminder as a return threshold approaches, and assembles the lot data the paperwork needs so the pharmacist can decide. Products whose return rules are not confirmed are labelled “to confirm” rather than given an invented number of days. This is a prototype in pilot recruitment; details are onthe product evidence page. For the tiered expiry review that feeds this, seethe expiry management guide.

Limits and what this guide will not do

• This guide has not been reviewed by a licensed pharmacist and is not pharmaceutical or legal advice.
• It does not represent any supplier's official return policy. Confirm with the supplier before relying on it.
• It gives no advice about patients returning, exchanging, or using medicine.

Sources

• Each supplier's contract, shipping documents, and written answers. These differ by supplier and no publicly citable unified rule exists.
• Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, Article 21 (a drug past its expiry or storage period is classed as an inferior drug), background context, Traditional Chinese only:全國法規資料庫