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Returns Flow

How Lead Distro AI buyer returns work. Submit returns from the Client Portal, accept/reject from your dashboard, auto-accept thresholds, return rate tracking, and FAQs.

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What Are Lead Returns?

A return is a buyer's request to reverse a delivered lead — they're saying the lead was bad-quality, off-vertical, duplicate, or otherwise not what they paid for. If you accept the return, the lead's revenue is reversed in your P&L and the buyer is refunded (via wallet credit or invoice adjustment).

How Returns Flow Through the System

  • Buyer submits return from the Client Portal with a reason — bad contact info, wrong vertical, duplicate, TCPA risk, etc.
  • Return appears in your dashboard — pending review.
  • You decide: accept (revenue reversed), reject (no change, return denied), or open a thread to negotiate.
  • If accepted: the lead's status flips to RETURNED, revenue is deducted from accrued spend (Net Terms) or refunded to wallet (prepaid), and your P&L reports update.

Return Reasons

ReasonMeaning
Bad contact infoPhone or email doesn't reach a real person
Wrong verticalLead is outside the campaign's stated vertical (e.g., a slip-and-fall lead in an MVA campaign)
DuplicateBuyer already has this person in their CRM from a previous source
TCPA riskLead flagged for TCPA exposure (use [Blacklist Alliance](/docs/integration-blacklist-alliance) to prevent)
Out of service areaLead's state or zip doesn't match the buyer's coverage (should have been filtered)
OtherFree-text reason — buyer explains in their own words

Auto-Accept Thresholds

Configure auto-accept rules per buyer to reduce manual review. Common pattern: automatically accept returns submitted within 24 hours of delivery, leaving older returns for manual review. Strong return policy (always accept) signals confidence in lead quality and reduces buyer-side friction; tight return policy (manual review every time) protects revenue from abuse.

Return Rate Tracking

Each buyer's return rate (RETURNED / ACCEPTED) is a key quality metric in Reports. High return rate signals either lead-quality issues (your suppliers sending bad leads) or buyer-side intake problems (the buyer is rejecting good leads to lower their effective cost). Compare return rates across buyers and across suppliers to localize the issue.

Track return rate per supplier in Insights Drill-Down. A spiking return rate from one supplier means their lead quality dropped — investigate before the issue compounds across multiple buyers. A spiking return rate from one buyer (across multiple suppliers) means the buyer's intake standards changed — talk to them.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do buyers submit returns in Lead Distro AI?
From the Client Portal — open the lead, click Submit Return, pick a reason and (optionally) add a note. The return appears in your dashboard as 'pending review' for accept/reject. Auto-accept rules can skip the review step for fast-cycle returns.
What's a healthy return rate?
Industry typical: 3-8% depending on vertical. Below 3% suggests buyers might be too conservative (paying for marginal leads they could've returned); above 10% suggests quality or intake issues. The right number is vertical-specific — competitive verticals (legal, mortgage) tolerate higher returns than long-cycle B2B leads.
Can I configure auto-accept on returns?
Yes — set a threshold (e.g., 'auto-accept returns submitted within 24 hours of delivery'). Useful pattern: auto-accept fast returns to reduce review friction, manually review slower returns where the buyer had time to convert the lead and may be reversing only because conversion failed. Configure per-buyer.
What happens to revenue and cost when a return is accepted?
Revenue: deducted from the buyer's accrued spend (Net Terms) or refunded to the wallet (prepaid). Cost: depends on supplier cost mode. For Fixed cost, cost stays — you still paid the supplier even though revenue reversed. For Revenue Share, cost reverses proportionally (75% of $0 = $0). For Variable Meta, cost stays (Meta spend already happened). The lead's profit becomes negative when revenue reverses but cost doesn't.
Can I dispute a return submission?
Yes — reject the return instead of accepting. The buyer sees their return was rejected with your reason. For high-stakes disputes, open a thread inside the return detail page to negotiate (e.g., partial credit, replacement lead). For chronic disputes with one buyer, this is a relationship issue — the integration provides the data, you handle the conversation.
Do returned leads count in P&L?
Returned leads (RETURNED status) have their revenue reversed in Profit calculations. P&L by default shows net revenue (post-returns). Toggle to gross revenue (pre-returns) in Reports if needed for sales conversations. Cost stays attributed to the lead regardless of return — that's a sunk cost in most supplier cost modes.

Related Articles

Buyer Basics
Manage buyers in Lead Distro AI: delivery methods, lead caps, pricing, state and field filters, white-label client portals, and real-time acceptance rules for every buyer in your lead operation.
Portal Overview
Give your buyers a white-labeled client portal in Lead Distro AI. Branded UI, self-service cap management, lead review, real-time reporting, and returns flow for every client.
Dashboard & Reports
Track P&L, lead volume, buyer performance, source margin, and campaign profitability with Lead Distro AI's reporting engine. Real-time drill-down analytics by date, buyer, source, and vertical.

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