Claim deadlines: the money you lose by being late.
Weak evidence can be fixed. A wrong category can be refiled. An expired window cannot be anything. Here is what each clock is attached to, when it starts, and how to stop losing legitimate claims to the calendar.
- A missed window is the only claim failure that cannot be argued back. It is final.
- Windows start from the platform's trigger event — usually return receipt or settlement date, not the day you noticed.
- Deadlines differ by marketplace AND by claim type. Do not assume one number covers everything.
- The most-missed claims are the silent ones: wrong weights, duplicates, returns that never arrived.
- Robnu calculates the deadline per claim and files inside it. Free while we figure out pricing.
Every seller who has reconciled a quarter properly has had the same experience: finding several clearly wrong charges and discovering that all of them are now unclaimable. This guide is about making sure that stops happening.
Every claim on every marketplace has a window, and a missed window forfeits the money permanently. This guide covers what the deadlines apply to, when each clock starts, and how to make sure none of them run out — because a missed window is the one loss that cannot be argued back, however obviously you were in the right.
Anchor to the event, not the discovery
The single most expensive misunderstanding about claim windows is assuming the clock starts when you notice the problem. It does not. It starts at the event the platform counts from — typically the date a return was received, or the date a settlement was issued. A seller who reconciles monthly is routinely discovering issues whose windows opened weeks earlier and have already closed. The problem is not diligence; it is that the discovery happened at the wrong end of the clock. See the reconciliation method.
What each clock is attached to
Return-condition claims — wrong item, used, empty, tampered — start from return receipt, the shortest and most frequently missed window. Settlement disputes — wrong weight, duplicate, incorrect commission — start from the settlement date. Lost-in-transit claims start from the last tracking event or marked delivery date, and require you to notice an absence. And appeals after a rejection start from the rejection date, not the original event. See the re-appeal playbook for that last one.
Deadlines that track themselves
Tracking claim windows manually means knowing every platform’s rules for every claim type, calculating a deadline the moment each event occurs, and reviewing that register daily — exactly the kind of precise, repetitive, high-stakes work people do badly and software does perfectly. The single best habit is checking returns at the moment of receipt rather than in a weekly batch, because almost every window is triggered by an event you can observe on the day. Our claims workflow detects claimable events as they happen, calculates the correct window for that claim type on that marketplace, and files inside it with evidence attached — so nothing expires quietly in the background. See the manual tracking template if you prefer to start by hand.
The bigger picture for your catalogue
Whatever the specific status, charge or process, the underlying reality of selling on Indian marketplaces is the same. The platforms are built to move enormous volume, their interfaces speak in operational shorthand rather than plain language, and the money at stake hides in charges that arrive as silent settlement deductions requiring no approval from you. The sellers who stay profitable are not the ones who avoid every problem — that is impossible at scale — but the ones who understand what each event means, know which charges are genuinely owed, and reconcile every settlement so the wrong ones are caught and reclaimed while the claim window is still open.
That discipline is simple to describe and hard to sustain by hand, because it is precise, repetitive work layered on top of actually running the business. It is exactly the kind of task that a two-person team does inconsistently under volume and that software does reliably every cycle. Robnu exists to close that gap: it runs the daily operations these guides describe, reconciles the charges they represent against what you actually shipped and sold, and files the claims you are entitled to — so the vocabulary becomes something handled rather than something you have to master and police yourself. You sell; Robnu runs the rest, and makes sure every rupee is paid correctly.
Sources & further reading
Charges, policies and processes vary by marketplace and category and change over time. The details here are drawn from official documentation and reputable industry sources; always confirm current specifics against your own seller panel and settlement reports:
Anchor to the event, not the discovery
The single most expensive misunderstanding about claim windows is assuming the clock starts when you notice the problem. It does not. It starts at the event the platform counts from — typically the date a return was received, or the date a settlement was issued.
That distinction matters enormously in practice. A seller who reconciles monthly is routinely discovering issues whose windows opened weeks earlier and have already closed. The problem is not diligence; it is that the discovery happened at the wrong end of the clock.
What each deadline is attached to
Exact durations vary by marketplace and change over time — always confirm the current window in your seller panel. What does not change is the trigger event each one hangs off.
Return condition claims
Wrong item, used item, empty box, tampered parcel. Starts from return receipt. The shortest and most frequently missed window, because it requires inspecting on the day.
Settlement disputes
Wrong weight, duplicate charge, incorrect commission. Starts from the settlement date. Missed by anyone reconciling less often than the cycle.
Lost in transit
A return billed but never delivered back. Starts from the last tracking event or the marked delivery date. Requires you to notice an absence, which is hard.
Appeals after rejection
Starts from the rejection date, not the original event. See the re-appeal playbook.
Deadlines that track themselves
Tracking claim windows manually means knowing every platform’s rules for every claim type, calculating a deadline at the moment each event occurs, and reviewing that register daily. It is exactly the kind of precise, repetitive, high-stakes work that people do badly and software does perfectly.
Robnu is an agentic OMS. It detects claimable events as they happen, calculates the correct window for that claim type on that marketplace, and files inside it with the evidence attached — a rare approval click while fully-autonomous filing rolls out. Nothing expires quietly in the background.
You sell. Robnu runs the rest — and makes sure every rupee is paid correctly.
Claim deadlines, answered
Because a missed window is the one loss that cannot be argued back. Weak evidence can be strengthened and a wrong category can be refiled, but an expired claim is final regardless of how obviously you were in the right. Deadlines convert winnable money into permanent losses more reliably than any other factor.
It varies by claim type, and getting this wrong is a common way to miss a deadline you thought you had time on. Return-related windows typically start when the return is received rather than when the order was placed or when you noticed the problem. Settlement disputes usually start from the settlement date. Always anchor to the event the platform counts from, not the day you spotted the issue.
No, and assuming they are is how multi-marketplace sellers lose money. Each platform sets its own windows for each claim type, and they differ meaningfully. If you sell on more than one marketplace you need either a per-platform reference or a system that tracks the correct deadline per claim automatically.
It is generally rejected on that basis alone, without the merits being considered. Platforms enforce windows procedurally because they have to — the alternative is unbounded liability on old orders. This is why treating claim deadlines as operational tasks rather than paperwork matters so much.
Rarely, and usually only where you can show the platform itself prevented timely filing — a portal outage, or a case where the underlying information was not available to you in time. It is worth raising in those specific circumstances, but it is not a route to rely on.
Manually, the only workable approach is a claim register: every claimable event logged the day it occurs, with its deadline calculated immediately and reviewed daily. Our claim tracking template covers the structure. Past a certain volume this stops being sustainable by hand, which is the point at which software earns its place.
The quiet ones. A wrong weight on a reverse charge, a duplicate deduction, a return marked delivered that never arrived — none of these announce themselves. Loud problems like an empty-box return get attention immediately; silent settlement errors are discovered during a monthly reconciliation, long after the window has closed.
Check returns at the moment of receipt rather than in a weekly batch. Almost every claim window is triggered by an event you can observe on the day it happens, and almost every missed window traces back to a discrepancy noticed weeks later. Same-day inspection converts most of these from lost to winnable.
Related seller guides
More on the operations, money and claims that decide whether a marketplace catalogue actually makes money.
AJIO return disputes: process, timelines and evidence
When a fashion return comes back wrong, used or short, you have a claim — but only inside a window that runs from receipt and only with evidence captured on arrival.
Meesho QC Fail on a Return: Your Claim Window and How to Use It
When a returned Meesho parcel fails quality check, the outcome and your money are decided in a short window. What QC-fail means, the evidence that holds, and the claim path that recovers a wrongly-failed return.
Myntra SPF (Seller Protection) Decoded: What It Covers and How to Claim
Myntra's Seller Protection Fund covers lost, damaged and fraudulent returns — but only with the right evidence, inside the right window. What SPF pays for, what proof you need, and why claims get rejected.
Meesho claim rejected? The re-appeal playbook
Most rejections are a missed window or weak evidence, not a judgement on the merits. The four rejection reasons and how to build an appeal that actually adds something.
Empty box return scam: evidence that wins the claim
Got an empty box back? The return-fraud patterns, the evidence stack that wins claims — unboxing video, weight proof — the claim windows, and the rupee math of every wrong return.
Flipkart SPF claims: step by step with evidence specs
Seller Protection Fund claims fail on evidence specification and missed windows far more than on merit. What SPF covers, what evidence survives review, and how to file properly.
Amazon India SAFE-T claims: when and how to file
SAFE-T reimburses seller-fulfilled losses on returns Amazon's standard policy passed to you. What qualifies, the evidence that wins, and why most of the money is simply never claimed.
Wrong return received on Meesho: the first-hour claim protocol
A different product came back? Photograph it sealed, weigh it, film the opening, match the AWB to its sub-order, and file a wrong-return claim built to survive review.