- Short answer
- In Shopify sales reports, sales reversals are all negative order adjustments, not only returns, cutting net sales on the day processed.
- Column boundary
- In the Total sales by order finance report, the Sales reversals column leaves out refunded shipping charges and their taxes.
- Reversed quantity
- Shopify's Sales reports page counts items removed for any reason; the Analytics fields reference counts items returned.
- Old Returns metrics
- Set to display until May 1, 2026, then to be removed; build reports and ShopifyQL queries on the reversal names.
What counts as a sales reversal?
Shopify's Sales reports page defines sales reversals as all order adjustments that result in a negative monetary value, not only returned products. The metric used to be called Returns: it still captures the same adjustments, and the new name separates physical returns from order changes where nothing comes back.
One boundary: in the Total sales by order finance report, refunded shipping charges and their taxes don't display in the Sales reversals column; they show as negative values in the Shipping and Taxes columns.
Which column replaced Returns, and which counts physical returns?
| Metric | Formerly | What it counts |
|---|---|---|
| Sales reversals | Returns | Value of every negative order adjustment |
| Reversed quantity | Quantity returned | Line items removed for any reason, including refunds, returns, cancellations, edits (Sales reports page) |
| Returned quantity | New metric (physical returns) | Units physically returned |
Source: Shopify Help Center, read October 23, 2026.
Net returns is now Net sales reversals; Gross returns and Total returns follow that pattern, while Shipping returned, Discounts returned and Taxes returned became Shipping reversals, Discount reversals and Tax reversals.
Shopify's pages disagree on Reversed quantity: the Sales reports page counts items removed for any reason; the Analytics fields reference counts items returned. For units that physically came back, use Returned quantity.
Shopify set the deprecated return metrics to display beside the new ones until May 1, 2026. That date has passed, yet the Sales reports page, read on October 23, 2026, still says they “will be removed”. Build on the new names either way: in ShopifyQL, the latest schema marks returns deprecated, and Shopify's developer changelog says to update queries to sales_reversals and reversed_quantity.
How do sales reversals change net sales and total sales?
Net sales = gross sales − discounts − sales reversals; total sales add taxes, duties, shipping charges and fees. In your sales reports, a reversal shows as a negative value on the day it was processed, not the order date.
Total sales in finance reports and on Home include sales reversals, so the total can display a negative value. Finance reports also include a Sales reversals by order report.
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