Sometimes a bill was right and you still want to give some of it back: a product comes back the next day, a treatment didn't take, a goodwill gesture after a complaint. Refund from this sale does exactly that. The sale stays as it was recorded, and the refund is its own record: what went back, where it went, and why.
Three words, three different things:
- Undo says the sale never happened. Everything comes back: stock, gift card money, reward progress, the code's use.
- Edit says the bill was wrong. The lines change, and the receipt keeps its number, marked updated.
- Refund says the bill was right and some of it is going back.
Refund by item or by amount
Open the sale from the Payments page, the customer's profile, or the booking, and choose Refund from this sale.
- By item: tick the lines going back. A line of several, two sessions or three of a product, can refund some or all of them; a returned product goes back into stock. The amount pre-fills at what was actually paid for that line after its discounts, and you can lower it. Each line keeps the discounts that came off it: a promotion on the cut never touches the shampoo, while a discount on the whole bill is shared across the lines in proportion to their prices. The line says what it was paid.
- By amount: a figure, up to what's still on the sale. A gift card or package sold on the bill is never part of that figure; it refunds by item, whole.
You can refund again and again until nothing is left. Each refund shows on the sale, on the Payments page, and on the customer's history.
Where it goes
One place per refund:
- Refund it to their card: only when a card payment on that sale can carry the amount. If the visit was paid $20 online and $50 in cash, up to $20 can go back to the card. A sale paid on two cards lists each card with what it can take back; refund each card on its own.
- I've handed it back in person: cash, card on your own machine, transfer or other. Just a record; nothing is charged.
- Keep it as credit for their next visit: saved on their profile and taken off their next bill. See Customer credit.
The customer is notified by email either way. If a receipt was sent, the updated one is attached, with the refund shown under how it was paid, marked "incl. GST" for a GST-registered business. Same number, marked updated. That's the adjustment note the tax office expects when money goes back on an invoiced sale.
What a refund doesn't undo
A promo code's use, a promotion, a loyalty reward and a package session all stay as they were. They belonged to a visit that happened. Reward progress earned on the refunded money does come off.
Once a sale has a refund, it can't be undone or edited. Refund more, or less, instead.
A deposit that was kept, or a fee
Those refund from their own payment: open it on the Payments page or the booking and choose Refund. See Refunding a payment.
In the app
In the BeNotely app, open Payments, tap the sale and press Refund: choose By item or By amount, where the money goes, and how you handed it back, then press the button with the amount on it. A kept deposit or a fee has Refund on its own row, and a deposit you promised to give back has Record return. The reason you type shows under the refund. A walk-in sale that should never have been recorded has Undo this sale in the ⋯. To correct the bill instead, press Edit this sale (an invoiced sale has Edit this invoice in the ⋯): the checkout opens with the bill as it was recorded, and Save sale keeps the same number. Once a sale has a refund, Edit is greyed out.
Reports
The Sales report counts a refund on the day it went back. By staff and By service show what came back beside what was sold, never quietly netted out.
FAQs
Can I refund a gift card or package sold on the bill? Yes, whole, and only while it hasn't been used. Tick it under By item: the full amount goes back and the card or package is cancelled with it. It goes back as money, not as credit. Once any of it has been used, it stays.
The customer paid by card but I want to give cash back. Choose "I've handed it back in person". The record says cash; the card payment stays as it was.
Can I refund more than was paid? No. The most a sale can refund is what was paid on it.