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  3. Point of Sale (POS)

How Do I Process a Point of Sale Return?

IN BRIEF
Point of Sale (POS) returns allow staff to reverse item purchases, refund associated payments, and restock inventory as needed. This article explains required permissions, how to locate POS purchases, and how to process full or partial returns. It also covers refund options, how returns affect ledgers and inventory, and what appears in reports.

Overview

Point of Sale returns allow staff to reverse one or more items from a previous POS purchase. When processing a return, the System can automatically restock inventory, unapply or refund payments, and modify customer ledgers to reflect the adjusted charge totals.

Staff must have the correct permissions to process POS returns, and returns can be initiated from the ledger or directly from the POINT OF SALE>PURCHASES area.

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Accessing the Feature

Required Staff Permissions

To process a POS return (including issuing refunds), staff need at minimum:

  • Application Access:
    • iClassPro – Full
  • Page Access:
    • Point of Sale Page – Full
  • Task Access:
    • Point of Sale – Full
    • Point of Sale Purchases – Full
    • Return Point of Sale Purchases – Full

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Reviewing POS Charges in Ledgers

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  • After a POS purchase (in the POS Kiosk or Customer Portal), charges and any payments appear on the family ledger.
  • If purchase was completed using Guest Checkout, it will appear under the Point of Sale Family.
  • A single purchase with multiple products may create several individual charges, but typically one payment applies to the total.
  • POS-generated charges cannot be fully edited. Instead of a pencil/edit icon, charges display a POS icon.
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  • Selecting the POS icon opens POINT OF SALE>PURCHASES pre-filtered to the purchase's charge ID.

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Accessing Purchase Details Directly

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  1. Open the User Menu.
  2. Select Point of Sale.
  3. Choose Purchases from the left navigation.
  4. Search by:
    • Family name
    • Approximate purchase date
    • Location
    • Fulfillment status
    • Source (Customer Portal or POS)
  5. Selecting a purchase expands its details and displays available actions.
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Step-by-Step Instructions

How to Process a Return

To process a return for one or more of the items listed in the purchase record, you will begin by selecting the return button, located next to the order ID.
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This will open the return window, similar to the image below. This window consists of:

  • A list of the products purchased, including
    • the name of the item
    • the quantity sold
    • the price per item
    • a subtotal (which accounts for price per item, multiplied by the quantity sold)
    • any discounts applied
    • taxes assessed
    • a total per item billed
  • Details about payment(s) applied, including
    • the payment method
    • the payment date
    • any code/id information
    • the amount of the payment applied
    • available methods for refunding (or retaining) each amount
  • Options to select the overall Return Type 
    NOTE: If you choose a return type at the bottom of the window, it will override the refund method chosen individually next to the specific payments in the section above.

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Continue reading for detailed information about how to use this window for different types of returns and refund options.

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Processing a Full Return for a Purchase

By default, all items in the window are selected to be returned. Leave the items selected to include all of them in the return process.
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If no payments are associated with the charge(s), you will not be prompted to select a refund method to issue the return. If one or more payments are present, continue to the Refund Options section of this article.

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Processing a Partial Return for a Purchase

If instead of processing a full return, you only need to return one or more items from this sale, you will de-select the items that the customer will keep from the original purchase.

If the customer was sold multiple of a single item, you can also adjust the quantity column to reflect the number of items being returned.

For this example, my staff accidentally added two sodas to the cart instead of one and we did not catch the mistake until after the sale was completed. The customer will be keeping the shirt, chalk & grips, and one soda - but I need to return the funds for one of the two sodas and add it back to my inventory.

To do this, I will de-select the shirt and grips, then reduce the number/quantity of sodas to 1.mceclip11.png

You will notice that this has adjusted the total of my return amount at the top and next to each item to only reflect the price and tax of the item being returned.

If no payments are associated with the charge(s), you will not be prompted to select a refund method to issue the return. If one or more payments are present, continue to the Refund Options section of this article.

Important Note: When returning a POS purchase, the Amount displayed for each payment reflects only the amount still eligible for refund at the time of the return:

  • If a payment was fully refunded earlier, the amount is $0 and payment method info is hidden.
  • If a payment was fully voided, the amount is $0 and payment info is hidden.
  • If a payment was partially refunded earlier, the amount shown reflects the remaining refundable amount.

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Refund Options

Once you have made any adjustments needed for the items being returned, it is time to select how any payments associated with the charge(s) will be handled.

The general options available for processing refunds are covered in the linked sections of the article below.

In addition to choosing from the refund options outlined in those sections, the following special scenarios may be encountered when attempting a return with a refund:

  • if the staff is making a partial return and refund and all payments are settled, then they will be given options to choose which payment to refund.
  • if the staff is making a return/refund and a payment associated with the transaction is not yet settled, then the payment will simply be unapplied from the charge(s) and left as an account credit. Staff members will either need to manually void the full payment, or wait for it to settle to issue a partial refund.
  • if the original payment method was eCheck and the gateway does not support refunding eCheck payments, the following message appears: "Due to gateway restrictions, eCheck Payments can only be refunded as cash or check." In this case, staff will be required to refund the entire original transaction amount using an alternative payment method.

After selecting the appropriate refund options, you will select Issue Refund to initiate the return action. A prompt will appear asking if you are sure you would like to proceed. Choosing "No Thanks" will exit the process and return to the purchases screen. Choosing "Yes" will process the return.

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Refund Each Payment to its Original Payment Method

By default, this window will have the Original Payment Process option selected at the bottom of the window under the Return Type.

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This means that the amount being refunded for each applied payment method will be expected to return to the customer using the same method that each payment was received in. For example, if the payment method was cash, it would be expected that your staff is refunding the customer with cash.

Ultimately, the method being used for the refund is reflected next to each payment method/amount.

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Return All as a Single Return Type (Cash, Check)

Also under Select a Return Type, you will find alternative refund methods which can be mass applied to all of the payment methods listed above. Typically, these will include Cash, Check and Account Credit. Choosing one of these options will automatically set each payment method to that option so that it is no longer editable and remove the other choices. 

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NOTE: If you change your mind, you can re-set the Return Type option to "Original payment process" and this will make the refund method choices re-appear for each payment listed. Re-select any changes to the individual refund methods that needed to be adjusted before issuing the return.

Ultimately, the method being used for the refund is reflected next to each payment method/amount.

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Select a Specific Refund Method per Payment Method

If you wish to make changes to one or more of the refund methods for the payments listed, you can simply adjust the refund method selected next to each line. For example, in the image below the payment originally given to the business in cash has been altered to be refunded for $2.17 via a physical check given to the customer by the business.
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Ultimately, the method being used for the refund is reflected next to each payment method/amount.

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No Refund

If you do not wish to return any funds to the customer, but rather leave those funds on the family's ledger for use toward a future charge, you can choose Account Credit as the Refund Method next to the individual payment methods. Effectively, this will un-apply the payment from the returned items and leave that amount available on the customer's ledger.
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NOTE: Selecting Account Credit as the return type from the options at the bottom of the window will override each payment method to use this option, regardless of previous selections. If you select this option by accident, you can reset the individual line items by choosing "original payment process". Re-select any changes to the individual refund methods that needed to be adjusted before issuing the return.

Ultimately, the method being used for the refund is reflected next to each payment method/amount.

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What Happens to Inventory During Returns?

During the return process, the returned items are automatically re-added to your inventory counts. This makes the item immediately available for re-sale. You will find a record of this by navigating to Point of Sale>Inventory and then clicking on the inventory log icon next to the returned item. There, you will find the entry for the returned inventory count listed with the return date.

This means that if the item was returned as damaged or otherwise unable to be re-sold, you will need to adjust inventory manually in this area to remove the returned item from the available inventory.

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Reviewing Purchases with an Associated Return

Once a return has been processed for a Point of Sale purchase, this information is reflected in the purchase record as an adjustment, shown below.
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How are Returns Reflected in Customer Ledgers?

Once a return occurs, the ledger is automatically updated.

The charges containing the returned items will each have an adjustment entry added so that the original charge record remains intact. This will reduce the total of each modified charge.
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For charges where payment(s) had been applied and was refunded during the return process, a new refund entry will appear on the ledger.

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This refund is also reflected as an adjustment on the original payment record to account for where those funds ended up:
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For charges where payment had been applied, but staff chose not to process a refund and to leave the amount as account credit instead - the original payment entry will now reflect the unapplied credit amount.

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How are Returns Reflected in Reports?

Reporting for Returned Inventory

Returned inventory is accounted for in the reports below. Follow the link to learn more about each report.

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Reporting for Refunds

Refunds associated with Point of Sale returns will be reflected in the reports listed below. Follow the link to learn more about each report.

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Troubleshooting & FAQs

  • Why can I not refund an eCheck payment?
    • Some gateways do not support eCheck refunds. Staff must issue the refund using cash or check.
  • Why is the Amount field showing $0?
    • The payment may already be fully refunded or voided, making no additional amount refundable.
  • Why does my return show as account credit instead of refunding?
    • At least one payment may still be unsettled. The payment is un-applied and left as credit until settlement.
  • Why did all refund methods change when selecting “Return Type”?
    • Choosing a global Return Type overrides individual payment method selections.

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Related Articles

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Need more assistance?

Customer support is available at 1-877-554-6776 Mon - Fri, 9 am to 9 pm (CT) and Sat, 9 am to 6 pm (CT).