Returns and refunds

When a customer wants to send something back: where the request lands, approving or rejecting it, and what you still have to do yourself.

There are two different ways goods come back, and they behave very differently. Read both before you use either.

A return REQUEST — the customer asks from your website. It lands in a list for you to accept or refuse. It is a message, not an action.
A counter return — you take the goods back in your hand and record it on the order. This one really does put the stock back.

How the customer asks#

On your website the customer opens their order's tracking page and presses Request return / refund. A box opens asking why. They type a reason and press Submit request. That is all they can do — nothing is decided on their side.

One order can have only one open request at a time. If the customer says they asked twice, they did not — the second attempt was refused with a message. And a cancelled order shows no request button at all.

Where the requests land#

SidebarOrdersReturn & Refund

The screen is headed Return & Refund. Each row is one request: ID, Order Number, Amount, Order Date, Mail (the customer's email), Reason (what they typed), Status, and the date they asked.

Pending (amber) — waiting for your decision.
Approved (green) — you accepted it.
Rejected (red) — you refused it.

Use the Status dropdown on the right to show only what is waiting, and the search box to find a request by the customer's email.

Approving or rejecting#

Read the Reason column first. If it is short, open the order (its number is in Order Number) and look at what was bought.
On a pending row you get two small buttons on the right: a green tick and a red cross.
Press the green tick to approve. A message says Return approved and the row turns green.
Press the red cross to reject. A message says Return rejected and the row turns red.

What approving actually does — and what it does not

Approving does exactly two things: it marks the request Approved, and it changes that order's stage to Refund, so the customer sees Refund when they track it. That is all.

Approving does NOT send the customer any money, and it does NOT put the goods back into your stock. Both of those you do yourself: pay the customer through your bank or by hand, and correct the product's stock once the goods are physically back with you.

Approving also does not email the customer by itself. If you want to tell them, open the order and set its status to Refund with the Update button — that one does send a "Your refund has been processed" message.

A sensible order of work: talk to the customer → approve the request → wait for the goods to arrive → put the stock back by hand → send the money → mark the order Refund so they get the email.

The bin icon on a row only removes the request from this history. It changes nothing on the order and gives nobody their money back. Use it for rubbish requests, not as a way of refusing one — for that, use the red cross.

Taking goods back in your hand (counter return)#

When the goods are physically in front of you — someone walked in with them, or the parcel came back — use the Counter return block on the order itself. This one is real: it puts stock back and records the money handed over.

Open the order and scroll down to Counter return.
Each product has a small number box. Type how many of it are coming back. The box will not let you type more than are left.
Type why in the Reason box (optional but worth doing — wrong size, damaged).
Press Return items. A question appears: "Return these items? This puts the stock back and refunds the money." Read the list it shows you.
Press Return to confirm. The items appear under Already returned with the amount and the date.

Order DetailsCounter returnReturn items

A counter return cannot be undone. The stock goes back on the shelf the moment you confirm, and the money is written up as handed back. Count the goods in front of you BEFORE you press Return.

The same product cannot come back twice — the screen shows Sold and already returned for each one, and refuses more than is left. When everything on the order has come back, the order's stage becomes Refund on its own and a Fully returned badge appears.

This block works on website orders too, not only counter sales. If you cannot see it, it is your role — a Super Admin, an Admin and a manager can take goods back; a cashier can ring a sale up but not reverse one.

When the same product was sold twice on one bill at two different prices, the return is priced from the cheaper line first. The shop is never made to refund more than it must on a guess — if the customer brought back the dearer one, sort it out with the bill in front of you.