Cancellations & returns
Store credit applied to an order goes back to the customer on its own when the order no longer needs it: all of it when the order is cancelled (or a draft is deleted), and the part the invoice can no longer absorb when returns or edits shrink it below the credit. Each return is recorded as a Credit Issued row.
Who uses it
- Supplier staff cancel orders (full order cancelation access: Admin, Clerk by default) and record returns. They don't choose anything about the credit; it moves automatically.
- Restaurants get the credit back in their balance. They aren't sent a message about the returned credit itself.
How it works
Cancelling an order
- Choose Cancel entire order on the order.
- Pick the reasons, and the inventory step if stock left the shelf. If the customer has paid money that hasn't been refunded, a last step, Issue a Refund, appears.
- Confirm. In the same save:
- all the credit on the order (the order's own credit and any store-credit payments) goes back to the balance, with a Credit Issued record: "Store credit returned because order INV-1001 was cancelled.";
- any refund chosen on the refund step is recorded too (Store Credit by default; see Refund as store credit).
- "Order Canceled" / "The order has been successfully canceled."
The refund step only covers money paid. The credit is never part of "Issue Full Refund ($X)"; it always comes back separately, whatever refund method you pick and even if no refund is issued. The cancel dialog doesn't mention the credit.
Deleting a draft
A draft order that holds credit returns it when it's deleted, with the record "Store credit returned because order … was deleted."
Returns
When items come back (or an order's lines are edited down), Clipp checks whether the order's total has fallen below the credit applied. If it has, just that excess goes back to the customer, with a Credit Issued record: "Store credit returned because items on order INV-1001 were returned." The rest of the credit stays on the invoice, still doing its job. The order's own credit is reduced first, then store-credit payments, newest first.
Money paid is handled separately: if the customer now has paid more than the reduced invoice, that excess shows as Available Refund Amount on the invoice. See Known limitations.
Calculations
Credit released = credit applied − the order's total after the return, never below $0.00.
INV-1001: items $100.00, credit $60.00, cash paid $40.00.
| Items returned | Items left | Credit released | Credit left on invoice | Balance due | Available Refund Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0.00 | $100.00 | $0.00 | $60.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| $30.00 | $70.00 | $0.00 | $60.00 | $0.00 | $30.00 (cash) |
| $50.00 | $50.00 | $10.00 | $50.00 | $0.00 | $40.00 (cash) |
| $100.00 | $0.00 | $60.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $40.00 (cash) |
Clipp only hands back credit the invoice can't use. So on a partial return the credit keeps covering the smaller invoice, and it's the cash that becomes refundable. The customer gets the same total back either way.
Only credit is released. Other discounts left over (promotions, one-time discounts) aren't the customer's money and aren't returned.
Knock-on effects
Cancel INV-1001 ($82.00: $60.00 store credit + $22.00 cash), full refund as store credit. Joe's Diner held $5.00.
| What | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Order status / payment status | Delivered / Paid | Canceled |
| Store credit on the order | $60.00 | $0.00 |
| Store credit balance | $5.00 | $87.00 ($5.00 + $60.00 returned + $22.00 refund) |
| Records | Payment Cash $22.00 | + Credit Issued $60.00, "Store credit returned because order INV-1001 was cancelled.", + Credit Issued $22.00 (the refund), recorded by you |
| Bookkeeping | Order Payment Received +$22.00 | Unchanged. Nothing is booked for either credit |
| Stock | — | As for any cancellation (restocked per the inventory step) |
| Messages | — | Refund email, SMS and push for $22.00 in "Store Credits". Nothing about the $60.00 |
With a cash refund instead, the balance ends at $65.00 and bookkeeping gets "Payment Reversal – Order Cancelled", Sales Return, −$22.00.
Return $50.00 of items on INV-1001 (items $100.00, credit $60.00, cash $40.00).
| What | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Credit on the invoice | $60.00 | $50.00 |
| Store credit balance | $0.00 | $10.00 |
| Records | — | + Credit Issued $10.00, "Store credit returned because items on order INV-1001 were returned." |
| Balance due | $0.00 | $0.00. The invoice shows Available Refund Amount $40.00 |
| Bookkeeping | — | Nothing for the credit |
Where it shows up
Invoice Records (these rows stay visible, read-only, on a cancelled invoice) · customer Payment History · Store Credits box.
Permissions
Cancelling needs full order cancelation access. The credit itself moves with no extra permission.
Decisions
- Cancelling always returns the order's credit, separately from any refund. The credit was never the refund's to give; suppliers read "Issue Full Refund ($22.00)" as the $60.00 being lost. (#2368)
- The credit return and the refund are part of the cancellation's save. Before, a failed refund left the order cancelled with no credit returned. (#2321, IMM-027)
- Returns hand back only credit the invoice can't absorb, recorded like every other credit. Before, that credit silently vanished. (#2306)
Known limitations
- There is no Undo Cancel. A cancelled order stays cancelled and its credit stays returned.
- The cancel dialog doesn't say that the order's credit will be returned automatically. The refund step shows only the money.
- No message tells the restaurant that credit came back.
- A return leaves cash refundable until the supplier refunds it. The invoice shows Available Refund Amount; on a Paid invoice the returns success dialog offers Issue a Refund, which opens Issue Refund (see Refunds). A part-paid invoice is offered View Invoice only.
- A return releases only the excess; a supplier expecting all the credit back will see the cash become refundable instead.
FAQ
The customer returned half the order. Why didn't their store credit come back? Because the smaller invoice can still use the credit. The cash they paid becomes refundable instead. See the table.
I cancelled an order paid with $60 credit and $22 cash, but the refund only says $22. The $60 credit comes back automatically. The refund step covers money only.
I cancelled by mistake. Can I undo it? No. Create the order again and re-apply the credit.