Overpayments as store credit
When a customer hands over more than they owe, Clipp never leaves the extra sitting on the invoice. On a single invoice, a payment keyed in by hand pays up to the balance due and anything more is refused. On the Invoices page's multi-invoice Add Payment, any extra becomes store credit automatically.
Who uses it
- Supplier staff with full invoice access, recording cash, check, Other, Other ACH or Other Credit Card payments.
- Restaurants end up with the extra in their store credit balance.
How it works
One invoice (Manage Payments → Add Payment)
- Choose a hand-recorded method (Cash, Check, Other, Other ACH or Other Credit Card) and type more than the balance due.
- Click Add Payment. The server refuses it and a Payment Failed toast shows the reason, for example: "That is $20.00 more than the $100.00 due on invoice INV-1001. Issue the extra as store credit, or lower the amount."
- Lower the amount to the balance due. The invoice gets the payment and is Paid.
The form has no Issue the extra as store credit option, so a single-invoice overpayment can't be kept as credit from here. To record it as credit, use the multi-invoice drawer below with that one invoice selected.
If the invoice owes nothing, the toast reads: "Nothing is due on invoice INV-1001, so there is nothing for this payment to settle." Clipp won't turn a payment on a settled invoice into credit.
Several invoices (Invoices → Add Payment)
- Pick the customer and the invoices, and enter more than their total.
- The confirm step warns: "You're about to overpay by $30.00. The extra amount will be added to Store Credit once confirmed."
- After Confirm Payment: "Payment added successfully!" and "$30.00 overpaid has been added to Store Credit and can be applied to future invoices."
No checkbox is needed here. The extra becomes a Credit Issued record that belongs to no single invoice: Invoice ID "—", note "Overpayment of $30.00 on a $100.00 payment across 2 invoices, issued as store credit. Paid by CASH." (plus "Reference: …" when you gave one). Store Credit itself can't overpay: it's capped at the invoices' total (see Pay with store credit). Only the hand-recorded methods can be used across several invoices.
Errors (one invoice)
| Situation | What the supplier sees (toast) |
|---|---|
| Over the balance due | "That is $20.00 more than the $100.00 due on invoice INV-1001. Issue the extra as store credit, or lower the amount." |
| Invoice owes nothing | "Nothing is due on invoice INV-1001, so there is nothing for this payment to settle." |
| Correcting an existing payment to more than was due | "That is $20.00 more than the $100.00 due on invoice INV-1001. Lower the amount, or record the extra as a new payment issued as store credit." |
Calculations
Settleable balance = balance due − bank payments still clearing, never below $0.00. Extra = amount − settleable balance. An extra of half a cent or less isn't an overpayment.
| Balance due | Still clearing (ACH) | Amount entered | Several invoices: invoice payment | Credit issued | Single invoice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $100.00 | $0.00 | $100.00 | $100.00 | — | Paid |
| $100.00 | $0.00 | $120.00 | $100.00 | $20.00 | Refused, $20.00 over |
| $100.00 | $60.00 | $50.00 | $40.00 | $10.00 | Refused: $10.00 more than $40.00 |
| $100.00 | $0.00 | $100.01 | $100.00 | $0.01 | Refused, $0.01 over |
Card and bank payments the customer makes online aren't held to the balance: the processor already has the money, so refusing would lose track of it. An online overpayment stays on the invoice: Balance Due reads $0.00 and the excess shows as Available Refund Amount.
Knock-on effects
$100.00 check across INV-1001 (owes $40.00, older) and INV-1002 (owes $30.00):
| What | After |
|---|---|
| INV-1001 | + Payment, Check, $40.00 → Paid |
| INV-1002 | + Payment, Check, $30.00 → Paid |
| Store credit balance | +$30.00 |
| Payment History | + Credit Issued, $30.00, Invoice ID "—" |
| Bookkeeping | + Order Payment Received $40.00 and $30.00; the $30.00 isn't booked |
| Messages | None |
The supplier received $100.00 in cash but bookkeeping shows $70.00. The $30.00 becomes credit, and spending that credit later books nothing either. This was a known gap, left for an accounting decision (#2499).
Undoing it
The credit and the invoice payments are separate records. Deleting the Credit Issued row takes the $30.00 back from the balance (refused if already spent; see the already-spent rule) and leaves the payments alone. Deleting a payment leaves the credit alone.
Where it shows up
Customer Payment History (the credit row) · customer Store Credits box.
Permissions
Full invoice access, as for any payment.
Decisions
- A hand-keyed payment pays up to the balance due; more only on request. In production, overpayments were mostly the same payment entered twice, leaving a negative balance nobody chose. (#2499, IMM-030, IMM-031)
- No credit from a payment on an invoice that owes nothing, even when asked. (#2499, IMM-033)
- Bank payments still clearing count against what's owed. (#2499, IMM-034)
- The surplus is recorded as a Credit Issued row, not just added to the balance, so it shows in the customer's history and can be undone. (#2306, IMM-025, IMM-026)
- A corrected payment can never turn into credit. Extra money is a new payment. (#2499, IMM-032)
Known limitations
- The surplus isn't booked as cash received (see the caution above).
- Multi-invoice overpayments become credit without the supplier ticking anything; the confirm step only warns.
- The single-invoice form has no checkbox for keeping the extra as credit, so the refusal's advice ("Issue the extra as store credit") can't be followed there. Use the multi-invoice drawer.
- The multi-invoice credit isn't tied to an invoice in the invoice's own Records.
FAQ
The customer gave me $120 for a $100 invoice. Why won't it save? A single-invoice payment pays up to what's due. Enter $100.00, or use Add Payment on the Invoices page to keep the extra $20.00 as store credit. See How it works.
Where did the extra $20 go? Into the customer's store credit, recorded as Credit Issued in Payment History.
My cash count is $20 more than bookkeeping shows. That's the overpayment kept as credit. See the caution.