Refund or return items

When a customer brings items back, you find the original sale, choose what is coming back, record why, and Omviq gives the money back. This page covers returns with a receipt, returns without one, and where the refund goes.

Before you start

Refund or void? A sale that is paid is refunded. An order that is not paid yet is voided. See Void a sale.
Know your limits. A cashier can process returns up to the limit your business sets. A larger return, or one your business always wants checked, goes to a manager for approval.

Role	Process returns	Approve or reject	Void returns
Cashier	Yes, within limits	No	No
Manager	Yes	Yes	Yes
Admin	Yes	Yes	Yes

A cash refund needs an open till. Cash paid back comes out of a drawer, so see the section below if your till is not open.
Open the Returns area from the bottom navigation or the More menu.

Refund from the Returns Center

Tap Returns. The Returns Center shows recent returns for this location, newest first. Each has a color-coded badge: Draft, Pending Approval, Approved, Rejected or Completed. You can search by order number, customer or date range.
Tap New Return. The form opens with an order lookup.
Find the original sale. Search by order number, which is the transaction ID printed on the receipt. Or scan the barcode on the customer’s receipt, or look the customer up by name or phone number. Use the exact sale from the receipt, because each returned line is matched to the line on that sale.
Select the items. Every line of the sale appears with its quantity. Tap the items that are coming back and adjust the quantity if only part of a line is returned, for example bought 3, returning 1. You can return a whole order or single lines, and you can make several returns against one order over time.
For each item, record the Condition, the Reason and the Disposition. See the table below. Your business decides whether a reason and a condition are required.
Review the refund summary: the refund amount, the tax refunded, any restocking fee and the loyalty points that will be taken back.
Submit. If the return is within your authority, the refund goes through at once. When a return needs a manager because it has no receipt or because of its amount, the manager enters their code in the approval prompt and the refund goes through. A return with a receipt that needs a manager for another reason (the item’s condition, the return reason, a different payment type or the return window) is refused and left open. See If something goes wrong below.
Choose where the money goes. Usually it goes back to the original payment method. See Where the money goes.
Omviq prints or emails the return receipt, adjusts stock for the items and returns to idle.

Record	Choices
Condition	New, Opened, Damaged, Defective. Condition can set a restocking fee.
Reason	The reasons your business lists, such as Customer changed mind, Wrong item received, Defective product, Damaged in shipping or Not as described.
Disposition	Restock puts the item back on the shelf and stock goes up. Damage Out removes it from sellable stock but keeps it for records. Destroy writes it off.

Omviq suggests a disposition from the condition: New and Opened suggest Restock, Damaged suggests Damage Out and Defective suggests Destroy. You can change it before you submit.

To see a return afterwards, tap its card in the Returns Center. The panel shows the items with their conditions and dispositions, the refund amount and method, and a timeline. A manager sees Approve and Reject there for a return that is waiting.

Refund from a completed sale

You can also start from the sale itself.

Open the sale from the transactions list. It loads read-only on the terminal.
Tap Refund. The terminal enters refund mode for that sale.
Choose the items and quantities to return, then confirm.

While refund mode is on, you cannot add new items to the cart, and the order type is locked to the original sale’s order type.

A cash refund needs an open till

If the refund would pay cash and this terminal’s till has no open drawer, or the drawer is being counted, the refund bar says so and the Refund button stays disabled. The bar offers two ways forward:

Open till opens this terminal’s drawer through the usual opening float. The cash refund then completes from that drawer.
Refund another way lists the refund methods your business allows that pay no cash, for example store credit. Choosing one lifts the cash restriction.

A refund that pays no cash, back to the card or to store credit, never asks about a till. A completed refund records the till and the drawer session that paid it, so the drawer’s expected cash moves by exactly the amount refunded. If the connection drops and you send the same refund again, no second return is taken. The second send is answered with the first.

Where the money goes

The sale was paid with	The refund goes to
Cash	Cash from the drawer. The drawer opens and you count the refund out.
Card	The same card. For chip refunds, the card must be present.
Gift card	The same gift card, and its balance is restored.
Store credit	The customer’s store credit, applied at once.
More than one method	Each payment gets its share back, in proportion to what each paid.

If the original method is not available, for example the customer lost the card or the gift card expired, the refund can go to store credit instead.

A sale paid partly in cash and partly by card is refunded to each in proportion. A full refund returns exactly what each payment took.
Change handed back on a cash payment is not refunded twice. A cash payment of 50.00 on a sale of 32.17 counts as 32.17.
A card approved for less than was asked counts only what it was charged.
A pay-later payment the store has not received yet counts as nothing until it is paid.
A refund larger than what the sale actually collected is refused with: This refund is larger than what the original sale actually collected.

Returns without a receipt

Your business may allow returns without a receipt. When it does not, the option is not offered.

Look the customer up by phone or email. If nothing matches, start a return without a receipt.
If your business requires it, record the customer’s ID type and number.
Pick each item from the catalog. It is refunded at its current catalog price, with no tax, because there is no sale to prove tax was paid.
A manager approves it when your business requires that, and a refund above your business’s hard cap is refused.
The refund goes where your business’s setting says: store credit by default, or a gift card or cash. It never goes to the original payment, because there is none.

Only an item the catalog sells by count can be returned without a receipt. An item sold by weight is refused with a message saying so. Return it with its receipt. Sending the same return again after a lost connection is still one return.

What Omviq does for you

When a return is processed, Omviq creates a refund linked to the original order, reverses the tax on the returned items, takes back the loyalty points those items earned, adds restocked items back to stock, and prints the return receipt with the reason and refund amount. Every return is logged for audit, whatever its amount.

If something goes wrong

What you see	What to do
Order not found	Check the order number. The sale may belong to another store.
You cannot select an item	It may already be fully returned. Check the earlier returns on this order.
The refund amount looks wrong	A refund is based on the price actually paid, after discounts, plus the tax refund.
Manager approval required	The return is above your limit. Call a manager to approve with a PIN or badge.
The Refund button is disabled and the bar mentions the till	The refund would pay cash and no drawer is open. Tap Open till or Refund another way.
A product is refused and the message names it	The catalog marks that product as not refundable. It is refused at every return, with or without a receipt.
The return is refused as temporarily unavailable	Omviq could not check the catalog. Try again in a moment.
A return with a receipt is refused and left open	The return needs a manager’s approval that the till cannot collect, for example because of the item’s condition, the reason, a different payment type or the return window. Ask a manager or an admin. See Set your return policy.