How can I process a return with no receipt? How to do store credit?

[Ebrady]

How can I process a cash return with no receipt? How can I issue. Store credit and deduct the return from daily sales?

[VanKalkerFarms]

There is not a way to process a return without a corresponding transaction in the POS.  

you can issue a credit to a gift card for store credit, it is an option during the refund process.  https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/6168-refund-to-gift-card-in-the-square-point-of-sale-app

[MagicToybox]

This seems to be a major flaw with Square. I am a new Square user- literally my second day with Square. 

Naturally, I have customers who want to return product purchased previously under my old POS provider- so no Square transaction history. 

It seems like a very basic function- receive product back into inventory, return the appropriate dollar amount back to the customer in the fashion of customer's choice: cash refund, exchange credit, gift card issued, or credit card charge back. This isn't complicated. 

Refund or Exchange should not be dependent on a transaction history. I as the retailer should be the determining factor of taking product back into inventory and issuing credit/cash back as I see fit. This is a primarily a customer service issue, but also a work flow issue. Processing a return should be quick and painless for the customer- and an employee should not be required to process returns without a register record. 

[JJ_]

Hello @MagicToybox 

I really believe that what we lack is a flow to receive the item and prompt for return or exchange. The functionality does exist but an actual "processing flow" does not. I recommend you submit a Feature Request here. This will help our product team get visibility and track other Sellers' interest in your request.

Important: When submitting a request, make sure to include the desired feature, and provide the details of how this feature will help your business succeed (how would you use it and what you expect from it).

[MapleStreet510]

My first day using square from an old system and having this same issue.  We should have a "manual return" option or an option to add a negative quantity to the sale, thereby creating an exchange. We don't offer refunds to our customers anyway, so it just goes onto a gift card as a store credit, which is easy enough to do in square, but we just tried to do an exchange for a customer and it took forever and is going to be a bookkeeping headache for sure. Really dumb and not intuitive at all.

[PartyManiaMD]

When I was migrating from our old POS system I had to figure out a workaround as square had no history of the old POS transactions. (this also works with returns when they paid cash and don't have the receipt as long as you trust the customer).

Essentially I determine how much is being returned. issue a gift card (ecard or physical card) in the amount that is being returned, then "discount" the gift card 100%. Basically you're issuing a gift card as "store credit" without actually processing it as a return. You'll then receive the merchandise being returned to ensure your inventory is correct.

"Item" Discounts can be created here and will work on gift card sales (I created one called store credit issued) that way I can track how many times the discount is used.

This does require some level of trust if you have staff with access to the discounts and doesn't create a strong paper trail like a traditional return/exchange work flow would.

While I miss the simplicity of our old system's returns I do strongly believe in Square's ability to adapt and implement common sense features.

Have a return button. If you tap it, it changes color to red to signify a return, process returns, if buying additional stuff tap return button and it goes green. This is how our old POS system signified you're processing a return and the color change visually helps to avoid issues.

Hopefully some day we'll get there!

[JJ_]

Thank you for taking the time to share your interest in this feature @maplestreet. I don't have any new updates regarding starting returns or exchanges without transactions. One thing I can mention is if the customer doesn't have the receipt you can still swipe, insert or tap their card while on the Transactions page of the app and this will locate transactions that match this card this should aid the task of having to dig around to find the valid transaction to perform this return. 

I hope this information is helpful!

[MagicToybox]

I have a new issue now, that again, would necessitate a return without receipt. 

Recalls: A vendor recently issued a recall for a product. Customers can return the item in any condition, from any purchase date, or even purchased elsewhere, and I am to issue a set dollar amount of refund. I am reimbursed +processing from the vendor. The problem again is that returns SHOULD be processed at the register to track returns and take inventory into stock without having a receipt or even past Square's 1 year transaction limit. 

This just doesn't make sense that Square forces the return to go against a receipt. Let the stores worry about the return policies; the customer service is my job, I shouldn't be getting tripped up by my equipment.