Can I backdate, edit, or delete a transaction?

[AC]

The title of this post has been edited from the original:  Can you delete a transaction?

How do you delete a completed "Cash" transaction? I ran it just as a test.

[AC]

The title of this post has been edited from the original:  Can you delete a transaction?

[#3]

Hi @TheGlencafe,

Right now we have no plans to add the ability to backdate, delete or manipulate transaction information after a sale is complete. 

For context, the ability to manipulate transactions can cause issues for reporting and chargebacks. Also, it would make it easier for fraudsters and scammers to commit crimes using Square Point of Sale. 

If you have test cash transactions in your transaction history, you can always refund these payments to balance your books. See our help article on how to refund a payment.

Hopefully this has provided some transparency on this request, and why it's not available. 

[#4]

Hello @alexaiezza, welcome to the Seller Community! 

Currently adding the ability to delete a transaction is not on our road map. The reasoning behind this is we use this information to submit 1099-K's to the IRS. I'm not saying you would do this, but it would be easy to cook your books if this ability was available. 

Another request on this thread is to be able to void transactions so they don't show on reports. Currently we are in the process of collecting feedback for this request. I don't have a timeline on when it might be available. 

If you have any other questions please let me know! 

[#5]

@TomTr

I appreciate your feedback in regards to this. I know you've probably read this multiple times within the Seller Community, but we really do send customer feedback over to our Product Teams, and advocate for changes for you.

I absolutely agree that a void feature would help with training and testing, and also make reporting look a lot cleaner as well. You make a great point that with test payments, or payments made by mistake, nothing is ever actually sold, so your gross sales report shouldn't reflect a sale (which is what results when issuing a refund).

As you've alluded to in your previous post, there are two different requests within this thread. Some folks are looking for the ability to completely remove or delete a transaction, which isn't possible at this time. We don’t have any new information around whether or not this will ever become available.

The other option that folks are looking for, having an option to mark payments that have been completed as voided/cancelled rather than refunded, would help sellers a ton and we’ll continue to reiterate that to the team on your behalf.

We know this request is important to you, so as soon as there are updates that we’re able to share publicly, we will.

I hope this provides more clarity, and thank you all, again, for your feedback!

[#6]

Maybe the Square team can find a way to mark the transactions as Void, so that they do not affect sales totals, but neither are the transactions erased.

From an accounting standpoint, I can see why they would not let a transaction just be deleted. There has to be a documentation trail.

When I have to make test transactions, when I refund the transaction I make note that it was a test transaction and that is why it was refunded. There is also the "Accidental Charge" notation available.

Then when I download my sales reports, I sort the test transactions out and make a note in my saved spreadsheet.

[KatM]

Maybe the Square team can find a way to mark the transactions as Void, so that they do not affect sales totals, but neither are the transactions erased.

From an accounting standpoint, I can see why they would not let a transaction just be deleted. There has to be a documentation trail.

When I have to make test transactions, when I refund the transaction I make note that it was a test transaction and that is why it was refunded. There is also the "Accidental Charge" notation available.

Then when I download my sales reports, I sort the test transactions out and make a note in my saved spreadsheet.

[Russell]

@KatM - thanks 💯 for sharing - you are right on with this advice! 

[TomTr]

@Russell and @KatM. This is not good advise. This is a sadly nesicary work around. Refunds are when money is given back to the customer for whatever reason. A "void" is to fix an erronious transaction or a fictional transaction like when training. Refunds are not reflected in your gross sales numbers and create an inflated gross sales number when erronious or training transactions are unable to be properly documented as "voided" transactions which would be removed from the gross sales since a void is not a sale.  

[DrewJohnston]

I totally agree with this, keep a record of it just remove it from sales totals, it's very annoying to reconcile your books otherwise.

[creatorofstuff]

To add to that, if you void a transaction, or create a refund, it would be nice to be able to actually return the product, so your inventory reflects the change. That was my biggest gripe. Having to remember which "sold" items were actually test transactions for which I created a refund. 

[Russell]

Hey @creatorofstuff - 

The current version of Point of Sale for iOS (stay tuned for Android) now offers itemized refunds. This should resolve the issue with reporting. 👍

[GeorgeX]

This (KatM's) is the best work-around I've seen, but it is still just that; a work-around. It would be so much easier for us if Square would simply create a "practice" or "test" mode that requires a password to activate. If you did that, you wouldn't need to deal with all these accounting rules about paper trails, because there wouldn't be one! With today's programming capabilities, I can't believe this is not being done!

[skomeh]

I started by entering the amount of the transaction.  The square automatically added sales tax but this sale is an international one.  I couldn't delete the transaction or edit it on my phone.  I went to my computer and opened my square account.  I tried to process the transaction there.  Square wouldn't process the credit card.  It rejected.  I think that the first entry is blocking my efforts.  I am looking for a phone number so I can call someone who might help me.  So far, I'm dissatisfied with Square's support center, but I will continue to search.

Add me to the host of Square users who need a delete function.

[philroth]

Agreed. It is amazing there has been no resolution to this issue. Please create a void option.

[Metroyal]

You know what, this thread is been more than a year since it's started. I don't think this kind of feature will took that long to build. I'm a programmer, so I understand about development time.

The answer of the question always be "We will let the team know about this and bla... Bla... Bla.." which is there is still nothing happen after more than a year. I started thinking that this forum is useless to request a feature. I don't know the actual problem the company have, but I don't think it's a technical problem. Probably managerial problem, something connected with your company plan or something like that. At least you should be honest so people not wasting time waiting for the feature while their business still running. It's not easy to do migration apps to use in the business, if it's started with one apps already, it will be too complicated to move to another.

Its too bad, so much people interested to use this app. But you guys is not responsive with the request that will make the app even more used and recommended by much more people.

Regards,

Your Long Waiting Customer that not use your app anymore

[RussEdworthyArt]

Adding my voice to the crowd. This is a vital feature, required for training, or simply if you made an error. Please prioritize it for development soon!

[myersbw]

That's my whole point...VOID the transaction as most any cash register would.  I don't really care if it is "in the system".  But, there should be no inventory change (or, it's auto-corrected) and we shouldn't see improper totals because we can't void properly.  A void is not a refund.  Refunding is not the way to correct a mistake.  If this company is making as much as it is from international sales efforts by all users...it ought to have a void feature from day one.  If not, Square is improperly reporting everyone's tax records that do refunds where a void should occur.

[wwabfm]

My frustration is that if a mistake is made, i.e entering a wrong price or quntity you simply just cannot void and start over.  Or am i wrong about this?

[Lyle]

Adding my voice here too. I had an employee accidentally close out a $100 tab on one card when she thought she was splitting it. She realized it soon after and then there was no way to simply delete the initial charge and make new ones on the same ticket. We had to issue a refund, tell the customer what happened so they would understand why they might see a pending transaction in their bank account, comp some of their bill for the trouble, and then re-enter in the entire ticket to be able to split the transactions accurately. 

We should be able to delete an accidental charge as if it were never there, and then be able to make the accurate charges. Literally all other POS systems that I've worked with had this ability. Make it happen Square.

[Russell]

Hey @Lyle - thanks for chiming in and thanks for making your first post to the community.

Situations like this are stressful. I have dealt with similar scenarios in both foodservice and retailing. Over the years, I have used many POS systems. I touched on this a little in an earlier post, I have never seen the ability to delete a transaction on any system - including Square Point of Sale. 

Still, an additional option to correct transaction mistakes would definitely be useful. 
I will absolutely make sure to communicate everything you shared here to our Product Team.

[roamingrunway]

I agree. My problem is forgetting to hit Split when a customer wants to pay part cash and part charge. I did this 3 times yesterday on an insanely busy day! The frustrations are re-entering the entire transaction which is a huge pain in my business as I sell in several different categories and have to remove all of the items from bagging in order to re-enter them. Then, I have to go back and adjust the inventory on my home computer as it is impossible in the ipad app! Ugh. Even if there would be a "back" button to adjust payment type. Now, my daily sales totals are way off because I kept hitting cash before split. Thank goodness I enter everything separately into Quickbooks for my records. Boy an audit would be hilarious...not.

[Helen]

I'm sorry for the frustration @roamingrunway and @douglastonwine. This feature request is still being closely tracked by the Product Team and I appreciate the time you've taken to share how this impacts your business on a daily basis! If this feature does become available in future we'll update this thread to let everyone know. Thanks again for posting. If you have any other comments or feedback please post again! 

[TomTr]

The response below is insanse considering the number of requests for a feature like this. My company is well within the 30-day return period for your system which we have not invested anytime in setting up. The fact that you can not VOID a transaction once it has been processed through the system is unreal.

"I'm sorry for the frustration @roamingrunway and @douglastonwine. This feature request is still being closely tracked by the Product Team and I appreciate the time you've taken to share how this impacts your business on a daily basis! If this feature does become available in future we'll update this thread to let everyone know. Thanks again for posting. If you have any other comments or feedback please post again! "

Any qualitiy Point Of Sale system should have both a "Refund" option which is for returning money to a customer, and a "Void" option which is used to correct mistakes. Additionally, the difference between how a "Void" and a "Refund" are handled by a credit card company is extremely important in guest recovery. 

"Voids tend to be less expensive than refunds, so a void ends up saving you merchant account fees. A voided transaction will typically disappear from a customer's credit/debit account statement within 24 hours, while a refund may take 3 to 5 business days to appear on a customer's credit/debit account statement."

Please fix your POS system.

[TeenFit]

This reply was created from merging an existing thread: “Is there a way to clear all trasnactions?” 

Is there a way to clear all trasnactions?  I've been practicing the past few days & would like to clear those "sales" before I open for business...

[jeimagencorp]

I'm new to square app, so i made the tutorial and put some false numbers and sales and send a receipt. is it possible to reset the app and start all over again? it was my first day on the app, now i really liked it and decided to use it in my business, thanks.

[Caty]

Welcome to Square, and to the Seller Community! So glad to hear that you like the app, and I hope to see you in the community more often to connect with other sellers. 😄 

There's not a way to delete transactions, or reset the app once you've started using it. You can, however, filter out your practice transactions by date in the reporting section of your Square Dashboard. Definitely check out our Getting Started Guide, and please give us a shout if you have additional questions!

PS) I think there may be others who have the same question as you, so I've edited the title for clarity.