Why you cannot simply cancel
Once a bill has been settled, it stays settled. If you try to remove a line from a paid bill, the POS tells you the order has already been paid and points you to Refunds.
That is deliberate. Removing a line lowers the bill total without any money going back to the guest. Your revenue then no longer matches what is actually in the drawer and on the card terminal — and you only find out at the end of the day, or worse, at your accountant.
You correct it with a refund. There are two routes, depending on what went wrong.
Route 1: refund items
Use this when products have to come off the bill, or when the whole bill has to go back.
- 1In the POS, go to Settings → Refunds.
- 2Search for the bill by receipt number or customer name. You only see bills with the status Paid, most recently closed first.
- 3Tap the bill. All lines are fully selected straight away, so for a full refund you do not have to change anything.
- 4Only part of it? Lower the quantity per line, or tap Clear all and select what has to come off yourself.
- 5Enter a reason. This is required and stays attached to the refund.
- 6Tap Process refund.
Route 2: refund an amount only
If the items are right but too much was charged, you do not need to credit any products.
- 1Go to Orders and open the bill.
- 2Tap Refund on the payment you want to correct.
- 3Enter the amount and a short reason, then confirm.
The POS never lets you refund more than is left on that payment. If part of it was refunded earlier, the remainder is shown under "Available".
On a split bill the POS divides the refund across the payments itself, down to the cent. You do not have to work out which part belongs to which payment.
What about the money on the terminal?
If the payment was made on a connected terminal, the POS immediately tries to send the refund to that terminal. Not every provider supports this.
If it does not work you get a message about it. The refund in the POS is still correct — you do not have to redo it. You then process the card refund manually on the terminal or in your payment provider's dashboard.
If the guest paid cash, simply hand the money back from the drawer. The POS records the refund so your cash count adds up at closing.
Ringing the table up again
After the refund you ring up the table again. Which route you took decides whether the bill can still be reopened:
- Partially refunded — the bill keeps the status Paid. You can reopen it from the floor plan and carry on with the same bill.
- Fully refunded through Settings → Refunds — the bill gets the status Refunded and is done. Reopening is no longer possible; start a new order on the table.
- Fully refunded through Orders → Refund — the bill stays on Paid with € 0.00 outstanding, so it can still be reopened.
Prefer to reopen first and correct afterwards? Read Reopening a closed bill. Keep in mind that reopening refunds nothing by itself: the payment stays on the bill.
What happens in your books
A refund is not a line through the bill, but a correction you can trace:
- The payment is marked as (partly) refunded, with date, staff member and reason.
- The revenue of the bill and of the refunded products is processed net in your reporting.
- A correction entry is queued for your accounting export, so the refund reaches your bookkeeping too. This happens on both routes, so also when you only refunded an amount.
Who is allowed to do this
As the owner you always have access. If you want a staff member to do this, switch on the Process refunds and returns permission for their role under Settings → Staff. Without it the Refund button is disabled and the POS shows "No refund permissions".