Refunds and adjustments
There is no edit for a card payment. Every correction is one of three things, and which one is available depends entirely on how far the payment has travelled.
The three windows
| Where the payment is | What you can do | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Authorised, not yet captured | Capture it with a corrected amount | One shot — once captured, this window is gone |
| Captured, batch still open | Void it | Full reversal only — no partial |
| Settled (batch closed) | Refund it | Partial or full |
Work out which window you are in before choosing a tool. The till shows the payment's state on the transaction.
The most common mistake
A partial refund is the wrong tool for correcting a tip.
Refunds are allocated against the bill before the tip. Refunding a mistyped
$90 tip on a $60 meal therefore records the whole meal as refunded and
leaves a large tip still showing as paid. The guest's card balance may come out
right; your sales, your tip pool and your payroll will all be wrong.
If the tip is wrong and the payment is still open, adjust the tip — see Tips. If it has settled, refund the whole payment and re-take it correctly.
A guest who adds to their order after paying
This is a second payment, not a bigger first one. Reopen the check, add the items, and take payment for the new balance. There is no mechanism to increase an amount that has already been captured.
See The life of an order for reopening.
Cash
Cash is simpler — a cash refund is a drawer movement and is recorded against the check. It still appears in reports and still affects the drawer count, so do it through the till rather than out of the drawer by hand.
Who can do these
Refunds, voids and tip adjustments are normally permission-gated to managers. See Job titles and permissions.