Customers can change their minds about a product, or they may have seen something else they want more. In this case, the products they purchase can be exchanged or refunded.
You can return a sale from any outlet within your Retail POS store, meaning if the sale was originally purchased from your online store or another outlet, it can be returned to the customer's closest physical store.
Returning as an exchange
Sometimes customers aren’t always completely satisfied with a purchase and may want to exchange their purchase for other product(s) within your store.
To process an exchange:
- Navigate to Sell > Sales history. Optionally, click the Process return tab to filter out uncompleted sales.
- Locate your sale, using the filters if necessary. Click the reverse arrow icon to begin the return.
Some roles may not be able to perform returns and exchanges, making the reverse arrow unclickable. To check a role's permissions, navigate to Setup > Users > Roles. Ensure Perform returns and exchanges for all outlets is checked.
- If a customer is not attached to the original sale, you will be asked to add a customer to the return. Enter the customer's name and click Add customer to sale.
You can optionally click Skip if you don't want to add a customer to this return; however, attaching a customer is required to issue store credit.
- The return will now be in the Sell screen. The item(s) in this sale will be listed as a negative quantity and value, indicating that they will be returned. Return items cannot have their price adjusted.
- Remove any products the customer is not returning by clicking on the corresponding Trash icon.
- Add the item(s) your customer wants to exchange with to the sale. These will be represented with a positive quantity and value.
- You will see the red Refund button turn into an Exchange button if the value of the new item(s) is higher and you can charge the customer the difference. The Exchange button will remain red if you owe the customer the difference in value.
- Click the Exchange button and process the exchange as you would a regular sale in the Sell screen.
If the button is red, click the Exchange button and choose the payment type to process the refund.
- Click Complete sale to finish the exchange and issue the customer an updated receipt.
Returning as a refund
Sometimes customers aren’t completely satisfied with a purchase and may want to return it. If a suitable exchange cannot be found, the next option is to refund the payment.
If you have Lightspeed Payments set up, refer to our processing refunds through Lightspeed Payments article.
To process a refund:
- Navigate to Sell > Sales history. Optionally, click the Process return tab to filter out uncompleted sales.
- Locate your sale, using the filters if necessary. Click the reverse arrow icon to begin the return.
Some roles may not be able to perform returns and exchanges, making the reverse arrow unclickable. To check a role's permissions, navigate to Setup > Users > Roles. Ensure Perform returns and exchanges for all outlets is checked. - If a customer is not attached to the original sale, you will be asked to add a customer to the return. Enter the customer's name and click Add customer to sale.
You can optionally click Skip if you don't want to add a customer to this return; however, attaching a customer is required to issue store credit.
- The return will now be in the Sell screen. The item(s) in this sale will be listed as a negative quantity and value, indicating that they will be returned. Return items cannot have their price adjusted.
- Remove any products the customer is not returning by clicking on the corresponding Trash icon.
- Click the Refund button and choose the payment type to process the refund.
- Click Complete sale to finish the refund and issue the customer an updated receipt.
You can only complete a return on fully paid sales, including fully paid On account and Layaway (Layby) sales. You cannot process a return on an open On account or Layaway sale, or existing return transactions.
If you are returning a Worldpay, Tyro, or Zettle sale, make sure you choose the right payment type and follow the instructions on Retail POS and your payment terminal screen.
What's next?
Processing a refund made with Lightspeed Payments for Retail POS (X-Series)
Process refunds using Lightspeed Payments.
Learn more