Refunds, voids and adjustments

Refunds are done from the payment, not from the invoice, the appointment or Checkout. Where you go depends on how the customer paid.

Who can refund

• Owners and co-owners can refund anything.
• Managers can refund if their role has the Issue refunds permission. Managers have it unless an owner turned it off in Roles & Permissions.
• Front Desk and Employee roles can't refund by default.

Refunds of Alaga Payments card payments are owner-only, because they are done from the owner's Payment Settings.

Cash, check, Square and other payments

Sidebar: Reports → Payments & Transactions.

1. Pick the date range and find the payment.
2. Click Refund on its row. The button only shows on payments you can still refund.
3. In Record Refund, enter the Refund amount. It can't be more than what is left on the payment.
4. Under Refunded as, pick how the money goes back:

• Cash, Check or Other.
• Card (refund to the card via Square) for a Square card payment. Alaga sends the refund to Square for you. Click Refund on Square.
• Card (refunded on terminal) for a card run on your own terminal. Run the refund on that terminal yourself. Alaga only records it.

1. Add a Reason (optional) and confirm.

If you refund cash while a cash drawer is open, Alaga records it as cash paid out of the drawer, so the count still balances.

Alaga Payments card payments

Sidebar: Business Settings → Payment Settings → Transactions. This tab shows for the owner once Alaga Payments is active.

1. Find the payment and click Refund.
2. In Issue refund, choose:

• Full refund
• Partial amount, then enter the amount
• Tip only, to refund just the tip and leave the sale alone

1. Pick a Reason: Requested by customer, Duplicate or Fraudulent.
2. Add an internal Note (optional). The customer doesn't see it.

The money goes back to the card the customer paid with. Alaga's own fee on that payment is returned in proportion to the refund.

What happens automatically

• The refund shows in your reports. It appears on that day's End of Day report and in Payments & Transactions, on the day you refund it.
• Stock comes back on a full refund of a walk-in sale. Products sold at Checkout go back into stock. A partial refund does not restock, because Alaga can't know what came back. Fix stock by hand on the Products page.

Timing

Card refunds take a few business days to reach the customer, sometimes longer, depending on their bank. Tell the customer this at the counter.

There is no void

Alaga doesn't erase payments. The first payment stays on the record, with the refund against it. That keeps each day's totals honest.

When a refund is the wrong tool

Nothing has been paid yet. Fix the invoice instead.

• A Draft invoice: click the pencil (Edit lines) to change it, or the cancel icon (Cancel draft) to cancel it. Cancelled drafts stay on record. The number is not reused.
• A Sent or Overdue invoice with no payment: click Cancel invoice. Tell the client if they already have it.

The price was wrong on a paid invoice. Paid invoice lines are locked. Refund the difference, or use Add charge on the visit if the client owes more.

The customer disputed the charge with their bank. That is a dispute, not a refund. For Alaga Payments, the owner handles it under Business Settings → Payment Settings → Disputes. Refunding during a dispute can cost you the money twice.

A deposit on a cancelled booking. Check your cancellation policy. Deposits sit as account credit on the client. If you are keeping it, do nothing. See Rescheduling, cancelling and no-shows.

Good habits

• Refund the original payment. Don't make a negative sale.
• Write the reason. It helps you later.
• Check End of Day after refunding, so the day closes on the right numbers.