Customer Credit

A customer credit is money you owe a customer: a credit memo for a return or a discount after the fact, or a payment they made that's bigger than what they owed.

Customer Credit isn't in the menu. Open it with the receipt icon at the top of the Customers page, or start a new credit from + New › Customer credit, or from a customer's own page with Add credit.

The top of the page

1. 1Search filters the list as you type.
2. 2New customer credit opens a blank credit (see Issuing a credit).
3. 3More options: print or export the list, show or hide the stat band, and choose columns, page size and row height.
4. 4‹ Customers goes back to the Customers list.
5. 5The stat band: Direct credit (credit memos you've issued), Unapplied payment (overpayments not yet used) and the Total credit balance of both.

The list

1. 1All, Open (still has credit left) and Applied (used up).
2. 2The date filter narrows the list to a period.
3. 3Type: Direct Credit for a credit memo you issued, or Unapplied Payment for an overpayment.
4. 4Status: Open while some credit is left, Applied once it is used up.
5. 5Remaining Credit: what's still there to apply.
6. 6The row's ⋮ menu (below).

No., Customer, Date and Total fill in the rest. Click a row to open the credit.

1. 1Delete removes a credit that hasn't been applied to anything.

Issuing a credit

1. 1Customer: who the credit is for.
2. 2Credit date: the date it posts.
3. 3Item returned (optional): pick the product they sent back. It puts the stock back on the shelf and takes its cost back out of cost of goods sold.
4. 4Amount: the credit's value. It posts to Discounts & Refunds.
5. 5Memo: a note for your records.
6. 6Tick Apply this credit to an open invoice now to choose one of the customer's open invoices and lower its balance straight away.
7. 7Create saves the credit.

Applying a credit later

A credit with something left can be applied whenever you like, in either of two ways:

• Open the credit, choose one of the customer's open invoices and the amount, and click Apply credit.
• Open the invoice and choose More › Apply credit.

The amount applied can't be more than the credit left or the invoice's balance.

Refunding a credit

When the customer would rather have the money back than a credit on their next invoice, open the credit and click Refund $… to the customer.

1. Refund from: the bank, cash or credit card account the money leaves from.
2. Refund date: the date it posts.
3. Amount: up to what's left on the credit. It starts at the whole amount left.
4. Check or ref no. (optional): the check number or bank reference.
5. Memo (optional): a note for your records.
6. Refund $… records it.

The refund takes the money out of that account (it shows in its register as a Refund), clears that much of the customer's credit, and shows on their statement. A credit that's fully refunded or applied reads Applied. Both kinds of credit can be refunded: a credit memo you issued and an overpayment.

The credit lists its refunds under Refunded to the customer. The bin beside a refund deletes it and puts the amount back on the credit (not once it's reconciled). A credit with a refund can't be deleted until the refund is.

On the cash basis, a refund counts on its date: it takes back the income the overpayment added, or the discount a credit memo gives.