Refund problems and common questions

The questions merchants ask the moment a refund doesn't go cleanly. Refunds happen on the terminal — see Process a refund or void on the terminal for the steps. This page is for when something's off.

I can't see the Refund button

This is the most common one. The refund action only shows when all of these line up:

1. The sale was paid on a card. A cash sale is refunded from the drawer instead — see Refunding a cash sale. If your till shows no refund button on a cash sale at all, it hasn't had that update yet: hand the cash back instead.
2. The device's mode has the Refunds capability switched on (see Modes).
3. The signed-in staff member's role has the Refunds permission (under Payments & money — see Refunds and voids).
4. The sale was approved. A declined sale charged nothing, so there's nothing to refund — the terminal says as much.

Work down that list. If the mode and role are both right and it's a card sale, sign out and back in so the device picks up any role change you just made in the portal.

What if the refund fails or is declined?

A refund can fail at the card network — most often a temporary connection issue or a problem on the card itself. Try again after a moment. If it keeps failing:

• Check the device is online.
• Check the original card is still valid (see below).
• If it still won't go through, contact support with the order number and the time of the original sale.

The sale stays as it was until a refund actually succeeds — a failed attempt doesn't leave the sale half-refunded.

Confirming a refund updates the sale's status to Refunded / Part refunded as soon as it's submitted, before the money has necessarily finished moving back to the card. On the rare occasion a submitted refund is later rejected behind the scenes, the sale can briefly show as refunded even though the customer hasn't been paid back yet. If a customer says a refund never turned up after several days despite the sale showing Refunded, contact support with the order number rather than assuming it's just bank processing time.

A cash refund didn't go through

On the till, a cash refund is recorded before the drawer opens. If the till shows Refund not recorded and says the drawer stayed shut, nothing was refunded: don't hand any cash over. The message says why:

• No connection — cash refunds need the till to be online. Reconnect and tap Try again.
• Only £x is left to refund on this order or Some of those items were already refunded — someone refunded part of it already. Reopen the sale to see what's left.
• Your role can't give refunds — the signed-in person's role is missing the Refunds permission.
• Cash refunds aren't available yet — try again shortly.

Try again is safe after any of these. It can't refund the same thing twice, even if the first attempt did get through before the connection dropped.

If the refund was recorded but the till adds The drawer didn't record this refund, the cash still went back to the customer. Add a paid-out of the amount shown from Cash drawer, so the count comes out right. If it says Stock wasn't fully updated for this refund, the refund stands; check the stock count for those items.

A returned item was logged as wastage

If your venue wastes refunded items automatically (After a cash refund), every item on a cash refund is logged as wastage unless staff switch on Nothing to waste — put back in stock on the reason step. Use it when the item comes back unused, like an unopened packet of crisps: the items go back in stock and nothing is wasted. It only applies to the refund it's switched on for, so a refund that's already been recorded keeps what it did.

How long does a refund take to appear on the card?

Once the terminal confirms the refund, the money is on its way back to the customer's card. How quickly it shows on their statement is up to their bank — usually a few working days, sometimes longer. There's nothing to do on your side; it isn't stuck. Reassure the customer it can take a few days.

The customer's original card is expired or cancelled

Card refunds go back to the original card. If that card has since expired or been cancelled, the card scheme normally still routes the refund to the customer's account behind the scenes — the customer should check with their bank if it doesn't appear. You can't redirect the refund to a different card from the terminal.

Can I refund to a different card, or as cash?

No — not from the terminal's card-refund flow. A card refund returns to the card that paid. If the customer needs the money another way, that's a manual arrangement at your end (for example handing back cash and recording it), not something the terminal does.

The till's Refund cash button is only for money that was paid in cash. It doesn't appear on a card payment, so it can't turn a card sale into a cash refund.

My partial refund didn't leave the balance I expected

When a sale was paid in one part, you choose the whole transaction (the exact remaining figure), a custom amount, or specific items to add up. When a sale was paid in more than one part (a split bill), there's no single "remaining amount" button across the whole sale — you refund one payment at a time, since each part may sit on a different card. If the leftover balance looks wrong, open the sale again: the detail lists each payment, how much of it has been refunded, and how much is left, so you can see which part still needs refunding. The order reads Part refunded until everything is returned.

The refund doesn't show in my sales reports

Refunds aren't broken out as their own figure in your reports today — the reports cover the sales that were taken, and don't yet model refunds as a separate line. The refund did go through (the sale's status on the terminal's Records screen, and in the portal sales log, reflects it); it just isn't itemised in the report totals yet. See Refunds and voids for the reporting note.

When to contact support

If a refund keeps failing after you've confirmed the terminal is online, the card sale was approved, and the mode and role both allow refunds, send support the order number, the time of the original sale, and the device it was taken on. The order number is on the receipt and on the sale's row in Records; numbers never reset, so it identifies one sale.

What's next

• Process a refund or void on the terminal — the step-by-step.
• Refunds and voids — permissions and how refunds are modelled.