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When sales are placed online the sale is immediately transferred to Retail Express. However, this is not the case with refunds - no information is transferred. As a result, it's necessary to perform a refund in both systems separately.

Depending on your business, when refunding your customer you may elect to return the money to the customer or provide them with a voucher/store credit.

Before you begin: Vouchers/Credit Notes

If providing the customer with a Voucher, you will need to keep in mind the redemption of Retail Express Vouchers is only available through the Retail Express Shopify Connector (this feature is not supported through the eCommerce API integration, including Magento web stores).

For eCommerce API integrations the following alternative options are available:

• Online Only vouchers: Vouchers/credits can be created directly on the web-store as a promotional discount code to be redeemed online only. Refer to the Magento Promotions (Cart Price Rules)articles for more information.
  • When processing the refund in Retail Express use the payment type of "None" to adjust the balance owing to zero, and put in a comment related to the online voucher
  • If you choose to create a voucher in Retail Express with the same code as the Online Voucher you will need to track when this is used online. Once redeemed you should manually update the voucher in Retail Express so that it doesn't remain outstanding (otherwise it can potentially be used a second time).
• In-store only: Vouchers/credits can be created directly within Retail Express. The customer will need to be advised they're in-store vouchers only and cannot be redeemed online. This option is covered in detail in Step 2 below.
• Magento method for using Retail Express vouchers online: Retail Express vouchers are not synchronised through the Magento add-on; you will need to follow the instructions in the article Selling and Redeeming Gift Vouchers online to implement a solution for the customer to redeem vouchers online

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Step 1 - Process a refund in Retail Express

You will need to first process the refund through Retail Express i.e. Retail Express is the "point of truth" for the order. This is processed using the standard Refund Process, with a few notable differences:

• Payment type - if the payment method used was an integrated payment method (e.g. Afterpay, Zip) you will be prompted to return the funds automatically through the integration using the original transaction reference.
• Voucher/credit - if you want to create a voucher for the customer to use online you will need to ensure that vouchers have been created in line with the online Gift Vouchers process (see the Magento - Selling and Redeeming Gift Vouchers Online and Shopify - Gift Voucher Integration articles for more detail).

During the refund, you will need to ensure the money is returned to the customer, or voucher/credit if required. For non-integrated payment methods, this may require an additional step to manually return the funds via a merchant portal e.g. eWay.

To process a refund of a web order in Retail Express:

1. Log into Retail Express
2. Open POS
3. Click the red Returns button
   
4. Enter the User ID and click Log In
5. Use the Search Filters to find the original invoice
6. Select the invoice and press Next
   
7. Enter Quantities against the products to be returned by clicking the arrow next to the option (Saleable Stock is used for products that are available to resell and will update the Available quantity, Faulty Stock will be returned to stock as "Faulty", will not update the Available quantity and will not be available to sell)
   
8. Click Next
9. Edit the Refund Amount if required
10. The Freight (if charged) will appear on a separate line; an amount can be added to this line if the value is being refunded
    
11. Click Next
12. A summary of the information that has been selected will be displayed
13. Select a Reason for the refund from the drop-down box
    
    Tip: You can create custom Return Reasons - see the Return Reasons Setup article for more information. The Return Reason Report can be exported to Excel for detailed reporting on your Refunds.
14. Click Create Refund to create the Refund/Exchange transaction
15. The Products, Customers and Fulfilment tabs are all populated automatically
16. Click the Payment tab
17. Choose your Refund Method, either by Creating a Voucher or Refunding the Payment using either of the methods below (if the payment method is an integrated Payment Type there are some additional steps to be completed e.g. Zip, Afterpay or credit cards where Tyro is connected)
18. Click Finalise 
19. Click Close

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Step 2 - Process the refund online

By processing the refund online it ensures that both systems are up-to-date. When the customer logs in online they will see the correct purchase history, including refunds.

The method you use to process a refund online depends on the eCommerce platform you're using. We have linked to the most common ones below, but for anything further, you will need to direct your enquiry to your vendor.