Returns: Refunds, Exchanges and Warranty Claims in One Place

The Returns Page

Open Returns from the menu. Needs action is at the top, and every refund, exchange and claim is listed below it, newest first. Each part of Needs action shows only to people who can act on it.

• Waiting for approval: refunds, swaps and claim decisions that you can approve, oldest first.
• Waiting for payout: approved refunds and store credit payout requests, waiting for someone who can pay them out.
• Claims in hand: open warranty claims by status, Received, With supplier, Back from supplier and Ready to collect.
• Your requests: what you asked for that is still waiting on someone else.
• The list: refunds, exchanges and claims together. Show one kind, only what is still open, or search by code, sale code, customer, phone or serial number.

Starting a Return

Click New return on the Returns page. Or open the sale and click Return, which skips the search because the sale is already filled in.

1. 1Find the purchase. Search by receipt, invoice or repair number, by a serial number, or by the customer's phone or name. Each result lists its items and which of them are still under warranty.
2. 2What comes back. Choose Full, By Item or By Amount, then tick the items and the serial numbers coming back. Each line shows how many can still come back and its warranty.
3. 3Why. Choose the reason, then what happens to each item. If something is faulty, describe what is wrong.
4. 4What the customer gets. Choose Money back, Store credit, Swap for another item or Warranty claim. An option that does not fit says why, for example a swap after By Amount.
5. 5Check and confirm. Read the summary and confirm. Fixmo then shows what happens next: an approval, a payout, or the claim it opened.

What Happens to Each Item

The four choices keep their names. Under each one, New return says what it does to your stock.

• Restock: good as new. It goes back on the shelf to sell again.
• Damaged: the customer damaged it. It is kept off the shelf.
• Defective: faulty from the factory. It is kept off the shelf, ready to go back to the supplier.
• No Restock: it is not taken back into stock, for example it was used up or thrown away.

What the Customer Can Get

Four ways back, each one a record you already know.

• Money back: a refund, paid out of one of your accounts.
• Store credit: a refund put on the customer's store credit, on Pro and Business. No money leaves an account.
• Swap for another item: an exchange. If the new item costs more, the customer pays the difference. If it costs less, the difference goes back as money, or on their store credit on Pro and Business.
• Warranty claim: the faulty item goes on a claim, on Pro and Business. You then decide on the claim what the customer gets.

Approvals at the Counter

A refund or a swap made by a cashier waits for an admin or manager. So does a claim decision made by someone who does not handle claims.

• The screen says what it is waiting for and shows a box for a security PIN. An admin or manager types theirs, and it is approved in their name.
• They can also approve it from their own account, or from the notification. The waiting screen moves on by itself within a few seconds.
• On a refund, a PIN holder who may also pay refunds out can tick Pay it out now as well.
• Every approval records who approved it, and whether it was by PIN.

Paying Out

Paying a refund out is the shop owner's by default, which keeps the person who approves a refund apart from the person who hands the money back. An admin can approve and pay out in one step with Approve and pay out.

• A refund approved by a manager waits under Waiting for payout, and everyone who can pay refunds out gets a notification.
• Store credit payout requests are in the same list.
• Paying out means choosing the account the money comes from. A store credit refund has no account to choose: one click puts it on the customer's store credit.

Walk-in Customers

A sale made without a customer can still be refunded as money. Store credit and a swap need a customer record, so New return asks for a name and a phone number. A customer with that number is found, even if it was typed with spaces. Otherwise a new customer is added and put on the sale. The sale earns no loyalty points for what was paid before.