Invoice Refunds and Discounts

This article describes the process for issuing refunds and adding discounts an invoice. For information on applying payments to an invoice, see Payments.

This article contains the following sections:

• Issuing a Refund
• Add Discounts to a Paid Invoice

Issuing a Refund

While deleting a payment deletes history of the original payment, issuing a refund will keep a historical record of the original payment received, while allowing a refund to be issued.  

A Refund Due can originate in a variety of ways, most commonly: an overpayment on an invoice with the Apply To Balance due option selected, or issuing a discount on an already paid invoice.

1. Navigate to the appropriate auction from the Dashboard, then select Accounting > Invoices.
2. Search for a bidder by entering a name or paddle number into the Search field.
   • Use the Filter by Unpaid drop-down to filter out fully paid or unpaid invoices.
3. Click on the appropriate invoice to open it and then click the Dollar Sign icon in the top right corner of the page.
4. On the Payments tab, click on the Issue Refund button. The Refund window will open.
5. Select the Refund Method from the drop-down. It does not have to be the same method as the original payment received. 
   
   • Company Check: To write the bidder a check from the company checking account.
   • Return Check: If the original payment check was voided or returned.  
   • Credit: For refunding a credit card. This will NOT process a credit through a Payment Gateway, it will only indicate that a credit refund was issued for accounting purposes. The actual credit refund must be issued through the Payment Gateway directly.  
   • Other: Additional Payment Types can be created at the Company level. For information on creating these other Payment Types, see Payments.
6. In the Amount field, enter the refund amount.
   • If the invoice has a "Refund Due", the amount will automatically pre-populate.
7. Make any necessary Notes.
8. Click the Save button.
9. The refund will be reflected in parentheses on the Payments tab. Amounts in parentheses represent negative transactions.
   • The refund will also appear as a negative transaction anywhere payments are reported on (Payment Summary Report, Auction Summary Report, Payments screen, etc.)
10. Return to the invoice to see how the refund was applied.
    •  The Refund issued to the bidder will be visible in the bottom right corner of the invoice.
    • If the refund resulted in the invoice becoming 'Unpaid', and it needs to be returned to a 'Paid In Full' status, see the information below for adding a discount to paid invoice.

Reporting

After the auction, a list of refunds entered for the event can be found on the Reconciliation Report. For more information on this report, see the 'Reporting' section of the Invoices Page help article.

Add Discounts to a Paid Invoice

A discount can be recorded on an invoice by adding a Negative Fee. Prior to adding a Negative Fee, a fee titled "Discount" or "Refund" will need to be created at the Company level. For information on creating a fee, see Fee Management.

1. Once the fee had been created, it can be applied by navigating to the applicable invoice and selecting Add Invoice Fee from the Actions drop-down.
2. Select the appropriate discount or refund fee from the Type drop-down.
3. Enter a Description. This description will appear on the invoice.
4. Enter a negative amount into the Amount field (ex. -10.00).
5. Click the Save button.
6. The discount will be applied and the invoice will display two new items:
   1. • A new line item with the fee Description and the corresponding updates to the Sub Total.
      • A Refund Due amount.

Reporting

A list of fees (including discount fees) that were applied to an event can be viewed by navigating to the applicable auction from the Dashboard, then selecting Accounting > Reports > Fees.

Related Articles:

• Invoice Guide
• Payments
• Payment Gateways