Refunds, Returns, and Credit Notes

When something goes wrong with an order, three different (but related) things might need to happen, and it's easy to mix them up:

• A Refund is about the money — agreeing to give some or all of it back.
• A Return is about the item — the customer physically sending a product back to you.
• A Credit Note is the record that you've actually paid the customer back, once a refund has been agreed.

You don't always need all three — sometimes you'll only issue a refund with no item coming back (for example, the item never arrived), and sometimes a customer sends an item back without asking for money (for example, an exchange). All three live inside the order they belong to, and each also has its own screen that lists every order going through that process, across your whole shop.

RefundsCopy Anchor Link

A refund is how you agree to give the customer some or all of their money back for an order.

Issuing a refundCopy Anchor Link

Moving a refund forwardCopy Anchor Link

Once a refund exists on an order, opening the Refunds action again shows its current amount and status, with buttons that change depending on where it is:

• Pending — click Approve to move it forward, or Reject to decline it. Approving a refund is described in the app as "awaiting item return" — the usual next step is to also handle the physical item coming back, using the Returns process below.
• Approved — click Accept to finalize it. Accepting a refund automatically creates a Credit Note for that amount (see below) — this is the step that actually commits to paying the customer back.
• Rejected — the refund is closed with no further action.

Every one of these steps notifies the customer automatically and is recorded on the order's activity timeline.

The Refunds screenCopy Anchor Link

Beyond handling a refund from inside its order, there's also a dedicated screen listing every order in your shop that has a refund on it. From there you can Search refunds… by order number, customer name, or reason, filter by Status (with a count next to each one), sort Newest first/Oldest first, and approve, reject, or accept a refund directly from the list without opening the order — the same Approve, Reject, and Accept buttons as on the order itself.

ReturnsCopy Anchor Link

A return is about the physical item, not the money — it tracks a customer sending a product back to you.

A return then moves through its own set of stages as the physical item makes its way back to you: Requested → Approved → Received → Accepted, or Rejected instead of Approved if you decline the request. A card on the order screen shows the return's current status, its reason, and any notes, along with how long ago it last changed.

There's also a dedicated Returns screen listing every order with a return on it, where you can move each one forward with the matching button for its current stage — Approve or Reject a newly Requested return, Mark Received once the item physically arrives back from an Approved return, and Accept Return once you've checked it over and it's truly Received.

Credit NotesCopy Anchor Link

A credit note is the record that a refund has actually been paid back to the customer — it's created for you automatically the moment you Accept a refund (see above), so you never create one by hand.

A credit note has its own reference code and starts out with status Pending — agreed, but not yet paid. Once you've actually sent the money back to the customer (by whatever means you use outside the app — bank transfer, cash, store credit, and so on), open the Credit Note action on the order (it shows the amount, its reference, and its status) and click Pay back. This marks it Paid, and the order's activity timeline records that the credit was paid back.

There's also a dedicated Credit Notes screen listing every order with a credit note on it, where you can see its reference, amount, status, and date, and click Pay back on any that are still Pending without opening the order.

How the three fit togetherCopy Anchor Link

A typical damaged-item scenario runs through all three, in this order:

1. The order is delivered. The customer wants to send the item back and be refunded.
2. You click Request Return on the order and record why. You then Approve it, Mark Received once it physically arrives, and Accept Return once you've checked it.
3. Separately, you Issue a Refund for the agreed amount, Approve it, then Accept it — accepting creates a Credit Note.
4. Once you've actually sent the money, you mark the Credit Note as Paid back.

Refunds, returns, and credit notes are tracked separately on the order (an order can have a return without a refund, or a refund without a return), but together they give you — and the customer — a complete record of exactly what was agreed and what's actually been done about it.