How do I refund a Point of Sale payment?
As you take payments with Point of Sale, your money is visible and accessible in the PayPal balance, typically within minutes. This helps improve cash flow and liquidity, allowing quick access to your money. There’s no extra cost or fee for this feature.
As Point of Sale no longer holds a balance, refunds are taken from your PayPal balance, and it’s impossible to set a minimum balance from Point of Sale.
While refunds are initiated through Point of Sale, the PayPal balance won't become negative when refunding if you don't have enough in your PayPal balance.
It’s advisable to always maintain a PayPal balance to cover potential refunds with this in mind.
Here's how to view card payments in your PayPal account:
- Go to your Activity.
- Select the payment you want to view.
You’ll see a Point of Sale receipt ID and a breakdown of the transaction:
- Purchase total
- Gross amount
- PayPal fee
- Net amount
- Tip/ gratuity
Here’s how to view card payments refunded via Point of Sale in your PayPal account:
- Go to your Activity.
- Select the payment you want to view.
You’ll see the refund to your customer and a separate note for a reversal of the PayPal fee.
Your refund will show as a partial refund if you’ve decided not to refund tips.
Tips:
- Please don’t attempt to transfer money between your Point of Sale and PayPal balance. We also advise you not to try to refund a successful transfer from Point of Sale to your PayPal balance. These features aren’t supported.
- When the money is transferred to your PayPal balance, you can keep it in your PayPal account, use it to make purchases, or withdraw it to your bank account.
- QR payments are already transferred directly into your PayPal balance and aren’t subject to any delays due to additional security verifications.
Full refunds can be issued in the Point of Sale App and your Point of Sale online account; however, partial refunds are currently only available via the app. Refunds can be made up to 365 days after the payment date.
Here’s how to issue a refund in your Point of Sale:
- Log in to your Point of Sale online.
- Go to 'Receipt & Invoices' and click Receipts.
- Find the payment you want to refund (you might need to adjust the dates to locate it or search with the receipt number).
- Click on the payment, then click Refund.
- Confirm the refund by clicking Yes, Refund.
- Enter your password if you’re refunding a card payment, then click Refund.
If you use the Cash Register functionality, you can only issue refunds via the Point of Sale App.
Here's how to issue a refund in the Point of Sale App:
- Open the Point of Sale App.
- Tap Receipts in the main menu.
- Choose the payment that you want to refund.
- Tap Refund.
- Tap Select all (if you sell products from your product library, you can return the purchased items to the inventory by toggling “Return item to inventory”).
- Tap Next.
- Review and confirm the refund.
- Enter your password to finalize the refund.
- Ask your customer if they want the receipt.
- Tap Done.
Good to know:
- You can refund both cash and card payments.
- Refunds of card payments may take a few business days to appear in your customer’s bank account.
- When you refund a card payment, the amount is transferred back to the same card used to pay for the product/service.
- If a customer redeems a gift card and wants a refund, the money is returned to the card and can be used again.
- When you refund a card payment, the fee is paid back to you.
- It’s not possible to partially refund a sale that was paid using multiple methods, such as a sale that was paid in part with a credit card and in part with a gift card.
Multisite and refunds
If you’re using the Multisite feature, you can issue refunds in your Point of Sale online or in the Point of Sale App.
- You can only refund payments where they originated. For example, a sale at site A can only be refunded at site A. You can switch to the original sale site using the Point of Sale App.
- To refund payments from a deactivated site, reactivate the site in the Multisite settings in your Point of Sale online. Once reactivated, switch to the site and issue the refund in the app.