Refund a Ticket or a Single Item
Giving money back: full refunds, partial refunds, the text and email that tell the client, what the receipt shows, what happens to commission and tips, and when to use Ignore Previous Payments instead.
Before you refund: is it actually a refund?Copy a link to this section
Three different problems get called "refund", and they have three different fixes.
| The problem | The fix |
|---|---|
| Money should go back to the client | A refund. This page. |
| Right money, wrong payment method | Ignore Previous Payments at checkout. See Fix a payment taken as cash. |
| Right money, wrong ticket contents | Edit the ticket. With Add Transaction After Ticket Update on, the difference is recorded for you. |
Refunding and re-charging when you only needed to fix the method creates two extra transactions and confuses the day's numbers.
RefundingCopy a link to this section
Open the ticket and press Refund, or refund one payment from the ticket's transactions. You can refund the whole amount or part of it: Simple (an amount), By Item (tick the lines) or By Category (price, tip, tax and fees). A partial refund leaves the rest of the transaction intact and refundable later. This works the same on the web and in the Perceny app.
Whether you can do this at all is a permission on the Ticket category. Keep it narrow. Without it, the same button files a refund request for a manager to approve, and nothing moves until they do.
Letting the client knowCopy a link to this section
When the ticket has a client, the refund dialog has a Send Notification switch, on by default: "Text and email the client that the refund was processed, with a link to their receipt." Leave it on and the client gets a text and an email saying:
- how much was refunded, and where it went (the card ending in 4242, cash, store credit, a gift card),
- for a partial refund, how much of what they paid has gone back so far,
- for a card refund, that it usually shows on their statement within 5 to 10 business days,
- a link to their receipt.
Turn the switch off when you have already told the client in person. On a refund request, the choice waits with the request and the client is told when a manager approves it, not before.
The message follows the same rules as the appointment messages. It goes by text and email (no push), only to the details on the client record, never to a client who opted out, and texts to numbers outside the US and Canada use credits. You can turn it off for the whole business, or on one channel, under Features Configuration → Communications (Refund Processed), and rewrite it under Messaging → Templates. If a published workflow on Ticket Refunded is set to replace it (the Refund Follow-Up template, for example), the workflow sends instead, so the client never hears twice.
Refunds Perceny makes on its own, such as giving back a deposit when an appointment is canceled, do not send this message. The cancellation notice already covers them.
What the receipt showsCopy a link to this section
The client's receipt (the link in the message, which opens in the Perceny Go and branded apps too) lists every payment and every refund as its own dated line with its card or method, then Refunded and Net Paid. The status reads Partially Refunded or Refunded, not "Partially Paid", so a client checking a partial refund sees exactly what went back.
Refunding one itemCopy a link to this section
If a client is returning one product from a ticket with five things on it, edit the ticket to remove that item rather than refunding the whole payment. With Add Transaction After Ticket Update on, Perceny records the difference as a refund automatically, and the rest of the ticket keeps its history.
What a refund does to commissionCopy a link to this section
Commission is calculated from the ticket. Reduce what the ticket earned and the commission follows it, in the pay period the ticket belongs to.
Two consequences worth knowing:
- Refunding a ticket from a closed pay period moves money in a period you may already have paid out. Check the stylist's balance afterwards.
- If Refresh Previous Tickets Commission is on and rates have changed since, the recalculation uses the current rate.
What a refund does to tipsCopy a link to this section
A tip is part of the payment. Refunding the payment refunds the tip with it.
If the stylist has already been paid that tip (because Transfer Tips to Stylists is on, or because a cash-tip instant payout handed it over), the money has left the business and the refund creates a shortfall against that stylist's balance. It is recoverable, but it is worth knowing before you refund a large tip.
What a refund does to the processing feeCopy a link to this section
A card refund gives the client the full amount back, but the processing fee on the original charge is not returned. The refunded share of it is taken from your Stripe balance straight away; see Money you owe Perceny for what happens when the balance cannot cover it.
What a refund does to the cash drawerCopy a link to this section
A cash refund comes out of the drawer, and the register reflects it. A card refund goes back to the card and does not touch the drawer.
Refunds you cannot makeCopy a link to this section
- More than was charged. Each transaction tracks how much of it has already been refunded.
- A payment that never cleared. If the charge failed, there is nothing to give back; the ticket simply still has a balance.
- A dispute. Once a client has disputed a charge with their bank, it leaves the refund path. See Handle a payment dispute.
Prepayments and depositsCopy a link to this section
A deposit taken at booking is refundable up to the point set by Non-Refundable Window (Minutes)
on the Payment Settings tab. 0 means never refundable; -1 means always refundable. Past the
window, the deposit is yours to keep, which is the entire reason for taking one.