thread Seeking transaction advice in Payments Troubleshooting

Seeking transaction advice

tdgjrb — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 08:59:46 GMT

We use automated tip allocation for our team member shifts, and I am trying to figure out the "correct" or "best" way to correct a transaction that was entered in error.

For some events that we host, we collect a prepayment (held on a gift card) from the customer that is intended to cover both purchases and staff tips.

In a recent transaction, staff forgot to apply the prepayment and charged the customer via a credit card for the balance that should have been taken from the prepayment (gift card). The customer selected tip amount also differed from the prepayment tip amount.

What I am trying to accomplish with the least pain:

Refund entire credit card payment including tip to customer
Use prepayment gift card DURING TIME PERIOD WHEN STAFF WAS CLOCKED IN (to allocate tips correctly)
Retain item order details from refunded order as they accurately reflect inventory changes

I know how to refund the payment and how to create a new order so that the prepayment gift card can be applied.

But I am not sure how to associate this with a prior shift, both so staff tips are correct AND sales are in the actual period where they occurred.

Any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Re: Seeking transaction advice

TheRealChipA — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 18:42:54 GMT

Hi @tdgjrb. Unfortunately, you are in a catch-22 here. Square does not allow transactions to be changed after they are closed, so there is no way to change the date of the new transaction. It will always be associated with the period in which it was closed.

As for tips, you just have to manually adjust the affected employees’ tips before processing your payroll. If you use Square Payroll, you can to that easily enough in the app/dashboard before submitting your payroll. If not, you can adjust the CSV that you import to your payroll software.

Usually at this point I suggest that sellers submit a feature request. But in your case, as of the date I type this Square has made it abundantly clear that they are not going to consider ever allowing us to change transactions once they are closed — not for any reason. So I’m not going to suggest that you try again. I don’t think there is any reason to try again. Sorry.

Re: Seeking transaction advice

tdgjrb — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 14:08:04 GMT

Hi Chip,

Once again, thanks for providing insight based on your experience.

I can and will adjust the data I send to my payroll processor to reflect things correctly.

I had hoped to have Square reflect the same thing so that if I ever run historical reports, the data reported will match what is in my payroll and accounting records. But this seems too much to hope for.

The one feature I will suggest (or find and support) is that there be a way to remove/reverse/refund a payment without voiding the original order/tab/cart. This was a feature of my prior POS, and it makes a lot of sense and is reflective of the real world.

I'd like to be able to refund payments made in error and then accept a different form of payment for what is otherwise a good order.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond.