Can I backdate, edit, or delete a transaction?

[AC]

The title of this post has been edited from the original:  Can you delete a transaction?

How do you delete a completed "Cash" transaction? I ran it just as a test.

[AC]

The title of this post has been edited from the original:  Can you delete a transaction?

[#3]

Hi @TheGlencafe,

Right now we have no plans to add the ability to backdate, delete or manipulate transaction information after a sale is complete. 

For context, the ability to manipulate transactions can cause issues for reporting and chargebacks. Also, it would make it easier for fraudsters and scammers to commit crimes using Square Point of Sale. 

If you have test cash transactions in your transaction history, you can always refund these payments to balance your books. See our help article on how to refund a payment.

Hopefully this has provided some transparency on this request, and why it's not available. 

[#4]

Hello @alexaiezza, welcome to the Seller Community! 

Currently adding the ability to delete a transaction is not on our road map. The reasoning behind this is we use this information to submit 1099-K's to the IRS. I'm not saying you would do this, but it would be easy to cook your books if this ability was available. 

Another request on this thread is to be able to void transactions so they don't show on reports. Currently we are in the process of collecting feedback for this request. I don't have a timeline on when it might be available. 

If you have any other questions please let me know! 

[#5]

@TomTr

I appreciate your feedback in regards to this. I know you've probably read this multiple times within the Seller Community, but we really do send customer feedback over to our Product Teams, and advocate for changes for you.

I absolutely agree that a void feature would help with training and testing, and also make reporting look a lot cleaner as well. You make a great point that with test payments, or payments made by mistake, nothing is ever actually sold, so your gross sales report shouldn't reflect a sale (which is what results when issuing a refund).

As you've alluded to in your previous post, there are two different requests within this thread. Some folks are looking for the ability to completely remove or delete a transaction, which isn't possible at this time. We don’t have any new information around whether or not this will ever become available.

The other option that folks are looking for, having an option to mark payments that have been completed as voided/cancelled rather than refunded, would help sellers a ton and we’ll continue to reiterate that to the team on your behalf.

We know this request is important to you, so as soon as there are updates that we’re able to share publicly, we will.

I hope this provides more clarity, and thank you all, again, for your feedback!

[#6]

Maybe the Square team can find a way to mark the transactions as Void, so that they do not affect sales totals, but neither are the transactions erased.

From an accounting standpoint, I can see why they would not let a transaction just be deleted. There has to be a documentation trail.

When I have to make test transactions, when I refund the transaction I make note that it was a test transaction and that is why it was refunded. There is also the "Accidental Charge" notation available.

Then when I download my sales reports, I sort the test transactions out and make a note in my saved spreadsheet.

[Bruto]

Hi Tom, thanks for getting back to me. So my Gross Sales and more importantly Item Sales are incorrect. How can I adjust the dashboard to accurately reflect my actual sales? Refunding doesn't solve incorrect Gross or Item sales (or Category Sales) in the dashboard making the data incorrect and unreliable.

[SmartyPantsJane]

Hey @Bruto -

Unfortunately, this is something the Square team doesn't seem to understand the importance of for retailers. I've basically had to resort to saying "These numbers are now screwed" and being perpetually annoyed with my staff whenever a mistake is made because there is literally no way to correct these numbers in our reports. And the Square team has not shown any signs that they understand the importance of these reports for our retail businesses. I'm sorry to hear you're having a similar problem.

Best wishes!

[Tom_NewClay]

The Saturday post from Tom, is someone on Squares "service" team.  This insbility to back out a transaction, or run practice sessions makes no sense to me, and Square seemingly refuses to even address it openly.  Maybe what we need to do is start a campaign of posting negative reviews everywhere we can.

[SmartyPantsJane]

@Tom - Has the Square team considered the number of pages in this thread, the frustrated and sometimes angry tone that's coming through, or the current new idea of creating negative reviews to spur action on the team's part (not my idea and not one I endorse), when weighing their decision to create a training function for employers to use with their employees? (Sorry, but videos they can watch will not cut it! They need to interact with the software themselves - like they do with any other app that they learn intuitively as they use it - BUT! We need them to be able to do that without it affecting our data!!!). We ALSO need to be able to effectively UNDO things (admins, not employees) so we can FIX when they've made mistakes and fix it in a way that makes our reports accurate! I can see your team obviously doesn't understand the breadcrumb trail of data we have to follow in our businesses, because if you did, you would be banging out a solution for us as fast as you could!!! 

Sincerely,

A Very Loyal Square User & Champion Who Longs for The World to Be Different

[SugarHillWorks]

Using online payments only (no POS):

Not being able to simply void a mistake transaction is completely ridiculous. Having to let the mistaken charge go through, and then a slow refund on the customer's card is embarassing! Both to me as a business owner, and to Square.

If I had known that there was no way to simply void a transaction, I would have never moved over to Square. Voiding a transaction so it doesn't get sent with the end-of-day batch is basic and has been standard for decades. Not good enough. What is wrong with you Square?

[lynstopnotch]

What if you do not even know where the money is coming from, since I never was able to enter the purchaser's credit card or email address.  Plus I was the one that responded on both sides of this transaction???  Was I charged and received on this one and only transaction I just made today, on December 17, 2018.  There has to be a way to see that this transaction was a mistake. ???  I had used Square for other companies I worked for, but now that I am using this for my own company, it sure has not been easy for me, which I don't understand why either.  Please,  help me.   I don't understand why this transaction went so wrong.

[VanKalkerFarms]

You'll have to explain your story a bit more so I can try and help.  Did you make a cash sale instead of a Credit card sale?  not exactly sure.

[johnbelmont]

I it Possible to delete History data older than 3 years?

[theglasgos]

Nope. Sure is not possible. And feel free to make a request to be ignored for years.  You'll get the standard response they will let the team know and appreciate your suggestion.  Feel free to scroll through and see that same response for years with no change in their system.

[rucharl]

I completely agree.  I am new to the system and have made test transactions and transaction errors that remain in my transaction list.  Most are for $0.00 and are meaningless clutter.  This system should be usable and ammendable and I find it to be neither.  A previous responder used the term 'stubborn' and I am inclined to agree.  If users have been complaining about this for three or more years you should have responded to your customers with a fix.  This is stupid and frustrating and may force me elsewhere..