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.

[ATD_pro]

I just signed up for Square, and the first transaction, I thought, was a step by step tutorial. I didn't know it was a legitimate transaction that goes to my account. I didn't save it under any name or category, but now it shows that I have a certain amount of money that I actually didn't sell. How do wash this out, to make it an even 0 again?

[nika]

Hey @CJacks- Check out this thread and feel free to ask any follow up questions you might have.

[CJacks]

When I enter the SKU for a particular bar - It brings up all the choices instead of just one scent.

[AshleyK]

@CJacks are these scents variations of one item? I would double check that each SKU is different in your system. If you have these scents as variations, but even a few have the same SKU, it will bring up all options tied to that SKU once the barcode is scanned. 

Also, welcome to the Seller Community! 🙂

[JustinC]

@ATD_pro someone asked a similar question on a different thread. I moved you to it.

[roamingrunway]

I am one of the original posters for this question. I did 2 things: first, I use Quickbooks and enter my daily totals so any adjustments are made when I enter. 2nd, I gave up and moved to Shopify. I haven't had to delete any transactions in Shopify, so I don't even know if it's possible, but I like it much better. I have online and a mobile business with POS. Using Quickbooks keeps all info together anyway so taxes are a breeze.

[Skantze]

Fifty years ago in the early days of minicomputers and in the software development business, we always provided the ability to enter a reverse transaction to correct an error or a negative check payment to void a check.  The audit community accepted this concept of correction with a complete audit trail and notation.  The correct transaction was then re entered.  It all made sense.

[Around]

The businesses I help would greatly benefit from this.  There are issues even when the transaction is refunded:

• The item sales -> items sold is permanently affected by a sale.
• Sales summary graph will show the extra amount. 
• Sales trends in the future will also show the incorrect amount, as you only see gross sales totals.

I believe deleting of transactions is a dangerous power, orphaning some credit card transactions, and a legally binding compliance policy may affect Square's options here.

Perhaps transactions could have a new status flag just like "deactivating a location", it can be absent from all reports but still there in the background if someone is audited?

[fbcamp]

I can't believe the question is 5 years old and still no solution.  I just signed up for square, have done a ton of test transactions and now I want them gone.  Sorry, remembering start date is a very poor work around for square failing to recognize that EVERY new account will go through the same process.  Maybe a hide button or test button or at the very least allow a 1 time reset when done with testing.  I am completely baffled that after 5 years square has failed to recognize that this is an issue.  I now feel my entire reporting data set is going to be forever dirty because of these test transactions.  Regretting my decision to use square.  I no longer have faith in the new features that the sales team said were coming in Q2 this year.  Thankfully there are no contracts here.

[AnetteB]

Hi,

I am fairly new to Square and made a boo-boo today.
I put a payment through under "Others" without acutally receiving the payment. It was certainly my mistake, because I am also starting to take HICAPS payments, so trying to work it all out.

Anyway, I just put it through as a refund, but it still looks like my client has paid.
Can anyone tell me how to reverse a mistake like that?

Thank you

Anette