Creating a MANUAL Return Item

[TwoScoops]

When we first signed up with Square; we were disappointed that there was not the ability to create a manual return item - that we can only do a return on an actual transaction.

For example, we sell soda in returnable bottles. When the customer returns the bottle - they receive .50 back for the bottle deposit.

On Shopkeep - we had an Item Button for the "Bottle Return .50"; and were able to create a manual return and attach it to this button.  Now, we have to have a post-it note sitting by the cash register and make little tally marks on it.

Anyone else here having similar issues?

[EJ_]

That's a very interesting feature request. 

I'll definitely let our Product Team know about this. 

The only thing that comes to mind would be to create an actual item "Bottle Return .50" and price them at $0.00. 

While you wouldn't be able to track a negative sale, it would at least allow you to better track the number of bottle returns you get rather than marking tallies. 

[Riot]

Have you guys managed to come with a solution to handle the bottle deposit?

We are a micro brewery using Square and while we serve most of our customers sleeves and tasting flights, we also sell 22oz. bottles and 6-packs cans. These packaged products require both a bottle deposit ($0.10 per bottle) and can deposit ($0.10 per can). 

I have 2 discounts set up for both Bottle Deposit - Return and Can Deposit - Return.

Wanted to try it this morning for the 1st time and it doesn't let me do it. The customer has to buy something in order for me to give him $0.10 back and I find this really annoying. When would you guys be able to come up with a negative sales amount to handle returns/deposit on products such as bottles and cans?

[Tom]

Hey @Riot, welcome to the seller community and thanks for bringing this up!

We recently released a Comp and Void feature, which allows you to remove an item or charge from the customer bill without losing track of those details in your reporting. For example, you could comp your customer $0.10 with the reason "bottle deposit" when closing out the sale.

These comps will be tracked in your Sales Summary, and you can also send your customer a receipt if they wish.

Example receipt:

Hope this option helps. Please don't hesitate to reply with any other questions or concerns.

[Riot]

@Tom That's great but was happens if someone comes in and only wants to return the bottles without purchasing anything?

I couldn't make it work, I can't apply a so-called "discount" for a $0.10 without adding an item. So how I am supposed to deal with these specific customers? When they come to my place, they buy cans and bottles and we charge them for the deposit, so I would look stupid if I can't accept their cans/bottles back.

HELP NEEDED!

[Tom]

Thanks for your reply, @Riot, and sorry for the confusion — I was envisioning that all of your customers remained on location at the microbrewery. If the payment is already closed out, then the comp suggestion won't work. As EJ mentioned, negative sales are still is not available within the app.

I went to check on this further and it does not look like collecting security deposits/negative sales are something on our roadmap right now. I will certainly share your example with our Product Liaison team and we'll circle back with any updates.

[Cheeselady]

We have a small creamery where we sell milk in gallon jars with a $5 deposit.  When a customer returns a jar we give them credit, including cash out if necessary.  Any help with this?  EVERY milk customer (and we have many) does jars in and out so it is a BIG deal.  A Jar Return button would be awesome.

[mantracoffee]

You referenced creating a .10 comp feature.  How do you customize the amount to comp?  

[Tom]

Hi @mantracoffee, thanks for pointing this out. At this time, the ability to customize the amount of the comp or comp a partial amount of an item/sale is not available.

As a workaround, my best suggestion would be to go with the discount option. Otherwise, you could add a custom sale amount/item at the appropriate price to be comped > add a note > Comp Item.

Hope this helps clear things up! Please let me know if you have any other questions about this. 🙂

[Cheeselady]

No!  Discount takes the amount off of EVERY item they purchase instead of a one time set return amount.

[dakotaharvest]

You could create a discount for bottle return for the 50 cents. At least then you'd get to track the value and the number of bottles returned. The only problem you'd have is if they wanted to return the item and not purchase anything else.

In that situation you'd have to try to do a refund. The workflow wouldn't be pretty for it since you need to issue refunds via an actual transaction. Finding those transactions from a big list if they don't have a receipt handy would be difficult. In that situation, creating the zero dollar item for a bottle could be done with cash removed from the till for the bottles. If you wanted to try to use the "Cash Management" feature, you might be able to track the cash so the reports stay up to date. (It might still require a little work to combine the 2 types when closing out your books.)

https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5152-cash-drawer-management

You could keep bottle returns all using the same workflow separate from a normal transaction if you wanted to keep it consistent.

[Wayward]

All discounts are applied pre-tax. I have to charge 15% tax on alcohol sales. If we set a $0.50 discount then the pre-tax amount drops by $0.50, resulting in a 57.5c reduction in total price.

[MJS]

We have the same issue in our store.  Hope this can be resolved soon.

[EJ_]

@MJS As this feature request seems to be picking up interest from sellers, hopefully our Product Team can get something in the works that will help out. 

If we make any changes we'll be sure to update everyone. 

[NorOak]

We also have a need for processing and tracking returns at our business.  Posted in an effort to let the product team see the need by your users.

[alawren9]

We have the same in issue in our store. Discounts don't work as a way to handle deposit returns as they are applied pre-tax, which lowers the overall amount that should be taxed. A fix would be greatly appreciated. 

[Pop-Pops]

Our follow-up question: How to process the bottle. Deposit refund? Square does not handle returns, except as a "cash-out" from the cash drawer. While this is workable, it requires adding a note to the cash out for accounting purposes.  Does anybody have a better way?

[Helen]

This reply was created from merging an existing thread: Bottle Deposit

Hi 👋 @Pop-Pops. I moved your follow up question here so you can read current workarounds and discussion about how to manage returned bottles. You might have seen this thread by now but I hope it helps! 

[wildflourgrocer]

Has there been any traction with this feature request yet? We have square for our indoor farmers market and deal with milk bottle deposits. We set up a variable discount for it, but that seems to be applied to every item instead of being a separate item with the total discount. This messes up our reporting and also makes us go through items manually to make sure we aren't doing any unnecessary discounts. 

[Tom]

Hey @wildflourgrocer,

Welcome to the seller community and thanks for checking in. Sorry to hear about the issues this is causing with reporting. I went to look for updates on this request and there still isn't anything that we can access and share out. Right now, dollar amount discounts are applied to an entire sale. If possible, you may want to go with a percentage discount, which can be applied to a single item.

Hope this helps for now—we'll circle back with any other updates and please let us know if any other questions come up.

[nossapdx]

We have this need as well.  Hope this gets resolved soon!