Store credit
A refund issued as credit the customer can spend with you later. A liability, not cash.
In Solo Superstars
Approve a return "as store credit" and the customer sees the balance in their storefront account. Spending it at checkout draws the liability down like a payment.
Store credit never involves cash, which matters on the Cash view. Issuing it does not take money out of your bank, and spending it later does not bring money in. The only cash in the story is what the customer paid originally.
- Choose a cash refund when the customer wants their money back. Choose store credit when they are happy to shop with you again.
- An unspent store-credit balance is money you owe the customer in goods. It shows as a liability on the Balance sheet until it is used.
Example
A $75 return as credit: debit 4900 75, credit 2150 Customer Store Credit 75. Later a $75 order paid with credit: debit 2150 75, credit 4000 75.
A regular returns a $45 bag of House Blend 1kg to Harbor Lane Coffee’s online shop and takes store credit. The café’s bank balance does not change and Customer Store Credit rises by $45. Two weeks later the customer spends the $45 on a different roast; the balance drops back to zero and still no cash has moved.
Codes shown are the defaults a new workspace starts with. Yours may be renamed or renumbered — check Accounting › Chart of accounts. See the full default chart.
Also called
- shop credit
- gift balance
Related
- Refund — Money returned to a customer. Recorded as a negative payment against the original so the invoice’s net stays right.
- 2150 Customer Store Credit — Store credit you have issued to customers from returns or goodwill and they have not spent yet. A liability, not cash.
- Loyalty points liability — What outstanding loyalty points are worth if every customer redeemed them. Redemptions post as contra-revenue, never as cash.
- Credit memo — A document reducing what a customer owes without returning cash, such as a discount after the fact or a goodwill adjustment.
- Cash basis — Counting revenue when money lands and expense when you actually pay. Simpler, and what most sole proprietors file on.