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      How to Create a Store Credit for Customers

      Currently, LOU doesn’t have a feature to handle Store Credit on your Customer Accounts. However, there is a process that will allow you to create a Store Credit to be applied to future Invoices.

      This process is for those times where you need to add a credit to a Customer’s account without processing a refund. This process can work for things like offering gift certificates, adding a goodwill customer service credit to an account, and any other situation where you do not have another transaction resulting in a credit on the Customer’s account.

      This workflow can work for gift certificate balances as well. 

       

      To create a Store Credit option, the following should be set up.
      • Customers
        • This may seem like a no-brainer, but you will need to assign Store Credit to specific Customers. To do so, you need to have Customers set up.
      • In Payment Methods, you’ll create an Other Method called something like Store Credit.
        • Use your best judgment for the GL Account you assign to this Payment Method. For advice on the appropriate GL Account, contact your CPA.

       

      Once you have those things set up, you will apply a Store Credit as an On Account credit for the Customer by processing a Payment and choosing the Store Credit Payment Method.

      Let’s process a credit so you can see what that looks like.

      1. Go to Payments
      2. Select On Account.
      3. Create the Transaction by entering all the necessary information.
        1. Choose your Customer
        2. Enter the Amount
        3. Click the Other button to select an Other Payment Method
        4. Select Store Credit in the dropdown.
        5. Enter a Reference ID if you like. This field is not a note field but it is alphanumeric.
        6. To enter a Note, use the Comment field.
        7. Click Save & Close

      This creates an Unapplied Payment attached to the Customer’s Account. This Payment will show on your Payments screen under All Payments and Unapplied Payments, as well as on the Customer Profile.

       

      Apply Account Credit

      You can apply the Account Credit to an Invoice in LOU Web or to a POS transaction on LOU Retail POS.

      For LOU Retail POS transactions, head here.

       

      Apply Account Credit on LOU Web Orders

      The quickest way to apply an Account Credit to an Invoice in LOU Web is to do the following:

      1. Create a Sales or Work Order.
      2. Invoice the Order.
      3. Go to the Customer Profile / Payments
      4. Click the Unapplied Payments button.
      5. Select the Unapplied Payment for the Store Credit.
      6. Double click or click Actions / Payment Profile to access the Payment Profile.
      7. Click Applied To in the blue Outcome Box
      8. A list of Pending Invoices for the Customer will be listed in the Apply box. Click Apply To next to the Invoice to which you want to apply the Store Credit.
      9. On the Apply Amount pop-up, you can choose Apply Full Amount or Apply Partial Amount.
      10. Click Apply
      11. You will return to the Payment Profile. The Unapplied Amount will update according to the applied amount options you chose. If you applied the full amount, the Unapplied Amount will show $0.00.

      The Invoice will be updated to reflect the applied amount. If it satisfies the Invoice, the status will update from Pending to Complete.