How to amend and refund orders

In this article we'll be looking at all things related to amending and refunding orders. We'll cover everything from adding and removing tickets, swapping tickets to new dates, exchanging tickets for product items and full or partial refunds. 

Opening orders for amending

The first thing we need to do is find the order. 

Go to Box Office > Search Orders 

The best way to find the order you need is to use the individual order number, but you can also search for any customer details (name, etc.). You can read about how to Search Orders in more detail if you need more information. 

Once you have found the order you wish to amend:

1. Click the order itself, or on the Additional Options icon (3 dots to the right of the order line) to see the pop-up with the order options.

2. Click on the option to Amend order.

If you need more information on the order before amending, double-click the order to get more information or click the 3 dots and select View order. This will give you the full order and customer details. You can continue the amend by clicking the Amend button next to the Pencil icon (at the top right of your screen).

Once you have selected to amend the order, you will be brought back to the Box Office screen.

You will now see two carts on the screen:

• The cart on the right is the 'Original cart', containing details of the original order. If you find this distracting, click the Eye icon to make it disappear - clicking this icon again (or the arrow at the top left) will make the 'Original cart' reappear.
• The cart on the left is your 'Amending cart'.

How to amend items in the cart

Any line item in the Amending cart can be clicked on to bring up the pop-up box to select tickets. If you are swapping tickets from one price to another, or adding on additional tickets, this is the easiest way to make these changes. 

If you are just removing tickets from the order, the quickest way is via the Manage items / Manage cart buttons (see Partial Refunds for full instructions).

Unreserved events

On unreserved events, the number of tickets at each ticket price can be increased or decreased in this pop-up. When happy, click Update Cart. 

Seated events

On seated events, clicking on the line items in the cart will load up the seating plan, with the current seats in the Cart ticked.

To filter the view to see which seats in the current Cart are at a certain ticket price, click on the desired ticket price. The seats at this ticket price will then change from being ticked to a dot:

To come out of the filter view, just click on the ticket price again. 

In the seating map, current seats in the Cart can then be selected and amended. They can either be deleted from the Cart entirely, or switched to an alternative ticket price. Additional seats can also be added. 

Each change made in the seating plan pop-up box will be updated automatically in the cart. When happy, click the X in the top right corner of the pop-up to return to the Cart view. 

Additional options in the Cart

At the bottom of the Cart (bottom right), there are different action buttons to help you to amend the order:

1. Fulfilment. This allows you to choose how the tickets will be delivered e.g., posted, print at home, etc. Note: You may need to change this if the amended order needs a new fulfilment.
2. Manage cart. We will discuss this in more detail below, but this will bring a pop-up box with a list of all items in the cart so that individual items across multiple events can be easily selected and removed.
3. 3 dots. Clicking this brings up the option to see Cart comments or to Manage permissions. Note: You may need to check the comments for additional info on this order that may affect amending.
4. Cancel amend. This removes the order from the cart and returns it to it's original state.

Using these tools, you can add and remove tickets and other products in the order. Making changes here will also change the amount paid or owed in the process.

Note: Before proceeding you can click the Cancel Amend button to close the order and stop amending. If you do not click 'Cancel Amend' and otherwise exit the screen, the order will end up in a cart and you will need to retrieve it from Carts if you decide to begin amending it again.

Refunding in full

If the the customer wants a full refund for the amount originally paid - no exchanges or donations -  simply remove all items from the cart. 

1. Click Remove all on all the items until the Cart is cleared.

Your cart is now empty with the amount Outstanding displayed at the bottom of the screen with a minus in front of the amount.

2. Click the pink Payment Options button to be taken to the payment screen to complete the full refund.

Under Payment summary you can see the original transaction type. In this example, we have a cash payment that needs to be refunded. Note: The refund process works the same way for all payment types.

Most payment types will display the payment type and amount. Credit card payments will also display the cardholders name along with their cards first and last few digits. In all cases, next to the payment amount you will see the Refund icon (a circular arrow with a dollar sign).

3. Click the Refund icon. 

Now, you will see a Refund payment pop-up.

By default, the Refund payment through will be the same payment method as the original payment and the Refund amount will be total amount (full refund) due back to the customer.

4. You can change the default options if needed (for example, if a customer would like the refund via a different payment method) or leave them and then click Add Refund to confirm the refund.

Important: If the order has a Credit card payment attached to it, please make sure that the refund is definitely going to go ahead before attempting to refund. Once you click Add Refund for a credit card payment, at this point it will be automatically returned to the account it came from, regardless of whether you fully complete the amendment or not.

If you need to cancel out an applied refund at this point, please see Deleting a refund and cancelling an amend below.

The amount that has been refunded will now appear in the top line of the Payment summary.

5. If the the customer would like an email notification of the refund/amendment, make sure that Skip sending confirmation email option in the bottom left is unticked.

If it is ticked, then the changes that were made will apply, but no confirmation email will go out. This is useful if there is a change to the order but you do not need to make the customer aware of an issue. 

6. Once you are happy to complete the refund, click Confirm Order or Confirm & Print.

After confirming the refund, you will see an Order Summary pop up like below:

You're refund has now been completed!

Deleting a refund and cancelling an amend

There may be a point in this process where you may need to cancel the refund you have just made, for example if you have already clicked Add Refund but have realised that the there is a mistake or there is a further change to the order.

1. Before completing the order (clicking Confirm Order etc.), click the Dustbin icon to the right of the refund amount to delete it.

2. In the pop up message, click Delete to confirm that you want to remove the refund.

Important: Deleting a credit card refund will remove the refund from the payments list on the order, but it will not cancel the refund.

As soon as Add Refund is clicked in the refund pop-up box,  it will be automatically returned to the account it came from, regardless of whether you continue to complete the amendment or not. If you have already clicked Add Refund on a credit card payment, then complete the process, confirm the order and re-order the tickets with the customer (if required).

Partial refunds

This method is for when the customer is receiving a partial refund for an order.

1. Go through the same steps to amend an order (as described above), so that you have the order open at the Box Office with your 'Original Cart' and 'Amending Cart'.

2. Click the Manage item button on the order item or . . . 

... or the Manage cart icon. 

3. In the pop-up, you can now manage individual items in the cart. You can see more details for each item, by clicking the Green Arrow icon. 

The Green Arrow icon, breaks down the order to the specific items and tickets within it. 

• The Shows and Products are grouped on a top level by event / product name.
• Clicking the green arrow shows you items grouped by the ticket allocation and pricing type.
• Clicking the next green arrow gives you an expanded list of individual tickets / products within an allocation. 

4. Select the item(s) you want to remove by ticking the box next to it, and then click Remove items from the top right of your screen. 

5. Click Update Cart to apply the changes. 

6. At the bottom of the cart will be the amount outstanding with a minus at the front. Click Payment Options.

7. Complete your refund using the steps above (when you click the Refund icon the partial refund will show - the amount due back to the customer).

Note: When you click the Payment Options button, the Payment summary will show the full amount from the original order. Once you click the Refund icon, the amount you are refunding will be shown and the default payment type (Refund payment through - credit card, cash etc.) will be the same as the original payment method.

Discounting tickets in an amending order

To apply a discount to an existing order, you will need to amend the order. 

1. Open the order you want to amend. 

2. Click the Manage item icon and remove the item(s) from the order first. 

3. Add in the items again. 

4. Click the Manage item icon 

5. Click Discount cart.

Now the various Discount options icons (across the top of the pop up) will be active.

• Discount cart
• Discount items
• Remove discounts

6. Tick the box to Apply discount to booking charges if the discount will include booking charges.

7. Click Discount cart if you want to apply a discount to the whole cart (percentage only), or . . . 

8. Select individual items to be discounted by clicking the items or the Green arrow icon to expand the item list. Discounts are applied as either a percentage off or fixed amount off for each item.

9. Make your changes to an item (or group of similar items) one at a time and be sure to click Update Cart after each change.

Our article on how to apply discounts at the box office has more details!

Exchanging for new tickets

In some cases, a customer may want to use the amount outstanding from an order in exchange for new tickets. Again, you will want to follow the original amend order steps so that you have the order open in an 'Amending Cart'.

1. Click the Manage cart icon and remove the unwanted items.

2. Click Update Cart leaving you with an outstanding amount.

3. In the Box Office listings, select the event and the seats / ticket price as required.

4. Add the new tickets / items into the same cart (as you would with a standard order). 

5. Now you will see the amount Outstanding at the bottom of the screen.

6. Click the Payment Options button if you are happy with the order. 

7. To complete the exchanged order:

• If there is an amount to be returned to the customer, then look at the Payment summary and process the partial refund.
• If the there is an additional payment that needs to made, select payment type and process as normal.

8. When the outstanding amount is 0.00, click Confirm Order or Confirm & Print as normal.

Exchanging for credit, donations and non-refundable items

Money Vouchers (Credit)

Rather than offering a monetary refund, you may have money voucher products like Gift Vouchers or Credit Vouchers that can be given to customers instead as credit.

Before amending your order, make sure you have a money voucher product available for sale in the Box Office with a price of €/£0, but that has "allow price override?" set to On. Read our guide to creating vouchers for more information.

Once a customer decides to take a voucher product like a credit voucher, follow the same procedure you would for exchanging for new tickets. The difference will be that rather than adding additional tickets, you will add a money voucher to the cart.

1. Click the Manage cart icon and remove the unwanted items, leaving you with an outstanding amount.

2. Click the Products tab (upper left next to Events).

3. Search for the credit/gift voucher that you created and click the product. 

4. In the set price override box, fill in the value of the voucher to the monetary amount you want to give the customer in credit and click Update Cart.

5. If all looks good, click the Payment Options button and complete the amendment process.

Important: When you exchange for a money voucher product, be aware that the customer will not have the credit added to their 'account' nor will it be deducted automatically from future payments.

Once the order is completed, a redemption code will be generated that can be used at the Box office or online (if enabled) so that the customer can use the credit on the voucher to pay for future orders at the point of payment.

Donations

The exchange process can also be used to convert a customer's order into a donation. Again, it is the same general procedure as exchanging for new tickets, but using your standard donation product instead.

Before amending your order, make sure you have a donation product available for sale in the Box Office which has "allow price override?" set to On. Check out our guide to creating donation products for more information.

1. Click the Manage cart icon and remove the unwanted items, leaving you with an outstanding amount.

2. Click the Products tab (upper left next to Events).

3. Search for and click the donation product that you created. 

4. In the Custom amount box, fill in the value of the donation the customer has agreed.  Note: Check with the customer if Gift Aid can be added to this item as well before completing the transaction.

5. If all looks good, click the Payment Options button and complete the amendment process.

Non-refundable items

There may be some items on sale that are non-refundable. While this varies from venue to venue and is dependent on individual terms and conditions, usually most booking fees and charges are highlighted as being non-refundable.

You may notice that booking fees & charges are sometimes attached to the ticket prices themselves, so disappear when the they have been removed from the order.

To retain fees and charges when a refund is made, you need to set up a product named after these fees. This will allow you to remove all refundable items from the cart, but retain the money for the non-refundable items. 

Go to Manage > Products

1. Click Add New + (from the top left panel)

2. Select Regular product from the drop down menu.

3. Give the product a name like 'Booking Fee/Levies'.

4. Toggle the following to on (blue): Active product? Can be sold? and Allow price over ride?

5. Enter price '0' or the booking fee or levy.

6. Click Add.

Once set up, you can apply these to the order as you would a credit voucher or donation (as above); remove all items from the original cart and add in the Booking Fee/Levy product to the cart, to the value paid for the item(s) originally.

This process will allow you to remove all refundable items from the cart, but retain the money for the non-refundable items. 

7. As with partial refunds, at the bottom of the cart will be the amount outstanding with a minus at the front.

8.  Click Payment Options.

9. On the left side of the screen you will see the Cart showing the breakdown of the changes including the booking fee/levy and what needs to be refunded to the customer (if there is one). 

10. Complete the payments process as above. If a refund is due, click the Refund icon and you will see the amount you are refunding (refund amount minus the booking fee/levy).

Note: When you click the Payment Options button, the Payment summary will show the full amount from the original order. Once you click the Refund icon, the amount you are refunding will be shown and the default payment type (Refund payment through - credit card, cash etc.) will be the same as the original payment method.  If a confirmation email is sent to the customer, it will now clearly state the the original order has been removed and the non-refundable item will remain.

Additional Notes

• Ideally, you would want to refund like for like. In this case, a cash order should really be refunded as cash.
• Credit card refunds for orders online or over the phone are returned directly to the account they were taken from. If the payment was taken from a PDQ machine, then you will have to pause the refund process and refund the card directly from the machine, then complete the refund once you have confirmation.
• Currently, if an online or phone order with a credit card payment is over 180 days old, the system is unable to refund the amount back to the customer automatically. In these cases, we suggest contacting the customers directly and running the refund as a manual card refund. More information is available in this article.