Remove items from an order

A customer changes their mind after the order is placed — one fewer trophy, no engraving after all, an item they no longer need. You don’t have to cancel the order and start again. Press Remove on the line, check what the change does, and confirm. If the customer has already paid more than the order now comes to, the difference is refunded in the same step.

You can remove items from an order that is:

• Open — not paid yet, such as a dine-in tab still being rung up.
• Part-paid — a deposit taken, balance still owing.
• Completed — paid in full. Removing an item from a paid order refunds it.

Canceled orders, quotes and returns can’t have items removed. To change a quote, see Edit a quote.

Who can remove an item

Anyone with the Sell permission can remove an item, the same as adding one. There’s no reason to enter, and every removal is recorded on the order (see See what was removed).

A removal that refunds money also needs the Process returns permission, the same as any other refund. Managers have it by default. A cashier without it can still remove an item that refunds nothing, but not one that refunds the customer:

• On a completed order, Remove only appears for someone who can process returns.
• On the web back office, a removal that would refund money is refused with You don’t have permission to refund. Ask a manager to remove this item.

Remove an item

1. Go to Sales → Orders and open the order.
2. On the Details tab, press Remove on the line you want to take off. The Remove from order box opens.
3. Under How many to remove, enter how many to take off (it starts at the whole line). Press Review.
4. Read the summary — see Check the change before you confirm. If a refund is due, choose Cash or Card under Refund to.
5. Press Remove — or Remove and refund $X.XX when money goes back. Press Back to change the quantity first.

When it’s done you’ll see Item removed above the order’s lines, with what came off and the new total. Press Done to close it.

The Remove from order box also has a How removing items works link, which opens this page.

Check the change before you confirm

Nothing changes until you confirm. First Swann Retail works out exactly what the removal will do and shows it to you, so you’re never guessing at a refund:

On screen	What it shows
Removing	The item and how many are coming off.
Order total	The total before the removal.
New total	The total once the item is gone. Not shown on a paid order — see below.
Paid	What the customer has paid on the order.
Still owed	What’s left to pay after the removal, when nothing is refunded.
Refund in cash	The amount going back to the customer. It reads Refund to card for a card refund.

The new total is worked out again for the whole order — tax, and any order discount spread across the remaining lines — so read the figures shown rather than adding them up yourself.

What happens to the money

What a removal does depends on how much has been paid.

Nothing paid yet, or still owing after the removal

The order total drops and the balance due drops with it. No money moves, and any deposit you took stays exactly as it was. The order stays open or part-paid, and you collect the rest as usual (see Collect the balance at pickup).

If the removal leaves the order owing exactly nothing, it completes the order there and then — the summary says This completes the order. Nothing will be owed. Nothing is refunded, because nothing was overpaid.

Removing takes the order below what was paid

Say a $100.00 order has an $80.00 deposit, and you remove a $40.00 item. The order now comes to $60.00 — $20.00 less than the customer has paid. In one step, Swann Retail:

• removes the item and sets the order total to $60.00,
• refunds the $20.00 difference to the customer, and
• completes the order, because it’s now paid in full.

The deposit itself is never changed — it stays on the order as paid, and the refund is recorded beside it as a separate payment back to the customer. On the order’s Payments tab it shows as Refunded, and the order’s footer lists it as Refunded to customer.

Removing an item from a paid order

On a completed order, the summary says This order is paid, so removing an item refunds it to the customer.

A finished sale is never rewritten. Removing the item records a return against the sale, exactly as Return items does — so it appears in the order’s returns, the item goes back into stock, and the refund is counted as a return in your reports (see Returns & refunds). After the removal, the web back office links to it with View the refund.

You can only remove what hasn’t already been returned. A delivery fee on a paid order comes off whole — the box says The delivery fee is refunded in full.

Cash or card refund

The refund goes back on the rail you choose under Refund to:

• Cash comes out of the till. The web reminds you to Pay $X.XX out of the till to the customer. With a till open, it’s taken off the drawer’s expected cash so the day still reconciles at close: a refund on a paid order shows on the Z-report under Cash refunds, and a refund of an overpaid deposit under Paid out. If your store requires an open till for cash refunds and none is open, you’re asked to open one first.
• Card is recorded, not processed — do the refund on your own card terminal. It never comes out of the till. The web says Refund $X.XX on your card terminal. It does not come out of the till. A card refund can’t be more than was paid by card on the order.

On the web, the refund starts on whichever way the order was paid. If it was paid partly in cash and partly by card, you’re asked to choose.

After the refund, the web shows Refunded $X.XX in cash. Pay it out of the till to the customer. or Refunded $X.XX to the card. Do the refund on your card terminal.

The customer’s receipt and email

If the order has a customer with an email on file, the receipt for the refund is emailed to them. When a removal completes an overpaid order, the receipt lists what they paid and then a Cash refunded (or Card refunded) line for the difference, so the figures add up to the new total. You can print or email it again from the order like any receipt (see Receipts).

The refund also reaches your accounting the same way any refund does — see QuickBooks if you’ve connected it.

When the order has an invoice

What happens depends on where the invoice stands:

• Not yet sent — you can remove items as normal.
• Sent to the customer — the removal goes ahead, and the invoice you sent is voided and a new invoice is issued for the new total in the same step. Nothing is sent automatically. The web says The invoice you sent was voided and a new one issued for the new total. Send the new invoice to the customer. — send it from the order’s invoices when you’re ready.
• Written off as uncollectible — the order is frozen: This order’s invoice was written off, so its items can’t be changed. Start a new order instead.

Stock

• On an open or part-paid order, a stocked item that was held for the order is released back to your available stock.
• On a paid order, the removed item is restocked as part of the return.

See what was removed

Every removal is kept on the order. On the web back office, open the order’s Payments tab: Lines removed from this order lists each removal — When, Removed by, What was removed, and the Order total after it. It appears under the list of items added to the order, so the two read as one record of how the order changed. An order nothing was removed from doesn’t show it.

When a removal is refused

Message	What to do
Removing these items would take this open tab below what has already been paid on it. Settle the tab first, then refund the item.	An open tab has had payments taken on it. Settle the tab, then remove the item from the paid order to refund it.
The order’s discount is more than what would be left after removing this. Remove or lower the discount first.	A fixed discount no longer fits the smaller order. Change the discount, then remove the item.
This order changed while you were reviewing it. Close this window, check the order, and try again.	Someone else changed the order. Reopen it and start again.
The order total changed since you reviewed it. Go back and review the removal again.	Press Back and Review again.
That’s more than was paid by card on this order. Choose Cash, or refund to the card on a smaller removal.	Refund in cash instead.
Items can’t be removed from this order.	The order is canceled, or isn’t a sale.

A few more limits:

• You can’t remove the last item. An open or part-paid order needs at least one line. To drop everything, cancel the order instead (see Cancel a deposit (refund)).
• One removal is final. There’s no undo — to put an item back, add it to the order again while it’s still open or part-paid (Add to a deposited order).