Help
Log in

Making a refund to a gift card on Shopify POS

If a customer used a gift card to make a purchase and then wants to return the item for a refund, then you can make the refund to the same gift card and its balance is updated automatically.

On this page

Limitations for refunding gift cards with Shopify POS

Before refunding to gift card with Shopify POS, review the following limitations:

  • If you start a return in the Shopify admin, then you can't refund the order to gift card from Shopify POS. To refund to a gift card, start and complete the return from Shopify POS.
  • You can't refund subscription products to a gift card on Shopify POS.

Refund an order to a gift card with Shopify POS

To refund an order that was paid by gift card:

  1. From Shopify POS, tap the Order icon.

  2. Tap the order that was paid for with a gift card, and then tap Return.

  3. Use the + and - icons to enter the quantity that you're refunding.

  4. If the order shows that the customer paid for shipping, then tap Add to include the shipping cost in the refund.

  5. Confirm that the customer information is correct. You can send a refund gift card by email to either the original customer, or to a different customer. You can also remove the customer from the order and refund to a physical card. Tap Edit to make changes.

  1. Optional: Enter a reason for the refund.
  2. Tap Refund.
  3. When the refund is successful, tap Done to return to the order details screen.

Refund to a reloadable gift card with Shopify POS

When using Shopify Payments, you can reload an existing physical or digital gift card on the customer’s profile. There are 2 ways to issue a refund to an existing gift card:

  • Return summary
  • Exchange summary

Refund from Return summary

Steps:

  1. From the Return summary, tap Refund to gift card.
  2. Tap Existing gift card.
  3. Scan the customer’s existing gift card QR code from one of the following locations, depending on the gift card type:
  • The physical gift card QR code is located on the back of the gift card.
  • The digital gift card QR code is located on the original gift card email.
  1. Select receipt option.
  2. Tap Done.

Refund from Exchange summary

Steps:

  1. From the Exchange summary, tap Refund to gift card.
  2. Tap Existing gift card.
  3. Scan the customer’s existing gift card QR code from one of the following locations, depending on the gift card type:
  • The physical gift card QR code is located on the back of the gift card.
  • The digital gift card QR code is located on the original gift card email.
  1. Select receipt option.
  2. Tap Done.

What payment types are eligible to refund on an existing gift card?

Only transactions processed with Shopify Payments are eligible for refunds to be reloaded to an existing gift card.

Refund to gift card for a different customer

If the customer returning the item isn't the original customer, then you can send the gift card to a different email than the one used in the original transaction.

Steps:

  1. From Shopify POS, tap the Order icon.

  2. Tap the order with the items to be returned, and then tap Return.

  3. Use the + and - icons to set the quantity for each product that you're refunding.

  4. In Return summary, toggle Return balance to gift card to activate.

  5. Swipe left on the customer details, tap Remove, and then tap Remove to confirm.

  6. In the Customer section, tap Add customer to add a new or existing customer profile to the gift card.

  7. Optional: Enter a reason for the refund.

  8. Tap Refund.

  9. When the refund is successful, tap Done.

The original order is still associated with the original customer, but you can view the return under Order history > Exchange. To display the information for the new gift card, in the New Items section, tap View order #xxxx to display the gift card and the newly added customer. You can resend receipts from here if needed.