How do I refund a cash on delivery order?

With cash on delivery, your customer pays the driver at the door, so no money reaches the order until you record that the cash was collected. This article explains what to do at each point: before the order ships, when the customer refuses the parcel, after the cash is in your hands, and when items come back.

Not collected yet: nothing to refund

Until you record the cash, the order’s payment shows Awaiting collection: nothing has been taken yet. So the Refund payment card on the order’s Operations tab shows No refundable payment — This order has no captured payment with a balance left to refund.

The Refund payment card saying No refundable payment — Before the cash is recorded, the order holds no money to give back.

That is correct, not a fault. What you do next depends on where the order is:

It has not left with the delivery provider: cancel it.
The customer refused the parcel, or the provider brought it back: nothing was collected, so there is nothing to refund. Mark the shipment returned to sender, and the order is cancelled for you.
It was delivered and the driver collected the cash: record the cash first, then refund it.

Before it ships: cancel the order instead

If your customer changes their mind before the parcel leaves, cancel the order. You can cancel while the order is Awaiting payment, Awaiting confirmation, Confirmed, Preparing or Ready to ship, as long as the delivery provider has not picked it up. If you already created a shipment, set it to Cancelled on the Fulfilment tab first; until you do, cancelling is refused with Cancel or delete active shipments before cancelling the order., which appears in English.

Open the order and select the Operations tab.
In the Manage order card, select Cancel order.
Type why in Cancellation reason.

The Cancel order dialog with a cancellation reason typed in — The reason is required. If the customer gave an email, it goes to them in the cancellation email.

Select Cancel order in the dialog. You see Order cancelled.

Any stock the order was holding goes back, and the customer gets a cancellation email with your reason if their email is on the order. Because no cash changed hands, there is nothing to give back. For every detail, including a shipment you already created, see cancel an order.

Refused at the door: the order cancels itself

When the customer refuses the parcel, update its shipment to Returned to sender on the Fulfilment tab. See Refused at the door: returned to sender.

Because the cash was never collected, that one step closes everything:

the order becomes Cancelled, with the payment Not collected, and leaves Needs attention;
every item in the parcel goes back in stock;
any gift card balance, loyalty points and discount code use on the order are given back;
the cancellation reason is the description you typed on the shipment, or "Shipment returned to sender."

A refused cash on delivery order after the update: stage Cancelled, payment Not collected, fulfilment Cancelled, shipment Returned to sender and the message Shipment status updated — Refused at the door: the order is cancelled and its items are back in stock. There is nothing to refund.

The customer gets no email for this step. Marking an unpaid parcel Returned to sender cancels the order, so it needs the Cancel orders permission as well as Manage shipments; see roles and permissions.

After delivery: record the cash first

Once the driver has collected the cash, the order’s Order stage reads COD to collect and Payment reads Awaiting collection, until you record it.

A delivered cash on delivery order with Mark collected as its next step — The order was delivered, but the cash is not recorded yet. Mark collected is the next step.

On the order’s Overview tab, under Next step, select Mark collected. The Operations tab opens.
In the Mark manual payment paid card, fill in Payment reference and Payment note, for example the delivery provider’s receipt number and who handed over the cash.
Select Mark paid, then confirm.

The payment now shows COD collected, and the Refund payment card offers the amount collected. Record the cash collected explains this step in full.

Giving the money back to your customer

NoqtaShop never holds cash on delivery money, so it cannot send a refund for you. You pay your customer back yourself, in cash or by a transfer such as CliQ, and then record it on the order so your figures and stock stay right.

Recording a cash refund for one item of a delivered order, from the order page to the confirmation.

Pay your customer back.
On the order’s Operations tab, scroll to the Refund payment card. It reads: The customer paid in cash, so you pay this back in cash yourself. Recording it here updates the order; no money moves through NoqtaShop.

The Refund payment card of a delivered cash on delivery order, with the full amount and a reason typed, and a preview that takes back 110 points — The card says the customer paid in cash, and its button reads Record cash refund.

Enter what you paid back: keep or change the amount in Refund amount, or tick Refund selected items and choose the items. The preview works exactly as for any refund; see refund an order.

Refund selected items ticked, with 1 for the satchel and 0 for the dress, and a preview of JOD 58.000 with 58 points taken back — One satchel selected: 58.000 to record, 58 points taken back, and a reminder that the refund does not put items back in stock.

When the order earned your customer loyalty points on delivery, the preview also shows Points taken back from the customer: the share of those points that this refund takes back, so a full refund takes back all of them. See gift cards and points in a refund.

In Refund reason, say why and how you paid, for example Paid back 58.000 by CliQ — the abaya was too long.
Select Record cash refund. A dialog asks you to confirm: Record this only once you have paid the customer back in cash.

The Record cash refund dialog with Cancel and Record cash refund — Nothing is sent to a payment provider: only the order is updated.

Select Record cash refund in the dialog. You see Cash refund recorded.

The order page after recording the satchel’s refund: the card now offers the JOD 52.000 left, with 52 points left to take back, and the message Cash refund recorded — The message confirms the cash refund is on the order. The card now offers only what is left.

Warning

Record a cash refund only after the money is back with your customer, and only for the amount you actually paid. It cannot be undone, and recording it does not move any money.

After you record it:

The order’s Order stage and Payment change to Refunded, or Partially refunded if you paid back only part.
The Activity timeline gains three lines: Cash refund recorded for the payment; Payment refunded, or Payment partially refunded, for the order’s new status; and Refund recorded by staff, with who did it.
Stock comes back only as the preview said. A parcel that was delivered is restocked by a return, not by the refund.
We do not email your customer about a cash refund. Tell them yourself when you hand the money back.

The activity timeline of a refunded cash order, with Cash refund recorded and Payment refunded — Cash refund recorded carries the collection’s reference; Payment refunded carries the reason you typed.

An order part-paid with a gift card

When a gift card or loyalty points paid part of the order, the driver collected only the rest: the order’s Order total shows it as Amount to collect. The cash you record is then the customer’s cash share, and the gift card’s share goes back onto the card by itself, in the same proportion. The preview shows it as Back on the gift card.

The Refund payment card of a cash on delivery order part-paid with a gift card: refund JOD 48.500, Back on the gift card JOD 50.000 and 98 points taken back, with Record cash refund — The whole order: 48.500 in cash from you, and 50.000 back onto the customer’s gift card.

Items coming back: create a return

If your customer is sending items back, handle it as a return rather than a plain refund, so the items go back into stock when they arrive.

This works once the cash is recorded as collected, on a delivered order, a completed one, or one already partly returned or refunded. Without the cash recorded, Refund return is refused with No captured payment is available to refund.: record the cash first.

On the order’s Operations tab, open Create return on behalf of customer, choose the items and quantities, type the reason and select Create support return.
When the parcel reaches you, select Mark received on the return. The items go back into stock.
Select Refund return. A Record cash refund dialog shows the amount for the returned items: their price and their tax, never shipping. It also says which loyalty points are taken back, and what goes back to a gift card when one paid part of the order.

The Record cash refund dialog of a return: Record JOD 49.000 paid back in cash for the returned items, only once you have handed it to the customer. Nothing is sent to a payment provider. — The dialog names the exact figure to pay back for the returned items.

Pay your customer back that amount for those items.
Select Record cash refund in the dialog. You see Cash refund recorded. If you also paid back the delivery fee, record it afterwards as an amount on the Refund payment card.

Returns are on Starter and up. Handle a return covers every step and status.

What to do next

Refund an order explains the refund preview, tax and shipping in detail.
Record the cash collected covers cash on delivery collection from start to finish.