Create & allocate a sales credit

A sales credit is a customer credit memo — money you owe a customer back, whether for returned goods, a price adjustment, a rebate, or an overpayment. It's the money half of a return; the RMA is the physical half. Once a credit is open, you allocate it against the customer's unpaid orders — reducing what they owe.

Before you begin

• The customer (and, if you're crediting an order, the sales order) should already exist.
• To create or delete a credit from an order's Credits tab, you need the Refund sales orders permission.
• A credit doesn't need an RMA or a fulfillment — you can credit an order that hasn't shipped. On a cancelled order with no credits yet, though, the Credits tab is disabled.
• Sales credits for Shopify orders can't be created here — those come back through Shopify refunds.

Create the credit

1. Go to Orders → Sales Credits and click Create Sales Credit.
2. Optionally pick the Sales Order — that locks the Customer, Store, and Currency to match it. If there's no order, pick the Customer directly.
3. Set the Credit Date (defaults to today) and, if prices include tax, tick Tax Included. Click Create. The credit opens as SC-00001.
4. On the credit's Lines tab, build what's being credited: Add All from Order pulls the order's lines, or Add Custom Line records an adjustment or rebate. Add All from Order adds each line at its remaining creditable quantity and skips lines other credits have already credited in full.

How much of a line you can credit

A line's creditable quantity is what was ordered, less what other credits already claim. Cancelled and returned units are part of the ordered quantity, not extra: a line of 2 that was cancelled and credited for 2 has nothing left to credit. A credit that asks for more is refused with a message naming the line and the counts, for example "only 1 can still be credited (3 ordered, 2 already credited)".

A credit on an order can only credit that order's lines. Adding a line from another order is refused, whether you're creating the credit or editing it, and the message names the line and both orders. Create a separate credit on the other order instead.

Start from the sales order instead

When the credit is for one order, you can create it — lines and all — from the order's own page:

1. Go to Orders → Sales Orders, open the order, and select the Credits tab.
2. Click Create Credit. The Create Sales Credit dialog opens with the credit number already generated.
3. Confirm the Credit Date.
4. Under Product Lines, tick each line to credit. Every line shows Ordered and Creditable — the quantity still eligible for credit. A line credited in full shows a Fully credited chip and can't be selected.
5. For each ticked line, set the Qty (capped at Creditable) and the per-unit Amount. The row Total and the running Total credit update as you type.
6. If the order has shipping, handling, or discount lines, credit them under Revenue & Adjustments. Each shows Original, Credited, and Remaining. Enter a Credit Amount, or use Full or Zero. Inherited Tax is shown locked and scales with the amount. A credit amount can't exceed its remaining value.
7. Click Create Sales Credit.

The credit appears on the Credits tab with its Credit #, date, amount, and a status chip. Click the Credit # to open the credit's page.

Prorate a discount across the credited lines

If you tick product lines and a discount line, a Prorate discount proportionally button appears. It spreads the discount credit across the ticked products by value and removes the standalone discount row, so the credited amounts match what the customer paid after the discount.

A credit imported from a sales channel carries a small source chip next to its number — for example Shopify — with a "Synced from …" tooltip. See How channel orders sync.

With or without an RMA

A sales credit stands on its own, which makes it right for money-only adjustments and refunds. When goods are physically coming back, create an RMA too, so the return and the refund stay tied together. An exchange goes further: it clones the order and creates an approved credit for the total automatically. See Resend and exchange an order.

For a return on a dropship order you shipped for a retailer, the RMA's Dropship return card shows a Suggested credit after the retailer's restocking fee. It's advice only: it never creates or changes a sales credit, so create the credit here at the amount you agree. See Process a customer return.

A credit's status runs Draft → Open → Closed — it opens for allocation, and closes once it's fully applied or refunded. The Payments tab records any cash or card refund paid straight back to the customer.

A credit records that you owe the customer money — it doesn't hand the money back by itself. To record a refund payment, or to move the balance to the customer's store-credit wallet, see Record payments and apply store credit.

Each credit posts its own accounting entry, separate from the order's, and your connected accounting software mirrors it. See Generate invoices, packing slips, and accounting.

Allocate it against what the customer owes

Allocation happens on the customer's page, not the credit:

1. Open the customer (Contacts → Customers) and find the Open Sales Credits card.
2. Click Allocate on the credit. The Allocate Sales Credit dialog lists the customer's unpaid orders with their Due amounts.
3. Enter how much to apply to each order (or click Max), then Allocate. Each allocation posts a credit payment that reduces the order's balance due; when the credit is fully applied it flips to Closed.

The credit shows on the customer's balance until it's used up. To reverse an allocation, remove it from the same card (blocked once it's synced to your accounting integration).

Delete a sales credit

1. Open the order and select the Credits tab.
2. Find the credit's row and click the delete (trash) icon at the end of it.
3. In the "Delete Sales Credit" prompt, click Delete.

The credit is removed and the order refreshes. Deleting a credit reverses its money-back effect. It doesn't restock anything — restocking happens when you receive the goods on the RMA.

Next steps

• Process a customer return (RMA) — the physical return that a return-driven credit pairs with.
• Record payments and apply store credit — refund the money or move it to store credit.
• Returns, credits, and refunds — which step restocks inventory and which posts money.
• Create & edit a customer — where open credits and balances live.

Video transcript

A sales credit is money you owe a customer back — for a return, a price adjustment, or a rebate. Create one from the customer, or from the order it relates to. The credit opens ready to build. Pull the lines straight from the order, or add a custom adjustment — then allocate it against what the customer still owes.