Manage layaways: payments, reminders, past due, refunds

Every layaway is on the Layaways screen (left menu, or the Layaways button on the POS). Search by name, phone, email, plan number or order number, and use the tabs and the Sort buttons (Late first shows who needs chasing). Click a layaway to open it.

Taking a payment

• At the counter: type the amount (or use the keypad and the quick buttons), pick how they paid, add a reference like a check number, and click Record payment. You cannot take more than the balance.
• Card on file: if the customer's card is saved, the blue box shows its last four digits and expiry. Click Charge this card, check the amount and click Charge the card.
• Online: customers can pay themselves from My Account, Layaways, or the Pay online button in their layaway emails, with the card on file or a new card. Turn this off under Reminders and payments in Layaway Settings.

Every payment shows in the Payment history with who took it, and the customer is emailed a receipt.

Reminders

Reminders go out each morning by themselves, following your settings: before the pay off date, on it, and then past due reminders. Each email has a Pay online button when online payments are on. A customer never gets two reminders in one day, and paid, cancelled and defaulted layaways get none.

Past due

A layaway past its pay off date shows a Past due badge, and the open layaway tells you when the grace period runs out. Once the grace period is over the badge says Grace over. Then you choose: take a payment, give the customer more time (just leave it), Cancel the layaway, or Mark defaulted (the same as cancelling, recorded as not paid off in time). If you switched on automatic defaulting, this happens by itself after the grace period.

Cancelling and refunds

1. Open the layaway. Under Close this layaway out you see what has been paid in, the cancellation fee the store keeps, and the refund due (paid in minus the fee).
2. Type why it is being cancelled and click Cancel the layaway. The item goes back on sale and the order is cancelled. Leave Email the customer ticked to tell them; that email says what they paid and the fee kept, and never promises a refund.
3. Nothing has been refunded yet. A Refunds box now shows the refund due. Click the Refund to the card button to send the card payments back through your card processor, oldest first, never more than the refund due. A payment that has not settled yet is voided instead.
4. Cash, check and counter terminal payments go back by hand. Hand the money back, then click Mark refunded beside that payment so the books stay right.

Refunds show in the payment history as minus amounts, and on the day's POS report.

When a layaway is paid off

The moment the last payment comes in, the layaway is marked paid and its order moves out of Layaway into your normal order flow: Pending for an order that ships, Local Pickup for one started at the counter. The customer is emailed. For a website layaway, make sure you have the customer's FFL dealer before it ships; the layaway checkout does not ask for one.

Note: Deleting a layaway removes it and its payment history for good. Use it only for a mistake or a test, never for a customer who stopped paying; cancel those instead.