Store credit, first-class instrument | HelloBooks POS When a return is issued without a refund, store credit is created and tracked as a real liability. Customers redeem on any future visit, partial or full — the till applies, the books retire the liability, the audit trail tells the whole story.
Store credit, first-class instrument
When a return is issued without a refund, store credit is created and tracked as a real liability. Customers redeem on any future visit, partial or full — the till applies, the books retire the liability, the audit trail tells the whole story.
Part of HelloBooks POS · Tender modes
Store credit is the most powerful retention instrument a retailer has — and the worst-tracked. HelloBooks treats it as a balance-sheet liability, not a Post-it: every issuance posts a journal, every redemption retires the liability, every expiry rolls into income on the right day.
Every detail, dialled in
Built for the till, validated against the canonical accounting engine — so every POS sale closes the books cleanly.
Issued from returns automatically
When a return is processed and the customer chooses store credit instead of refund, the till generates a credit voucher with a unique code, prints it on the receipt, and posts the liability to the books.
- Auto-issued on no-refund return
- Unique voucher code
- Liability journal posted
- Code printed on the return receipt
Redeem at any outlet
The customer redeems by phone lookup (loyalty linked), by scanning the printed code, or by typing the code at the till. Partial redemption is supported; the remainder stays as balance.
- Phone or code-based redemption
- Partial redemption supported
- Cross-outlet by default
- Audit log per redeem
Expiry handled at the engine level
Set an expiry policy (90 / 180 / 365 days) per entity. A nightly cron retires expired balances and posts the reversal to income — no manual chase, no liability rotting on the books.
- Per-entity expiry policy
- Nightly retirement cron
- Auto-reversal to income
- Expiry email to the customer
Why teams move off legacy tills
- Store credit on a Post-it
- No expiry enforcement
- Books carry stale liabilities
- Cross-outlet redemption manual
- Store credit as a real liability
- Expiry cron retires automatically
- Books always reflect reality
- Cross-outlet by default
Questions, answered
When is store credit issued?
On a return where the customer prefers credit over a refund. The till generates a unique voucher code and posts a liability to the books.
Where does it sit on the balance sheet?
In a dedicated Store Credit liability account. As redemptions happen, the liability is retired against the relevant revenue line.
Can store credit expire?
Yes — per-entity policy (90 / 180 / 365 days). A nightly cron retires expired balances and reverses them to income.
Is it different from a gift card?
Yes. Store credit is issued by the retailer (typically from a return); a gift card is purchased by a customer for someone else. Both are tracked separately on the books.
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