Store Credits Management

What Is Store Credits Management?

Store Credits Management allows your shop to create, track, and redeem store credits directly in Tekmetric — helping you handle overpayments, prepayments, and customer goodwill all in one place, without manual workarounds.

With store credits, you can:

• Turn cash or check overpayments into usable credits for future work
• Add cash or check prepayments directly to a customer's account — no repair order required
• Issue Goodwill Credits to take care of a customer as a gesture of appreciation or make-good
• Issue Trade Credits to account for non-monetary exchanges at their agreed value
• Apply credits toward any repair order (RO)
• Track all store credit activity across your customers and your shop
• Refund cash/check credit balances, or void Goodwill and Trade credits

Credit Types at a Glance

All credit types appear together in the customer's wallet balance and can be applied toward a future RO.

Key Limitations

• Cash and check credits can only be created from cash or check payments (no card payments — see FAQ)
• Goodwill and Trade credits involve no monetary payment — nothing is collected and nothing can be refunded
• Maximum credit per transaction: $1,000 (a built-in security measure to protect your shop)
• Credits cannot be transferred between customers or shop locations
• Credits do not expire until they are used or voided
• Cash/check credits: Owners, Administrators, and Service Advisors can create and redeem
• Goodwill and Trade credits: Owners and Administrators only by default; you can extend this to other employees in your settings

Why It Matters

Store credits help you:

• Keep revenue in-house instead of refunding it out
• Give customers flexibility to prepay or carry a balance for future visits
• Handle goodwill situations or trade arrangements cleanly, without workarounds
• Reduce accounting friction — credit balances and activity are tracked automatically

How Store Credits Work

Issuing a Store Credit from an Overpayment

When a customer overpays with cash or check on a repair order, you can convert the extra amount into a store credit instead of returning change.

To issue a credit from an RO:

1. Go to the RO Payment screen
2. Take a cash or check payment that exceeds the balance due
3. Click Pay & Post (or Take Payment, then Post RO later)
4. Tekmetric will prompt you to store the extra amount as a store credit
5. The RO updates to show a $0 balance and a new credit balance for the customer

🎥 Watch how to issue a store credit from an RO

Adding a Cash or Check Credit Directly to a Customer's Account

You can add a store credit directly from a customer's profile — no repair order needed. This is useful when a customer wants to prepay for future work or leave funds on account before any RO exists.

To add a credit from the Customer Wallet:

1. Go to the customer's profile under Customers
2. Click on the Wallet tab
3. Click Add Store Credit
4. Select Cash or Check as the payment method and fill in the payment details
5. Click Add Store Credit to save

The credit is available immediately and can be applied to any future RO. Tekmetric generates an invoice for the transaction — you can share this with the customer for their records.

Every credit entry includes a record of who created it, so your shop always has a clear paper trail.

🎥 Watch how to add a credit to a customer account

Issuing a Goodwill or Trade Credit

Goodwill Credits are for situations where you want to take care of a customer — a thank-you, a make-good on a service experience, or any other goodwill gesture. No money changes hands; you're extending a credit of value the customer can use on a future visit.

Trade Credits are for non-monetary exchanges — when you've traded services or goods with a customer and want to capture the agreed value as credit in their account.

Both types follow the same process:

1. Go to the customer's profile under Customers
2. Click on the Wallet tab
3. Click Add Store Credit
4. Select Goodwill or Trade as the credit type
5. Fill in the required fields:
   • Date
   • Customer name (pre-filled, editable)
   • Reason for credit
   • Amount
6. Click Add Store Credit to save

The credit appears in the customer's wallet balance immediately and can be applied to any future RO.

Important: Goodwill and Trade credits are not backed by a cash or check payment. They can be voided if needed, but they cannot be refunded as cash or check. See Voiding a Credit below.

🎥 Watch how to issue a Goodwill or Trade credit

Applying Store Credit to an RO

Store credits can be used as full or partial payment on open ROs, regardless of what credit type they are.

To apply a credit:

1. Open the Payment screen for an RO
2. Select Store Credit as the payment method
3. Choose how much of the customer's credit to apply

Tekmetric automatically applies the oldest credits first (FIFO order).

🎥 Watch how to apply store credit

Viewing Store Credits

Store credit activity is visible in two places:

🧍 Customer Wallet

• Found under the customer's profile
• Shows the total available balance, issue dates, credit type, related ROs, and who created the credit
• Includes all credit types — Cash, Check, Goodwill, and Trade — in a single view

📈 Store Credits Report

• Available to users with Financial Report access (Owners/Admins)
• Summary tiles show total credit liability, average balance per customer, and credits aged over 90 days
• Customers tab — all customers with an outstanding balance, listed alphabetically; useful for proactive outreach
• Transactions tab — every credit issued, applied, refunded, or voided, with employee and RO details
  • For wallet-initiated credits (cash/check prepayments, Goodwill, Trade): RO # = N/A; View Invoice links to a PDF of the issuance record
  • Payment Method column shows the credit type: Cash, Check, Goodwill, or Trade

Note: Store credits are not reflected in the Payment Details report, since they represent a liability — not new income. See the FAQ for more on this.

🌅 End of Day Report

• Cash and check credits (including prepayments) appear in the Payments table. Because these are taken before work is performed, no sales are recorded at the time of the prepayment — only the payment and an offsetting credit entry. Once the credit is applied to an RO, the sale and payment are recorded normally.
• Goodwill and Trade credits appear in a separate Non-Cash Adjustments section — not in Total Cashiered. This keeps your daily cashiering totals accurate and makes it easy to see non-cash activity without it affecting your reconciliation. This section only appears on days when Goodwill or Trade activity occurred.

Refunding a Store Credit Balance (Cash/Check Credits Only)

If a customer no longer wants to keep their credit on account — or if you want to clear the liability — you can issue a full or partial refund of their cash or check credit balance.

Goodwill and Trade credits cannot be refunded. See Voiding a Credit below.

To issue a refund:

1. Go to the customer's profile and click the Wallet tab
2. Click Refund Balance
3. Choose Cash or Check as the refund method and fill in the details
4. The full balance is pre-selected — uncheck to enter a partial amount if needed
5. Click Complete to process

The refund posts a negative payment to the Customer Wallet, Store Credit Report, EOD Report, Payment Details Report, and Cash Drawer report.

🎥 Watch how to refund a store credit balance

Voiding a Credit (Goodwill and Trade Only)

If you need to cancel a Goodwill or Trade credit — for example, if it was issued by mistake — you can void it from the customer's wallet. Voiding reverses the credit and removes it from the customer's balance. No money is issued; these credits were never backed by a payment.

To void a credit:

1. Go to the customer's profile and click the Wallet tab
2. Find the Goodwill or Trade credit in the history table
3. Select Void from the action menu on that row
4. Confirm the void

The credit is removed from the customer's balance and the reversal is recorded in the Store Credit Report.

🎥 Watch how to void a Goodwill or Trade credit

FAQs

Why can't I create store credits from a card payment?

Two reasons:

1. Credit cards carry strong consumer protection policies. Issuing store credit instead of returning funds to the card could be seen as denying a customer their rightful refund — a regulatory and reputational risk.
2. Store credits are a liability on your books. With cash or check, you already physically hold the funds. With card payments, the money isn't fully settled until the dispute window closes — converting it to store credit prematurely creates accounting complications and double liability exposure.

What to tell your customer: "Because you paid with a credit card, we're required to return any overpayment back to your card. If you'd like to keep a credit on account for future visits, the easiest way is to pay with cash or check."

Can I refund a Goodwill or Trade credit as cash?

No. Goodwill and Trade credits were not funded by a monetary payment, so there's nothing to return. If you need to cancel one, void it from the Customer Wallet — this reverses the credit without issuing any payment.

Why doesn't my Goodwill or Trade credit show up in Total Cashiered?

This is expected. Goodwill and Trade credits are non-cash adjustments — no money was received when the credit was issued, so they don't belong in your cashiering totals. They appear in the Non-Cash Adjustments section of your EOD report and in full detail in the Store Credit Report.

Why doesn't store credit show up in the Payment Details report?

Store credits represent a liability — a promise of future service — not new revenue. They're tracked separately in the EOD report and the Store Credit Report. When a credit is applied to an RO and that RO is posted, the sale shows up normally in your sales summary.

Can customers use store credits to pay their A/R balance?

Yes. Open the RO in A/R and apply a store credit payment from within the RO. Store credits can't be applied directly from the A/R report itself.

Can store credits be transferred between customers or shop locations?

Not currently. Each credit is a liability tied to a specific customer at a specific location. Transferring it would change who the liability belongs to, which creates accounting and compliance issues.

What if a credit or prepayment exceeds $1,000?

Split it into multiple transactions, each at or below $1,000. This limit applies to all credit types.

Best Practices

✅ Use Goodwill Credits for customer make-goods rather than informal workarounds — it keeps your books clean and creates a clear record.
✅ Only issue cash and check credits from actual cash or check payments.
✅ Confirm user permissions before creating or applying credits.
✅ Double-check the customer and RO before applying credit as a payment method.
✅ Use the Store Credit Report regularly to stay on top of aged balances — credits outstanding over 90 days are a good candidate for proactive outreach.