This page covers features gated by Manager-tier permissions. Managers and Admins have these by default; your administrator can adjust who has them in Settings > Team.
What lives on a customer’s credit balance
A customer’s credit balance is a running total of every credit-side change against their account, built up from a transaction history you can open at any time. Positive entries add to the balance (credit notes, recorded refunds, overpayments rolled forward from reconciliation), negative entries draw it down (credit consumed against an invoice, manual reductions). Open the Customer Credit card in the right-hand metric strip for the selected customer, then click Manage Customer Credit to see the full Transaction History tab or to add or remove credit from the Add/Remove Credit tab.A credit balance is separate from the customer’s open invoices. The metric strip shows both side by side: Customer Credit is store credit they can spend; Unpaid Invoices and Total Outstanding are what they owe.
Two ways to create a credit note
There are two distinct entry points for credit notes, and they behave differently.From a paid invoice
Use this when you want to credit the full value of a specific invoice back to the customer (a delivery quality issue, a contested charge that’s already been paid, a full reversal).1
Open the customer on the Business page
Pick the customer from the left-hand list.
2
Switch to Reconciled Invoices or History
The action is only available for invoices marked as Paid. Unpaid invoices use a different path (see Bad debt and write-offs below).
3
Select the invoice and click Create Credit Note
Add an optional description and confirm. The credit note inherits the invoice’s net, VAT, and gross totals — there’s no amount field to edit.
-CN suffix (for example, INV-1234-CN), so the link to the source invoice is visible at a glance. The customer’s credit balance increases by the invoice total.
You can only create one credit note per invoice through this flow. If you need to credit a partial amount, or you’ve already issued a credit note for this invoice and need another, use the standalone flow below.
Standalone via Manage Customer Credit
Use this when there’s no specific invoice to credit against, when you need a partial amount, or when you want to issue a goodwill credit.1
Open Manage Customer Credit
From the customer’s Customer Credit card on the Business page.
2
Switch to the Add/Remove Credit tab
The default tab is Transaction History — switch across to the second tab to make a change.
3
Enter a positive amount, type, VAT rate, and description
For the type, pick Credit Note when you’re issuing fresh credit, or Refund Recorded (money already returned) when you’ve already paid the customer back outside Digital Florists and you just need to record it. Both types produce a numbered PDF.
4
Save
The credit is added to the customer’s balance and a PDF is generated, numbered
CN-YYYY-NNNN (for example, CN-2026-0001).{invoice-number}-CN for credits raised against an invoice, and CN-YYYY-NNNN for standalone credits — let you tell at a glance whether a credit note came from a specific invoice or was raised on its own.
Adjusting the credit balance by hand
The Add/Remove Credit tab is also where you make manual corrections.- Add credit — enter a positive amount and pick Credit Note or Refund Recorded. Both produce a PDF and an entry on the ledger.
- Remove credit — enter a negative amount. No PDF is produced; the entry shows in the transaction history as a manual adjustment.
Redeeming credit against an invoice
Customers don’t redeem credit on a separate screen — it’s applied during reconciliation when you mark an invoice as paid. In the reconcile dialog, you can combine three payment sources against the invoice total: a specific credit note, the customer’s general credit balance, and a cash payment. They’re applied in that fixed order — credit note first, then general credit, then the cash you enter — until the invoice is settled. If the customer pays more than the outstanding balance, the excess is added back to their credit balance automatically as an overpayment. For the full reconcile flow (including how to undo a reconciliation), see Payments and reconciliation.Refunding an invoice payment
There are two questions to keep separate when an account customer wants money back: the ledger (the invoice and credit balance) and the actual money (cash, bank transfer, or a card refund through your payment provider). Digital Florists handles the ledger side. Returning the money itself is a separate step.Bad debt and write-offs
There’s no dedicated write off action. To clear an invoice you’re never going to collect on, you’ve got two paths, with different audit consequences.
For genuine credit-side write-offs the customer should see (a contested charge you’re conceding, a goodwill cancellation of a delivered order), a standalone credit note for the disputed amount is usually the cleanest path. The original invoice stays intact, the credit cancels it out, and the customer has a document for their records.
Common questions
Is a credit note the same as a refund?
Is a credit note the same as a refund?
No. A refund moves money back to the customer through a payment channel — card, cash, or bank transfer. A credit note records that you owe the customer money, sits on their account balance, and can be redeemed against a future invoice. For account customers, a refund through your daily-operations refund flow doesn’t change the credit balance, and a credit note doesn’t push money back to a card. They’re separate jobs.
When should I use Refund Recorded vs Credit Note?
When should I use Refund Recorded vs Credit Note?
Use Credit Note when you’re issuing fresh credit the customer can spend later. Use Refund Recorded when the money has already left your account through a separate channel (you’ve paid them by bank transfer, handed back cash, processed the card refund manually) and you just want a PDF and an audit-trail entry to match. Both produce a numbered credit-note PDF.
Can I credit just part of an invoice?
Can I credit just part of an invoice?
Not through the Create Credit Note action on the invoice itself — that always credits the full invoice value, and only once. For partial amounts, use the Add/Remove Credit tab on Manage Customer Credit and enter the amount you want as a standalone credit note.
Why is there a 'Refund Issued' line in the transaction history when I didn't refund anything?
Why is there a 'Refund Issued' line in the transaction history when I didn't refund anything?
Undoing a reconciliation reverses any credit that was consumed on it. The reversal entry is recorded as Refund Issued in the transaction history with a reference like
UNDO-{invoice-number}. The credit has been restored to the customer’s balance — no actual refund has been processed.What about VAT on credit notes?
What about VAT on credit notes?
Credit notes raised from a paid invoice inherit the invoice’s net, VAT, and gross figures exactly — there’s no editable VAT rate, the credit mirrors the original. Standalone credit notes ask you to pick a VAT rate, and the net and tax are calculated from the gross amount you enter using your tax rate settings.
What if the customer overpays an invoice?
What if the customer overpays an invoice?
The excess is added to their credit balance automatically as an overpayment entry, ready to apply against a future invoice. If they want it refunded rather than carried forward, pair a manual refund (cash, bank transfer, or card) with a Refund Recorded entry to draw the balance back down.
What’s next?
Invoicing
Invoice multiple account orders at once.
Business
Reconciling payments, customer balances, and accounting export.
Refunds
Refunds through the original payment method on day-to-day orders.
Transactions
Payment statuses and the transaction-side view of refunds.