Returns, Refunds & Exchanges

CloudBridal handles cancellations, returns and refunds as guided actions that also settle the money, the stock and the upcoming payments in one pass. There isn't a dedicated "exchange" button — exchanges are a return plus a new order.

Cancelling an Order or Recording a Return

Cancelling is an action on the order, not an order status. Start it from:

• The order form's action bar, or
• The … menu on the order in the customer's Orders card

On an order the customer has already picked up that contains a physical item, the action is worded as a return rather than a cancellation — it's the same action. Cancelling is final; a cancelled order can't be re-opened, so use a refund instead if the sale is only being reduced.

Cancelling requires the Cancel orders permission. See Staff Members & Roles.

What the action asks you

1. What to cancel — the whole order, or tick individual items. Cancelling only some items leaves the rest of the order and its payment schedule alone. The order's own base item can only be cancelled together with the whole order.
2. A reason. Choosing Other asks What happened?, which you must fill in; for any other reason the note is optional. The reason appears on the order in the customer's Orders list, on the order itself, and in the order's change history.

Cancelling the whole order also asks you to settle two things:

• What happens to money already collected — give some or all of it back, or keep it (such as a non-refundable deposit). There's no default; you have to choose. If you give it back, the refund screen is where you pick between the original payment method and store credit. Money you keep can still be refunded later from the payments list.
• Whether stock goes back to inventory, when the order included items sold From Inventory. See Returning Items to Stock.

If any of the items are on a purchase order, the dialog lists those purchase orders so you can deal with them too.

Two related permissions affect what you can do in this flow: refunding needs Refund payments, and returning stock needs Change orders and take payments. Without them you still see what will happen and can complete the cancellation — a colleague who has the permission can handle that part afterwards.

Click Cancel order (or Record return) to finish, or Keep the order to leave it as it is.

What cancelling takes care of

• Upcoming scheduled payments are removed. Payment reminders stop and their online payment links stop working. An affected payment plan re-reads its status from what was actually paid, so it won't drift into Overdue.
• A cancelled rental leaves the Rentals screen — its Rented status is cleared.
• Purchase orders are not cancelled. If the items are on a purchase order, cancel or amend that separately from the Purchase orders page.

Deleting Instead of Cancelling

Deleting removes the order completely, so it's only for orders entered by mistake. Before you confirm, CloudBridal says what the delete will do, such as which items go back into stock.

• A From Inventory sale entered today can be deleted, and its items go back into stock automatically. Don't add them back by hand, or you'll count them twice.
• A From Inventory sale entered before today can't be deleted. Cancel it instead: cancelling asks whether the items go back into stock and keeps the sale's history. The same applies to removing a line from an order, and to deleting a customer who has such sales.
• An order with a Stripe card payment, or one synced to your accounting software, can't be deleted. Cancel it instead.

Cancellation Reasons

Reasons come from a list you control in Orders settings: click Edit reasons in the Cancellation reasons card. You can rename a reason, retire one so it stops being offered while existing orders still read correctly, or delete one that no order uses.

These ten ship by default:

Changed mind · Found a dress elsewhere · Wedding or event cancelled · Price · Fit or sizing · Vendor could not supply · Damaged on arrival · Duplicate order · Store error · Other

Returning Items to Stock

Items sold From inventory go back on the shelf as a recorded inventory movement — you don't adjust quantities by hand.

• Offered inside the cancel or return flow, and available afterwards from the order form's Return to stock button (it appears only when something is still returnable)
• Returns exactly what the order consumed, less anything already returned, so running it twice can't over-restock
• Each unit returns at the cost it left with, keeping your cost and margin reports consistent
• Requires the Change orders and take payments permission

Items are returnable when the From-Inventory line was cancelled individually, or when the whole order was fully refunded. The return is recorded on the order's change history as Items returned to stock.

Note: If an item's inventory record was deleted since the sale, it can't be returned automatically and is reported as skipped. Add that stock back with Manual stock in from the Inventory page.

Processing a Refund

Refunds are processed through the payment record, not the order. Refunding creates a refund entry under the original order with negative amounts, so your financial history stays complete.

Steps to process a refund

1. Go to the customer's profile → Overview tab → Payments section
2. Open the payment's ⋯ menu and click Refund
3. Answer What is this refund for? — see below
4. Enter the refund details:

• Refund amount: the full payment, or just the value of what's being returned
• Tip: if a tip was recorded, choose how much of it to return
• Refund to: the original payment method, or store credit the customer can apply to a future order
• Reason: what was returned (e.g. "Return - Wedding Dress")

5. Click the button at the bottom. It names the result, such as Refund $211.33 to the card, Record $211.33 refund or Give $211.33 as store credit

What the refund is for

The four answers are different bookkeeping events, so CloudBridal asks up front. Only the answers that are actually possible are offered, and if there's only one, you're not asked at all.

On a multi-item order where you're reducing the sale, you also get a per-item split. It's pre-filled proportionally and each item is capped at what it's still worth — adjust it if the money should come off one particular item.

Note: On an order synced to QuickBooks, store credit and payment swaps aren't offered — the refund has to reach your books as a credit memo. Make any equivalent adjustment in your accounting software directly.

Refunding more than one payment

When a cancellation returns money across several payments, the refund screen shows them all together rather than one at a time. Enter an amount against each, answer the questions above once for the whole order, and submit.

• Card refunds are processed one after another, each confirmed before the next starts.
• If one fails, CloudBridal stops there. Fix the problem and submit again — only the payments that haven't already been refunded are retried, so nobody is refunded twice.
• If a refund is taking a while to confirm, you can close the screen and check the payment later.

When you cancel only some items, the screen shows how much those items free up, with a quick way to assign the remainder. Going over that amount warns you but doesn't stop you.

Stripe and non-Stripe payments

Stripe payments are refunded through Stripe automatically; the customer sees the funds back on their original payment method within 5-10 business days. For cash, check or other methods, CloudBridal records the refund and you hand the money back however you normally would.

Tip: When an order has been overpaid, you can release the overpayment as store credit. See Payments & Processing for store-credit details.

Processing an Exchange

An exchange is a return plus a new order: take the original back, sell the replacement, then settle the difference.

Step 1: Return the original

Use Record a return on the original order (or Cancel order if the customer never took the item). Choose whether the money is refunded, held as store credit or left in place, and whether the item goes back to stock.

Step 2: Create the new order

1. Click New order and add the replacement item
2. Add a note referencing the original order number
3. Save the order

Step 3: Settle the balance

If the customer is owed money back, either return the difference through their original payment method, or keep it as store credit for future purchases.

Special Order Exchanges

For special orders, follow the same process. Additionally:

• Not yet placed with vendor: cancel or modify the purchase order before placing the new one
• Already placed but not received: contact the vendor about cancelling or modifying
• Already received: check the vendor's return policy, or add the item to your inventory as stock or a sample

Rental Returns & Exchanges

When a rental comes back normally, set the Rental status to "Returned" and set the Returned date on the order — don't cancel it.

For rental exchanges:

1. Mark the original rental as "Returned"
2. Create a new rental order for the replacement item
3. Collect or return the price difference

Best Practices

• Document everything: pick a specific cancellation reason and use the note field for details like the replacement order number
• Same-day processing: process the return and the new order on the same day for cleaner records
• Verify inventory: after a return, confirm your physical count matches CloudBridal

Updated on: 19/10/2026