How to void
Purpose: Cancel a card transaction cleanly, either an authorization that has not been captured or a payment already on the check, so no money is wrongly held or taken.
When to use this: A mistaken charge, a wrong amount, a stuck authorization you want to clear before re-running, or a guest who switched cards.
What you can void
- An open authorization (a hold). Voiding it releases the hold so the bank stops holding the funds. Use this to clear a stuck or duplicate auth before you run a fresh one.
- A payment on an open check. Voiding sends a reversal to the processor through the payment interface and removes the payment line, so Amount Due goes back up.
Steps
- In the check detail, highlight the authorization or payment line you want to void.
- Choose the Void function (authorize with a manager if prompted).
- The reversal is sent to the processor. The line clears and any hold is released.
To void a payment after the check has already closed, use the manager Void Closed Check function.
What you get back depends on how the payment was taken
How the card went on the check decides what a void leaves behind, and whether you can recover from it.
If you took an auth and then closed it (a hold finalized with CC Final), the auth and the final payment are two separate things:
- Reopen or adjust the check and void the final payment: this backs out only the capture. The underlying authorization stays, so you can re-finalize it, or increment, decrement, or re-authorize on that same auth. No new card is needed.
- Void the auth instead: the authorization is now gone. There is nothing left to finalize against, so you have to take a new authorization on the card.
If you took a final sale (a single auth-and-capture, for example Authorization & Pay), the auth and the capture are bound together:
- Voiding the final payment voids both the final and the auth at once, automatically. There is no auth left underneath, and it cannot be brought back. To charge again you start a brand-new payment.
So if you think you may need to adjust, re-finalize, or increment after settling, take it as an auth then close, not a final sale. See Preauth vs Final sale.
If a void cannot find the original sale, run it on the same station that took the transaction. Stations share their sales through CAPS, and a sale taken on another station can look missing here. See Workstation · Reference transaction not found and Technical Triage.
Void clears a transaction on an open or recently closed check before it settles. Once the batch has settled, issue a refund instead (see Handheld · Refund).
Verify
- The voided line is gone and Amount Due reflects it.
- Cloud Transactions shows the reversal against the original.
