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Customer Deposit Sales
Customer deposits let a cashier receive money from a registered customer before the customer chooses or collects goods, then apply that stored value to a later POS receipt.
Use this workflow for advance customer payments, lay-by style retail deposits, customer prepayments, paid-but-not-yet-selected items, and balance settlement where the customer already has posted POS deposit credit.
Use it only when the business is still a POS customer-sale story. If the business is an agriculture producer payout, worker advance, supplier payment, or other outbound beneficiary payment, use the shared payout workflow instead.
Customer deposits are different from deposit accounts. A POS customer deposit is a retail liability held against a customer for POS use. Deposit accounts belong to the Deposits service and follow account-product rules.
They are also different from agriculture producer settlements, labour advances, or supplier prepayments. Those belong to the relevant source workflow plus shared Payments, not to POS customer-deposit balances.
Workspace Reference
| Task | Workspace | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Record a customer deposit | Point of Sale -> Operations -> Sales -> Customer Deposits | Posted customer deposit credit is created for the selected customer. |
| Review available deposits | Point of Sale -> Operations -> Sales -> Customer Deposits | Cashier or supervisor can see deposit amount, applied amount, refunded amount, and available balance. |
| Apply deposit during sale | Point of Sale -> Operations -> Sales -> Sales Register | Deposit is added as a checkout payment line and applied to the posted receipt. |
| Apply deposit to unpaid receipt | Point of Sale -> Operations -> Sales -> Receivables | Deposit clears one or more posted receipts with balance due. |
Before You Start
Confirm:
- the customer is registered and selectable as a customer party
- the POS register session is open
- the POS profile or register allows customer-deposit creation and application
- the payment channel used to receive the deposit is enabled for POS deposits
- customer-deposit GL posting rules are configured
- the cashier has permission to view, create, and apply POS customer deposits
Record A Customer Deposit
Open Point of Sale -> Operations -> Sales, then open Customer Deposits.
Select Record Customer Deposit and capture:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Customer | Registered customer receiving the deposit credit. |
| Payment Channel | How the money was received, such as cash, bank, card, mobile money, or another enabled channel. |
| Deposit Amount | Amount received from the customer. |
| Reference | External payment, receipt, bank, or provider reference where required. |
| Notes | Optional explanation, purpose, or cashier comment. |
When submitted, the system posts the customer deposit, records the payment transaction, and makes the available amount visible in the customer deposit list.
Use A Deposit During Checkout
Open Sales Register and select the registered customer before applying a deposit.
After adding sale items:
- In the Customer Deposit card, refresh available deposits if needed.
- Select the available deposit.
- Enter the amount to apply.
- Select Use Deposit.
- Review the payment lines and receipt balance.
- Complete the sale.
The sale is posted as an account-style receipt internally so the deposit application can clear the receivable immediately. The cashier does not need to go to Receivables and collect the same receipt again.
After posting, the receipt payment should show the customer-deposit application, the receipt balance should reduce, and the deposit available amount should reduce by the applied amount.
Apply A Deposit To Existing Receipts
Use this when the receipt already exists and still has a balance due.
Open Receivables, select one or more posted receipts for the same customer, then select Collect Balance.
Choose Customer Deposit as the source, select the available deposit, enter the collection amount, and submit.
The allocation is applied oldest selected receipt first. The application cannot exceed the selected receipt balance or the available deposit balance.
Returns And Voids For Deposit-Funded Receipts
When a receipt that was funded from customer deposit is returned or voided, the operator must decide what happens to the paid portion:
- Create customer credit: the amount stays on the customer as reusable POS credit.
- Refund now: the amount is paid back immediately through an enabled POS refund channel.
The system first reverses any current unpaid balance on the receipt. Only the already-paid portion can become customer credit or immediate refund.
Use Create customer credit when the customer will buy again later or when the business should not pay cash or mobile money back immediately.
Use Refund now only when:
- the selected POS register has an enabled outbound refund channel
- any required external reference is entered
- branch policy allows immediate payout on that receipt
If a receipt was funded from customer deposit, the return does not invent a new cash outflow silently. The cashier chooses whether the value stays as customer credit or is refunded through a controlled refund channel.
Accounting And Stock Impact
Recording a customer deposit normally debits the collection channel and credits the POS customer-deposit liability.
Applying the deposit to a sale normally debits the customer-deposit liability and credits the POS receivable created by the receipt.
Stock behavior follows the sale fulfillment mode:
- Take-now receipts issue stock during sale completion.
- Pickup-later or delivery receipts hold stock until fulfillment actions are completed.
- Applying a customer deposit does not by itself issue stock.
Common Problems
| Problem | What To Check |
|---|---|
| Customer deposit option is disabled | Select a registered customer and confirm the cashier has customer-deposit permissions. |
| No deposits are listed | Confirm the deposit is posted, has available balance, matches the customer, and matches the receipt currency. |
| Deposit amount cannot be used | Confirm the amount does not exceed receipt balance or available deposit balance. |
| Deposit does not reduce after sale | Refresh the Customer Deposits tab and receipt. If still unchanged, review whether the sale payment line was posted as a customer deposit and whether the customer-deposit application exists. |
| External reference is required | The selected payment channel needs provider, bank, cheque, card, or other external confirmation reference. |