What Orchid Does With This File
Orchid POS imports your customer credit balances (money the store owes a customer, often called 'house account balance' or 'AR credit'). These can be positive (customer has a credit on file) or negative (customer owes the store). The customer can apply their credit toward a future purchase in Orchid POS.
Required File Format
Excel (.xlsx) or CSV - one row per customer credit balance
Required Fields
- Customer ID (must match your Customer List export)
- Customer Name (for verification)
- Current Credit Balance (POSITIVE = customer has store credit; NEGATIVE = customer owes the store)
- Date the credit was issued (if known)
- Reason / Source (return, store-credit-as-refund, layaway forfeit, gift, etc.)
- Notes
- Expiration Date (if your store policy gives store credit an expiration)
Reconciliation Rules
- The SUM of all POSITIVE credit balances is your store's outstanding customer-credit liability at cutover. The SUM of NEGATIVE balances is your customer-receivable. Both should reconcile to your accounting books.
- Customer ID must match a record in your Customer List export.
- Zero balances should be filtered out.
Before You Start
- Some stores carry customer house accounts as a formal A/R system; others just note credits in a customer record. Both work, but the export looks different.
- If you have customers with NEGATIVE balances (they owe you), decide whether to collect before cutover or carry the balance forward. Orchid POS supports both.
- Talk to your accountant about whether store credits should be confirmed in writing with each customer before cutover (some states have requirements).
How to Export from Your Current System
QuickBooks POS
Reports menu > Customers > Customer Balance Detail (or A/R Aging). Export to Excel. House account balances may be in a different report than refund-credits - check both.
Connected Data Systems (CDS)
Reports > Customer Credits / AR. Export. Confirm with CDS support.
Celerant
Reports > Customer > AR Balances or Customer Credits. Export dropdown > Excel.
Coreware / coreSTORE
Customers view > select a credit-filter, or run a Customer Credits report. Click '...' > Excel Export.
Trident 1 POS
Reports area > Customer Credits or AR. Export to Excel.
Bravo
Reports > Customer Balances. Export as Excel.
Cervelle / Merchant Magic
Reports menu > Customer Credits. Export as CSV.
Watch Out For
- Positive vs. negative sign convention varies between systems. Some show credits as positive (customer has store credit) and debts as negative. Others reverse it. Orchid follows the 'positive = store credit to customer' convention. Confirm your file matches.
- Gift card balances are NOT the same as customer credits - they live in a separate export (see Open Gift Cards).
- Store-credit-as-refund (issued when a customer returns merchandise) should appear in this export. If your system tracks them in a separate refund-credit table, export both and Orchid will merge.
This file may contain sensitive information (customer addresses, pricing, costs). Send it to Orchid using the secure upload link your consultant provided. Do not email exports as unencrypted attachments.
Questions about this export? Reach out to your Orchid implementation consultant, or email implementations@joinorchid.com with the subject line "[Migration] [Your Store Name] - [Legacy System] [File Type] export."