Unable to link VENDOR refund to VENDOR credit when there is no open invoice

You either enter the Refund as a refund for what you originally costed it for. Example: I bought Office Supplies, then returned and got refunded for a Toner Cartridge = no vendor credit to enter. Just the Deposit.

Or, you have the Vendor Credit, which makes this part of AP. That means the deposit entry or Credit Card Refund entry, looks like this:

Vendor Name, From AP, for the amount

That makes the refund look like a Bill to pay and that shows in Pay bills, making it available for you to apply the Vendor Credit to it.

Here is a topic showing the images and the steps:

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/community/Payments/Vendor-Credit/m-p/248846#M5029