I clicked the scales button and it removed money from my inventory directly. It did not put it in the barter window and I did not get the money back after canceling the transaction.
This is a known issue. Check the containers in the characters' inventories (backpacks, etc, and there is a pouch container with the the same icon as a pouch of moondust or bonedust). It is very likely gold added to their inventory is being stacked with gold in a container (possibly a crate picked up without looting first, etc). This also applies to gold transferred from other characters to a trading character when clicking on the balance icon; the gold is added to the container, rather than the trade window.
