Refund a Payment

Transactions that have completed processing with a Captured or Settled status can be remedied by issuing a partial or full refund for the payment amount. This is because refunds are new transactions made separate from the original payment being refunded and you can’t cancel or void a transaction that has already reached the status of Captured or Settled.

Requirements

To refund a payment:

• The transaction status must be Captured or Settled.

• The Merchant’s balance or approved daily transactions must cover the refund. If the Merchant’s balance is insufficient, their primary bank account will be debited for the remainder.

Verify a transaction’s status from the Transaction Details page, where full or partial refunds can be issued.

Issue a Refund

For transactions with Captured or Settled status, a Refund transaction is required.

To initiate a new Refund transaction:

1. Select Payment History from the left navigation panel.

2. Select the transaction to open the Transaction Details page.

3. Review the transaction’s details to confirm the status is Captured or Settled. 

4. Click Refund.

   • Partial Refunds: Enter the amount to be refunded before proceeding.

   • Full Refunds: Proceed to the next step.  

5. Click Refund to confirm and issue the Refund transaction for the full or partial amount.

Result: The amount entered in the Refund dialog is issued to the customer as a new Refund transaction. This Refund transaction is generated with a new unique transaction ID and is linked with the original sale transaction, shown on the Related Transactions tab of the original sale's Transaction Details page.

Important!

An eCheck sale might fail after the funds have been credited to the Merchant’s available balance. If a refund is processed and the original transaction subsequently fails, the Merchant is responsible for recovering those funds from their customer.

Refund Authorization and Response

Authorizations for Refund transactions are issued in real time, instantly receiving Approved or Failed status updates after processing. As a result of real-time authorization, Refund transactions cannot be canceled.

Using the Vantiv Processor

Refund transactions on the Vantiv processor (VAP) will show Captured status instantly after approval while being added to the settlement batch. Due to the instant Captured status for authorized Refund transactions, they cannot be canceled or voided on VAP.

Using the Vantiv Core Processor

Refund transactions on the Vantiv Core processor (VCore) have an Approved status after authorization, updating to Captured after being added to the daily settlement batch. This behaves similarly to a sale transaction processing, except the funds are being debited from the Merchant upon capture and credited to the customer after settlement.

An authorization code related to the Refund transaction is displayed on the Transaction tab of the Transaction Details page for the new refund along with a unique transaction ID.

See Processor Response Codes for a full list of all possible authorization or decline codes related to issuing refunds on various processors, like VAP and VCore.