Payments and Refunds

The Payments list is a record of every payment the site has tried to take at checkout, whether it went through or not. From it you can refund a payment, in full or in part. The Refunds list shows every refund and lets you close the ones that had to be paid back outside the site.

Refunding is kept apart from managing transactions on purpose: giving money back can't be undone, so it has its own permission.

Menu	Commerce > Payments, Commerce > Refunds
Permission	Manage payments and refunds
Feature	Transactions, together with Checkout. The two menu items appear only when Checkout is on.

Can't find it?

What you see depends on your role. If the menu, a button or a setting on this page is missing, ask your administrator to give you the permission listed above or to turn on the feature. Only administrators can turn features on and change site settings.

Review payments

1. Open Commerce > Payments. The newest payments are at the top.
2. To narrow the list, pick a state in the Any state list in the list header, or a payment method in the Any method list. The list updates as soon as you pick.

The header shows how many payments are on this page and how many match in total. Use the pager under the list to move between pages, and Items per page to show more or fewer rows.

Payment states

State	What it means
Started	The payment was recorded, and the payment provider has not been asked yet.
Processing	The provider was asked, and the result is not known yet.
Succeeded	The provider confirmed the payment. Shown in green.
Failed	The provider declined or could not take the payment. Shown in red.
Canceled	The payment was canceled before it went through.

What each row shows

The row's title is the amount, tax included. For a payment that went through, it is the amount the provider confirmed; otherwise it is the amount the site asked for. When the payment paid a transaction, the amount links to it.

Badge	What it shows
State	The payment's state.
Method	The payment method used, for example Credit or debit card (Stripe) or Pay Later.
Updated	When the payment last changed.
Tax included	The tax in the amount, when there was any.
Gateway reference	The payment provider's own reference for the payment. Use it to find the same payment in the provider's dashboard.

When a payment Failed, the reason the provider gave is shown in red under the row, for example a declined card. Hover over a badge to see its name.

The buttons on the right:

• Transaction opens the transaction the payment paid, when it paid one.
• Refund opens the refund form. It appears only on a payment that Succeeded with money actually taken, so not on a Pay Later promise: settle a Pay Later balance on its transaction instead.

Refund a payment

1. Open Commerce > Payments and find the payment. Picking Succeeded in the Any state list helps.
2. Click Refund. The Refund payment page shows the Method, the provider's Payment reference, how much was Collected, and how much is Already refunded.
3. Check Amount to refund. It starts at everything that can still be refunded. Lower it for a partial refund.
4. Type a Reason. It is kept with the refund, so anyone reading the list later knows why the money went back.
5. Click Refund, then click Refund again in the Refund the customer confirmation box. Click Cancel to back out.

Field	What it does
Amount to refund	How much to give back, in the payment's currency. It must be more than zero and no more than what is left to refund. Tax is refunded in the same proportion, using the tax that applied when the payment was taken.
Reason	Why the money is going back. Shown under the refund in the Refunds list.

You can refund one payment several times, for example half now and the rest later, until the whole amount is refunded. A refund that is still being processed already counts toward Already refunded, so the same money can't be refunded twice.

After you confirm, the site tells you what happened:

Message	What it means
The refund was completed.	The provider sent the money back.
The refund failed: followed by a reason	The provider refused the refund. Nothing was sent back.
This payment method cannot refund automatically. The refund was recorded for you to settle by hand.	Pay the customer back yourself, then mark the refund settled.
The refund was submitted and is still being processed.	The provider hasn't confirmed it yet. Check the Refunds list later.
A refund for this payment is waiting to be settled by hand.	An earlier refund of the same payment Needs manual settlement. Mark it settled first, then refund again.
The refund couldn't be started.	Another refund of the same payment is still in progress, or the payment changed after the page opened. Nothing was sent. Reload the page and try again.

What the customer is told

When a refund of a payment on a transaction succeeds, and the Send Payment Receipts feature is on, the customer is sent a notice titled Your refund of, followed by the amount. It says the money went back to the card or account they paid with and can take a few business days to appear on their statement. Customers with an account get it through the site's notifications; guests get it by email. The transaction's Timeline notes that the customer was told. See Invoices and Receipts.

A finished refund is also recorded on the transaction it gives money back for: its Timeline gets a Refunded entry with the amount and reason, its summary shows the total Refunded, and once everything paid has been refunded its status becomes Refunded. After a partial refund the transaction stays Paid. A refund never makes a transaction collectable again.

Review refunds

1. Open Commerce > Refunds. The newest refunds are at the top.
2. To narrow the list, pick a status in the Any status list in the list header, or a payment method in the Any method list.

The row's title is the amount refunded. Its badge shows the status:

Badge	What it means
Refunded	The money went back to the customer.
Needs manual settlement	The site couldn't send the money back itself.
Requested	The refund was recorded, and the provider has not been asked yet.
Processing	The provider was asked, and has not confirmed it yet.
Failed	The provider refused the refund.
Canceled	The refund was canceled before it was sent.

The row also shows the Method, when it was Updated, and the Tax refunded. Under the row is the reason you typed, in grey, or the reason it failed, in red.

Settle a refund by hand

A refund Needs manual settlement when the site can't send the money back itself, for example for a payment method with no online refunds, or when the payment collected tax and the site can't work out how much of it to give back. Pay the customer back yourself, by bank transfer, check or through your payment provider's dashboard, then record it:

1. Open Commerce > Refunds. Picking Needs manual settlement in the Any status list helps.
2. Optionally, type your own reference for the repayment, such as a bank transfer number, in Reference on the refund's row.
3. Click Mark settled, then click Mark settled in the confirmation box.

The refund becomes Refunded, and the customer is told as described above. Only a refund that Needs manual settlement can be marked settled, and it can't be undone.

Related pages

• Transactions: balances customers still owe, and recording payments taken outside the site.
• Payment providers: the payment methods customers can use.
• Checkout: how customers pay.