This article will guide merchants through issuing a refund transaction.

To issue a refund on a transaction, these criteria must be met:

• The refund, issued through the Virtual Terminal, must include the original Transaction ID of the transaction being refunded.
• Only transactions that have been settled within the past 180 days can be refunded. Transactions settled past 180 days require another method for issuing the refund or if approved for your account using Expanded Credit Capabilities (ECC).
• The total of the refunds issued to a credit card cannot exceed the amount of the original transaction. Refunds are processed at settlement time with all other Merchant transactions.
• Transactions that error, fail, decline, or are unsettled cannot be refunded.
• The total of the refunds issued to a credit card or ACH/eCheck cannot exceed the amount of the original transaction.
• For eCheck refunds, there must be funds available on your eCheck settlement statement.
• Refunds must be issued to the same credit card number or ACH account that the original transaction occurred on.
• Transactions in Unsettled Transactions cannot be refunded. These transactions should be voided/cancelled. Only settled transactions may be refunded.
• Refunds can only be issued against an existing credit card transaction that has been successfully settled on the Authorize.net system.
• Transactions that failed, were declined, or were submitted as Authorization-Only transactions cannot be refunded.

Refund time period:

Depending on the payment types (Credit Card or eCheck/ACH) and the customers bank is may take several says for the refund to appear on their statement and account.

Refund transaction options:

To issue a refund using the Quick Refund feature:

1. Sign in to the Merchant Interface.
2. Click Transaction Search from the main toolbar.
3. Click Search for a Transaction in the main left side menu.
4. Select the desired dates to view from the drop down menu or search by credit card payment method or credit card number, customer first name, last name, or transaction ID number.
5. Click Search.
6. Click the Transaction ID for the transaction that you wish to refund.
7. On the Transaction Detail screen that follows, click the Refund button. A pop-window appears.
8. If you wish to issue a partial refund, adjust the Amount field.
9. Optionally, you may add or update the Invoice # field for this refund, and enter something in the Description field.
10. If you want your customer to receive an email receipt for the refund, confirm the Customer Email field is present, and check the box labeled Email transaction receipt to customer (if email provided).
11. Click OK to submit the refund request.

To issue a refund using the Virtual Terminal, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to the Merchant Interface.
2. Click Virtual Terminal from the left side menu.
3. Under Select Payment Method choose Refund a Credit Card or Refund a Bank Account
4. Provide customer information as requested on the Virtual Terminal screen. Minimum information needed to issue a refund includes the original transaction ID, the last four digits of the account that was charged, and the amount of the refund.
5. When issuing a refund for a transaction, the transaction ID assigned to the original transaction must be entered in the "Original Transaction ID" field. The Transaction ID can be located by viewing the original transaction details.
6. In a transaction details, only the last four digits of the credit card number or bank account are viewable.
7. Click Submit.

To issue a refund using Customer Information Manager, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to the Merchant Interface.
2. Click Customer Information Manager from the left side menu.
3. Search for/find the customer profile you want to refund.
4. Click on the profile id.
5. On the Customer Profile page click Refund under the Payment Profile to refund.
6. Similar to the Virtual Terminal enter in the original transaction ID and amount and include any other additional fields as needed.
7. Click Submit.

To issue a refund from your website or shopping cart, software solution:

• This will depend on your websites or shopping cart/software integration to Authorize.net APIs and ability to submit and use the API call for submitting refund transactions.
  • For more information on API support for refund transaction methos see: Developer Center - Payment Transactions

Refund FAQs

• Can you refund a transaction in the same day it was submitted or just submitted? 
  • This will depend on if the transaction has been batched and settled or if the transaction is still pending settlement and in unsettled transactions. If a transaction has note batched and settled then it can be voided/cancelled but if the transactions has been settled than only a refund transaction can be submitted. For more information in voiding a transaction please see:
    • How do I void transactions?
    • How do you view unsettled transactions and capture or void transactions?

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