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. After 180 days, the card data associated with the transaction is archived for security reasons. When card data is archived, the system no longer has access to the necessary information to process a linked refund directly to the original payment method. Transactions settled more than 180 days ago require another method for issuing the refund or, if approved for your account, using Expanded Credit Capabilities (ECC).
• The total amount of 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 remain unsettled cannot be refunded.
• The total of refunds issued to a credit card or ACH/eCheck cannot exceed the amount of the original transaction.
• For eCheck refunds, funds must be available on your eCheck settlement statement.
• Refunds must be issued to the same credit card number or ACH account used for the original transaction.
• Transactions in Unsettled Transactions cannot be refunded; these transactions must 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 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 Merchant Interface (MINT) and using Manage Transaction:

1. Sign in to the Merchant Interface.
2. Be on or switched into the New Merchant Interface (2.0)
3. Click Payments in the left navigation.
4. Click Manage Transactions.
5. Set the date range and criteria to find the customer by.
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 Customer Information Manager, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to the Merchant Interface.
2. Be on or switched into the New Merchant Interface (2.0
3. Click Customer Information Manager from the left side menu.
4. Search for/find the customer you want to refund.
5. Click on the profile id.
6. On the Customer Profile page click Transaction History.
7. Click the Transaction ID for the charge transaction you want to refund.
8. You will be taken to the transaction detail page.
9. On the Transaction Detail screen that follows, click the Refund button. A pop-window appears.
10. If you wish to issue a partial refund, adjust the Amount field.
11. Optionally, you may add or update the Invoice # field for this refund, and enter something in the Description field.
12. 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).
13. Click OK to submit the refund request.

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

Troubleshooting processing error

If you receive the error message stating "an error occurred while processing. Please try again later", it is likely due to the merchant including special characters, e.g., @!%'-, in the description. After clicking on "refund", the merchant should remove any special characters before clicking on "submit".
 

Refund FAQs

• Can you refund a transaction in the same day it was submitted or just submitted? 
  • This depends on whether the transaction has been batched and settled:
    • If the transaction has not been batched and settled, it can be voided/cancelled.
    • If the transaction has been settled, only a refund transaction can be submitted.
  • For more information in voiding a transaction please see:
    • How do I void transactions? - New Experience (2.0)
    • How do you view unsettled transactions and capture or void transactions? - New Experience (2.0)
• How long does a refund transaction take?
  • Generally, refunds may take several days to appear on the customer's statement or account. The exact timeframe can vary, but typically:
    • Credit Card Refunds: Typically can take 3-5 business days.
    • eCheck/ACH Refunds: Typically can take up to 7-10 business days.
• Why was the refund transaction declined?
  • Visa, MasterCard, and Discover now require Purchase Returns Authorization (PRA), which validates payment data in real time.
  • Refunds may decline for the following reasons:
    • The cardholder account is no longer active or valid.
    • Insufficient funds exist in the cardholder's account.
    • Card information is incorrect or outdated.
    • Payment processor is experiencing issues.
    • Fraud prevention measures blocked the transaction.