Refunds

Learn how to refund payments.

You can refund any payment you process with Finix, either fully or partially. You can refund buyers through the Finix Dashboard or API.

Refund Mechanics

When you initiate a refund, the request is processed immediately and cannot be canceled. While there are no additional fees to process refunds, please note that the original processing and platform fees are not refunded.

Your customers will typically see the refund credited to their account within 5-10 business days, depending on their bank. In some cases, especially when refunds are issued shortly after the original charge, they may appear as reversals instead of refunds. A reversal removes the original charge from the customer's statement rather than showing up as a separate credit.

You can issue multiple partial refunds for a single transfer, but the total amount refunded cannot exceed the original transaction amount.

Similar to Transfers and capture requests, refunds appear as debits in Settlements (see Payouts). If the payout is too small to cover any refunds, Finix refunds the remaining amount by debiting the seller's bank account.

Refund with the API

To refund a Transfer via API, create a reversal Transfer with the id of the original Transfer you want to refund.

Refunds in Auth and Capture Flows

If you are performing separate Authorizations and captures, you'll need to refund the Transfer that was created as part of capturing the Authorization. If you haven't captured it yet, void the Authorization instead.

Reversal Transfer Request

curl https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/transfers/TRacB6Q6GcW6yvFUKawSnMEP/reversals \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H 'Finix-Version: 2022-02-01' \
    -u  USsRhsHYZGBPnQw8CByJyEQW:8a14c2f9-d94b-4c72-8f5c-a62908e5b30e \
    -d  '{
        "refund_amount": 100,
        "tags": {
            "test": "refund"
        }
    }'

Reversal Transfer

{
    "id": "TRtLhSEAHak7isKjZu9x7Gjh",
    "created_at": "2022-10-10T04:16:27.47Z",
    "updated_at": "2022-10-10T04:16:27.57Z",
    "additional_buyer_charges": null,
    "additional_healthcare_data": null,
    "address_verification": null,
    "amount": 100,
    "amount_requested": 100,
    "application": "APgPDQrLD52TYvqazjHJJchM",
    "currency": "USD",
    "destination": "PIe2YvpcjvoVJ6PzoRPBK137",
    "externally_funded": "UNKNOWN",
    "failure_code": null,
    "failure_message": null,
    "fee": 0,
    "idempotency_id": null,
    "merchant": "MUeDVrf2ahuKc9Eg5TeZugvs",
    "merchant_identity": "IDuqZpDw28f2KK6YuDk4jNLg",
    "messages": [],
    "raw": null,
    "ready_to_settle_at": null,
    "security_code_verification": null,
    "source": null,
    "state": "PENDING",
    "statement_descriptor": "FNX*FINIX FLOWERS",
    "subtype": "API",
    "tags": {
        "test": "refund"
    },
    "trace_id": "e200c5b9-3ac9-4a21-a69e-cd0ffb6c2490",
    "type": "REVERSAL",
    "_links": {
        "application": {
            "href": "https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/applications/APgPDQrLD52TYvqazjHJJchM"
        },
        "self": {
            "href": "https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/transfers/TRtLhSEAHak7isKjZu9x7Gjh"
        },
        "parent": {
            "href": "https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/transfers/TRacB6Q6GcW6yvFUKawSnMEP"
        },
        "destination": {
            "href": "https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/payment_instruments/PIe2YvpcjvoVJ6PzoRPBK137"
        },
        "merchant_identity": {
            "href": "https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/identities/IDuqZpDw28f2KK6YuDk4jNLg"
        },
        "payment_instruments": {
            "href": "https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/transfers/TRtLhSEAHak7isKjZu9x7Gjh/payment_instruments"
        },
        "fee_profile": {
            "href": "https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/fee_profiles/FPvCQUcnsueN3Bc3zR1qCBG8"
        }
    }
}

The Transfer#state will be SUCCEEDED when the refund finishes processing. Buyers will see the refund returned as a credit within 5-10 business days, depending on their bank. Refunds can’t get canceled once processed.

The id of the original Transfer that was reversed is available under _links with parent.

Refunding Card Present Payments

Refunds that include information about the original Transfer (i.e., the id) are also known as Referenced Refunds These refund requests reference their original transactions explicitly.

For transactions where a card got physically used, Finix also enables merchants to create refunds without the information of the original Transfer. These Unreferenced Refunds can only get processed if the cardholder swipes their card to authorize the Transfer.

Referenced Refunds

Below are the different scenarios that outline whether a user needs to swipe their card for a refund.

Included in the open batch or not, the payment type was credit, and the transaction is within 45 days.
If the payment type was debit and the transaction is in the current open batch.

To perform the refund, reverse the original Transfer on the original Transfer:

Referenced Refund Request

curl https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/transfers/TRn9pzzn1NVLdwwBwVrqSwAX/reversals \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H 'Finix-Version: 2022-02-01' \
    -u  USjHFGYvecE4LBitYG8KDE2g:b698f403-d9b7-4157-82d8-162cea8c8cc3 \
    -d  '{
        "device": "DVtk6E4eWHsMzgZXvFaaUigM",
        "refund_amount": 150
    }'

Referenced Refund

{
    "id": "TRh57kBu89GbiaPmQ243DMUV",
    "created_at": "2022-10-10T04:21:41.67Z",
    "updated_at": "2022-10-10T04:21:42.98Z",
    "additional_buyer_charges": null,
    "additional_healthcare_data": null,
    "address_verification": null,
    "amount": 150,
    "amount_requested": 150,
    "application": "APeUbTUjvYb1CdPXvNcwW1wP",
    "card_present_details": {
        "emv_data": null,
        "masked_account_number": null,
        "name": null,
        "brand": null,
        "entry_mode": null,
        "payment_type": "NONE",
        "approval_code": null
    },
    "currency": "USD",
    "destination": "PInUwPXf1MYj7xJ8jfmdksa5",
    "device": "DVtk6E4eWHsMzgZXvFaaUigM",
    "externally_funded": "UNKNOWN",
    "failure_code": null,
    "failure_message": null,
    "fee": 0,
    "idempotency_id": null,
    "merchant": "MUeDVrf2ahuKc9Eg5TeZugvs",
    "merchant_identity": "IDsbTBawhnLBAVeinRb84vFR",
    "messages": null,
    "raw": null,
    "ready_to_settle_at": null,
    "security_code_verification": null,
    "source": null,
    "state": "SUCCEEDED",
    "statement_descriptor": "FIN*FINIX FLOWERS",
    "subtype": "API",
    "tags": {},
    "trace_id": "FNX9HJndPy6MvvHwRszcyPsPW",
    "type": "REVERSAL",
    "_links": {
        "application": {
            "href": "https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/applications/APeUbTUjvYb1CdPXvNcwW1wP"
        },
        "self": {
            "href": "https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/transfers/TRh57kBu89GbiaPmQ243DMUV"
        },
        "parent": {
            "href": "https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/transfers/TRn9pzzn1NVLdwwBwVrqSwAX"
        },
        "destination": {
            "href": "https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/payment_instruments/PInUwPXf1MYj7xJ8jfmdksa5"
        },
        "merchant_identity": {
            "href": "https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/identities/IDsbTBawhnLBAVeinRb84vFR"
        },
        "payment_instruments": {
            "href": "https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/transfers/TRh57kBu89GbiaPmQ243DMUV/payment_instruments"
        },
        "fee_profile": {
            "href": "https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/fee_profiles/FPrATYzpomaTRtdo2BssRoGx"
        }
    }
}

Unreferenced Refunds

Details of the original transaction are not linked to the refund.
The Transfer refund essentially acts as a separate transaction, requiring the cardholder to swipe their card again. Unreferenced refunds are only available for transactions where a card got physically swiped.
Card-not-present transactions do not support unreferenced refunds (e.g., eCommerce transactions).

To perform the unreference refund, create a transfer with operation_key: CARD_PRESENT_UNREFERENCED_REFUND.

If the payment type is debit and the transaction is no longer in the batch.
If the payment type is credit and the transaction is no longer in the batch and older than 45 days.

Unreferenced Refund Request

curl https://finix.sandbox-payments-api.com/transfers \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H 'Finix-Version: 2022-02-01' \
    -u  USjHFGYvecE4LBitYG8KDE2g:b698f403-d9b7-4157-82d8-162cea8c8cc3 \
    -d  '
    {
        "amount": 150,
        "currency": "USD",
        "device": "DVf2H8sh4LZZC52GTUrwCPPf",
        "operation_key": "CARD_PRESENT_UNREFERENCED_REFUND",
        "tags": {
            "order_number": "testing123"
        }
    }'

Unreferenced Refund