Canceling a refund

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment
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1

Hello, I have a customer who initially requested a refund but later decided to cancel the request. I have already processed the refund, but it’s still pending. Is there any way to cancel or reverse the refund at this stage?

2

Hi @alex53

In Shopify, once a refund has been processed and is still pending (i.e., it hasn’t been fully completed), you may have an opportunity to reverse or cancel the refund, but the process depends on the payment gateway used and the stage of the transaction. Here’s how you can handle the situation:

1. Cancel Pending Refund (If Possible)- If the Refund is Pending in Shopify Admin:

  • Sometimes, if a refund is in the process but hasn’t been fully completed (especially in cases of bank processing or pending payment statuses), you may be able to cancel or reverse the refund directly from the Shopify admin.Steps:
  1. Go to Orders in your Shopify admin.
  2. Locate the order with the pending refund.
  3. Click on the order to view its details.
  4. If the refund is pending, you may see an option to Cancel Refund (this depends on the payment gateway).
  5. If this option is available, select it to reverse the refund.This option may not be available with all payment gateways. If you don’t see the option, you’ll need to proceed with other methods.

2. Contact Your Payment Gateway Provider

If the refund is pending and you don’t see an option to reverse it directly in Shopify, the next step is to contact your payment gateway provider (e.g., Shopify Payments, PayPal, or another external processor).

  • Shopify Payments: If you’re using Shopify Payments as the payment gateway, you can reach out to Shopify’s support team and ask them to assist with reversing the pending refund. They may be able to intervene in the process and cancel the refund if it hasn’t been fully processed yet.

  • External Payment Gateways (e.g., PayPal, Stripe, etc.): If you’re using a third-party payment provider (like PayPal or Stripe), you will need to contact their support team. For example:

    • PayPal: If a refund is pending, PayPal support can often assist in reversing it, depending on their processing status.
    • Stripe: Stripe also allows support intervention if a refund has not been fully processed and the payment is still in a pending state.
3

Hello @alex53 From my knowledge, once you’ve initiated a refund from Shopify admin, you would no longer be able to reverse the refund while it’s pending. What you can try is maybe creating a new draft order and collect the payment again from the customer with the draft order.