I have been scammed repeatedly by Shopify on the charges on refund. In the last event, I got an order with high fraud alert, and ASSURED BY Shopify customer service that I WOULD NOT GET CHARGED ANY FEE FOR REFUNDING. Yet, when I checked the monthly bill, the charges still came in!!! I contacted CS and they admitted the transcript but still would not refund after multiple communications with them. Like you I am feared of customer who place large order and cancel afterwards. Unfortunately my bank acct is overseas and not the easiest to process cheques from the US. Any other platforms such as WIX / Square / Bigcommerce that does not charge for refund?
Topic summary
Shopify does not refund credit card processing fees when orders are canceled or refunded; merchants report being charged the fixed per-transaction fee (e.g., $0.30) plus the percentage, and in some cases an additional 1.5% currency conversion fee. Some say this applied even on fraud-flagged or test orders. Several participants claim the no-refund policy is relatively new (2019 or April 2021), though Shopify confirmation is not shown.
Perspectives:
- Justification: Payment processors provide secure processing and fraud prevention and generally don’t return fees.
- Opposition: Considered unfair, especially for high-ticket orders; reports that some platforms do refund (claims: Square refunds up to a year; Etsy/eBay fully refund; PayPal disputed—some say yes, others say no).
Workarounds and actions:
- Promote non-card payments to avoid lost fees:
- Checks with customer discounts (initially ~15% adoption; later a claim of ~60% over 5 months). Concerns about bounced checks and bank rules on image deposits.
- Shift to ACH/eChecks (Automated Clearing House bank transfers), e.g., via QuickBooks: ~1% fee capped at $10 plus $30/month; touted benefits include lower cost, security, speed, and no refund-fee loss.
- Include nonrefundable processing fees in the store’s refund policy to pass costs to customers.
Status: No resolution or policy change from Shopify reported. Ongoing discussion with open questions about which processors/platforms still refund fees and consistent handling of fraud/test orders.