Orders API does not return refunds data (Facebook & Instagram)

Technical Q&A

Topic summary

Refund data is missing from the Shopify Admin REST Orders API and Refunds API for orders placed via the Facebook & Instagram sales channel, while Admin Sales reports show refunds exist for those same orders.

  • Scope/observations: Refunds for Online Store orders are returned correctly; the issue appears specific to Facebook & Instagram channel orders. Calling the Refunds endpoint for affected orders also returns an empty list.

  • Attempts/updates: Shopify Support re-indexed the account, but this did not resolve the issue. Another participant reports they suddenly cannot refund or return Instagram/Facebook orders at all, suggesting a broader or recent regression rather than an isolated case.

  • Impact: Data mismatch between Reports and API, and potential inability to process refunds/returns for IG/FB orders via the API (and possibly in admin workflows).

  • Status: Unresolved/ongoing.

  • Open questions: Whether this is a known limitation for Meta (Facebook & Instagram) channel orders, a temporary API bug, or a data synchronization issue; no official guidance or workaround reported yet.

Summarized with AI on December 25. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Hi,

I’m using the Orders API (https://shopify.dev/docs/api/admin-rest/2024-04/resources/order#get-orders-order-id?fields=id,line-items,name,total-price) to get the order details and refunds.

However, for some orders, the Refunds data is empty ("refunds": []). When we download the Sales report in the Reports section of the Admin dashboard for that store, we can see that there were refunds for those orders.

One thing I noticed though is that the Sales Channel for those orders are “Facebook & Instagram”. For orders that are from “Online Store”, I can retrieve the refunds data with no issues.

Even when using the Refunds API (https://shopify.dev/docs/api/admin-rest/2024-04/resources/refund#get-orders-order-id-refunds), no Refunds data can be retrieved for those orders.

Did anyone encounter a similar issue before?

Thanks!

2

Did you ever solve this issue? I’m having an issue suddenly where I cannot refund or return IG/FB orders at all. It just happened randomly one day and I wonder if it is an API issue.

3

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to solve this. I contacted Shopify support and they tried re-indexing the Shopify account, but that didn’t fix this.