Overview
A refund is the return of money previously paid by a customer. This article provides instructions for making a refund to the original payment method used by a customer.
Note: If you use NETS as a payment processor, see Enable NETS Refunds before issuing a refund.
Issuing a Refund
Getting Here: Click Accounts > search for an account > Payments & Credits > Refunds
- Click New.
- Click the payment that you want to refund.
Note: The displayed payments fall within the allowable time frames for a refund. By default, this time frame is between 2-60 days after a payment was made. The time frames may vary based upon what was specified in your Aria implementation. These time frames must comply with your payment gateway's rules for a refund in order for the refund to be processed.
- Make a selection from the Reason drop-down menu that best describes why you are issuing a refund.
- Optionally, enter Comments.
- Select the desired Refund type from the Include Invoice Line Item Reversal? drop-down.
Each type of refund is described below:
- Yes, reverse line items: (Default) Use to reverse an invoice line item charge. This adds a reversal line item as an account transaction. This action offsets the original charge amount with the addition of the reversal. It could prevent a scenario for recollection of an amount that resulted from a refund of an electronic payment and later another refund of an external payment. Reversal of line items does not change the original invoice line item transaction. Be aware that reversals decrease total revenue.
Usage Scenario Information
There are various reasons to reverse line item charges. For example, if an account holder was charged in error for some service that was not approved or if an errant charge was added to their invoice. This refund type would reverse the errant charge to correct the situation. In addition, the account holder may have been overcharged for some service and similarly the charge could be reversed by the errant amount.Setting Refund Type Options
Once selected, a list of all refund-eligible invoice line items for the account displays in a Reversal Details table list. For Amount options, select either the Full refundable amount <value>" or Other Amount selection button.For Full refundable amount <value>, select the option and click Next. On the next screen in the Total Amount to Refund field, you can enter another amount if desired, but if the amount is not in the allowable range a warning will appear below the field. To the right of the field, a "Maximum refundable amount is [value]" line will appear to inform you of the refund limit, which cannot be exceeded. You can enter an amount that greater than the total of the line reversal but must be less than or equal to the maximum refund amount.
For the Other Amount option, enter partial amounts to be refunded for each line item in the Current Reversal Amount field. Other Amount partial refunds allow repayment of refunds incrementally, on charges as they become eligible for refund repayment, or to pay on different refundable charges for specific amounts. So, it is likely that more than one Other Amount action will be necessary to fulfill a given refund. The total amount for the refund is calculated, including tax, by the invoice line item. This action generates an email to the contact for any affected billing groups.
Note: If you want to keep the invoice on record, do not void any invoice line items. Instead, to settle the customer's balance, you may choose to issue a cash credit or a service credit to the customer for an amount equal to the outstanding balance.
- No, create a new open charge: Use to create a new open line item charge transaction which will increase your balance by that charge. The creation of a new charge transaction can be used to balance out the ledger to account for an issued refund. This refund type does not affect the original invoice line items; nor does it change the payment applied to the original invoice.
Usage Scenario Information
This action could be done to ensure the account is balanced by a previous refund amount issued externally which exceeded the owed amount. For example, the account holder sent a check in for $110 for a invoice charging only $100, an overpayment of $10. They are then refunded the $10 by check externally and so an open charge of $10 would be necessary to balance the account from (-$10) to 0. In addition, there may be other similar scenarios that would necessitate nullifying an amount related to a refund by opening a charge.Setting Refund Type Options
For Amount options, select either the Full refundable amount <value>" or Other Amount selection button and proceed as previously described. You can see transaction for this action in Accounts > [search for account] > Statements & Invoices > Transactions.
- No, open paid line items: Use to open and directly adjust payment amounts on previously paid line item charges. Unlike the other two types of refunds, this refund type allows you to interactively reduce the original payment amount by the issued refund amount. This refund type also prevents an immediate reduction in your revenue.
Usage Scenario Information
There a couple of scenarios where you would use this refund type. For example, suppose a 20 percent discount on monthly services bill of $100 was unintentionally not applied and the customer requested a refund. The CSR could change the payment to $80 in the open line item while issuing the $20 refund amount immediately while they take time to substantiate the claim. In addition, this refund type would be effective for chargeback scenarios. For example, a service in the amount of $100 was cancelled by a customer and yet they were still errantly charged for it. To pursue a refund, the customer submits a chargeback claim to their credit card company (instead of calling a CSR). When a CSR learns of the chargeback, they could open the paid line item to issue the refund, then after, take the necessary time to research and substantiate the claim. Of course, if the claim is unsubstantiated, eventually another adjustment on the original payment will be necessary.Setting Refund Type Options
Once selected, a list of all refund-eligible invoice line items for the account displays in a Open Paid Line Items table list. In Actions for paid line items, select either the "Continue to age per invoice date" or "Re-age as of today" to affect the alignment of the refund in relationship to the refundable time periods set in Aria and by the payment gateway or method. For Amount options, select either the Full refundable amount <value>" or Other Amount selection button. For Other Amount, enter partial amounts to be refunded for each line item in the Amount to Open field. You do not have to enter the full refundable amount total in one refund action.
- Click Next. The Payment Method selection displays.
The payment method options that display depend on the form of the original payment, and the payment processor used.
| If the original payment was a: | Then the option(s) is: |
|---|---|
| Electronic Payment, for example, a tokenized credit card, or an un-tokenized credit card with a payment processor other than Vantiv (Litle) |
Original Original / Check Number
|
| Check |
Check Number
|
| Un-tokenized credit card with the Vantiv (Litle) payment processor |
Original Alternate One-Time |
- Click Create Refund.
- Carefully review the confirmation and click OK.
Note: Check refunds must be externally processed. For previously submitted electronic payments it may take several days to post to the account holder's balance. Payments are automatically applied to cover account charges in FIFO order. Once executed, the action cannot be retracted or reversed.
The refund is displayed in your list of refunds. Aria processes the refund as part of the daily batch jobs. Refunds to electronic payment methods may not be reflected in the customer's credit card or bank account balance for several days, depending on the individual rules of the payment gateway and issuing bank.
Voiding a Refund
You can void a refund transaction using the void_transaction_m API, but a refund disbursement cannot be cancelled. When you void a refund transaction, there is no instruction to the payment processor to reverse the refund. Therefore, it is not recommended that you do this for refunds processed through a payment processor.
A void reverses a transaction in Aria. There is no reversal in external systems unless the client initiates it externally. For the type of refund that creates a new charge line, you can void the payment on a charge using the Delete icon next to the transaction as shown below:
