Refund on a Payment Gateway

A refund is a return of the amount paid in full or in part to the payer, the customer of the e-shop. It can be used when the payer returns the goods or service within the 14-day period, when compensating the payer for undelivered goods/services, refunding a deposit, etc.

You can either refund the full amount of the payment or only part of it (called partial refund). Partial refund is used, for example, if the order contained several products and the buyer returned only part of them. There is no limit to the number of partial refunds. The cumulative amount of partial refunds for one payment is limited to the amount of the original payment (it is not possible to refund more than the amount of the original payment).

The payment gateway allows you to refund payments made by all payment methods and in all currencies. Refunds are always made using the original payment method. If the customer has paid by card, the refund is made to the same card used for the original payment. If he/she has used a bank transfer, we refund the money back to the account from which he/she paid. The deferred payment is refunded in the same way as the card payment.

Refund to the payer

Refunds are always made using the original payment method. As a standard, the payer will receive the refund by card within seven working days. If the customer has used a bank transfer, we will generate a transfer to the payer's bank account the same afternoon. The customer will receive the refunded payment within two days as standard. In the case of a foreign order, the refund may take up to several days. The payer's account is credited on the date of purchase.

Refund process

1. Setting up a refund request
   There are two ways to request a refund. 
   1. The first option is to make a refund in the Client Portal, which is the right of the person logged in as the administrator. Here, you must first search for the transaction and press the refund button. You can then enter the required refund amount.
   2. The second option is to refund the payment via the API interface. This option is suitable for a large number of refunds. More information can be found in our API documentation.
2. Compliance with the conditions for refund
   The payment gateway will accept a refund request for a payment that is in PAID or TRANSFERRED status.
   If the payment has not been completed by the payer and is in a PENDING status, we recommend that you use a cancellation instead. For more information on cancelling a payment, please see the article here. For an explanation of the different payment statuses, please see the Client Portal article.
   Once you request a refund, the payment gateway will accept your request and queue it for processing. A sufficient turnover of new payments on your e-shops is a prerequisite for subsequent refund processing. This means that in order to process a refund, you need new payments to your e-shop in an amount at least equal to the requested refund amount plus the refund fee.
3. Successful completion of the refund
   If you have sufficient payments received, the refund is processed immediately. For online bank transfers, we will process the transaction the same day. In the case of cards, we immediately forward the request to the processing bank.

Refund cancellation

You can cancel your refund in the Client Portal. First, search for the transaction and press the "payment detail" button. In the payment detail you can then press the "cancel payment" button.

A request to cancel a refund can be made while the refund is in the pending status, i.e. while the request is in status:

• awaiting payment confirmation
• awaiting sufficient funds

If our system has already placed a hold on a partial refund, the funds will be transferred to you in the next daily transfer.

Refunds in the Client portal

All refunds are available in the Client Portal under Payments > Refunds. Here you can use the filters to search for a specific refunded payment and check its status.

Status of refunds

• awaiting sufficient funds – the payment gateway does not currently register sufficient incoming payments (in the amount of the refunded amount) on your e-shop.
• awaiting execution – a newly created refund. It is currently being evaluated to determine if there are sufficient funds for execution. Alternatively, the refund may already be waiting for the order to be sent to the processing bank, or a link to fill in the bank account details may have been sent to the payer's email.
• awaiting payment confirmation – occurs when a request has been made for a payment in the PENDING status. This payment must first go to the PAID status in order for the refund to be processed.
• in progress – in the case of a card payment, the processing bank has accepted the refund request. For the other methods, a bank transfer has been generated to the payer, but the bank has not yet confirmed the execution of the order.
• executed – this is a confirmed refund that has been successfully executed. In the case of card payments, also confirmed by the processing bank.
• cancelled – you can cancel the refund yourself until it is in the executed status. A refund is automatically cancelled if the e-shop does not have sufficient funds to carry it out after 14 working days.

Pendng refunds

If there are any refunds pending in your store, we will notify you via email. Unpaid refunds may occur due to insufficient funds or if the payer has not provided a refund account number within 7 days.

Report details

Insufficient funds

In the event that there is insufficient payment volume on your e-shop for a refund to be processed, the payment gateway will withhold all funds from payments made on your e-shop. 

If, even after 14 working days from the date of the refund request, the volume of your payments does not cover the amount of the refund, the request is automatically cancelled. All withheld funds are transferred to your bank account without delay. The system will then allow you to re-submit your refund request.

If you know that you will not have sufficient payments for the refund, you can contact our customer support. They will arrange with you to send the necessary amount of money to successfully complete the refund.

Price and billing

Refunds are deducted from your daily bulk transfers as standard. This means that we will send you the transfer less the amount of the refund and the refund fee. This way you do not have to manually pay the refund by bank transfer.

The fee is 2 CZK for each individual refund. In the case of payments in foreign currencies, the equivalent in that currency is charged, i.e. EUR 0.07 / USD 0.08 / GBP 0.06 / PLN 0.29 / HUF 25.

You will find out about the deduction of the refund from the daily transfer in the payment schedule that we send to your email in CSV, PDF and ABO form. It is also possible to download the statement via the API interface or in the Client Portal.

Frequently asked questions

When is the latest I can refund a payment since it was paid?

The latest refund period depends on the payment method (at least 6 months). If you need to make a refund after this period, when the button in the Client Portal is no longer available, please contact Customer Support.

How long does a refund take?

Refunds are entered immediately, however banks have 7 working days to process. You can also track the status of your refund directly in the Client Portal under Payments > Refunds. There you can also check if the refund has been processed.

What happens to a refunded payment if the payer no longer has a valid card or their account is cancelled?

If the card is invalid or the bank account is cancelled, the card issuer will refuse the refund and the bank will not refund the payer. We will inform you of this fact. You will then contact the customer to find out where to transfer the money. For these cases, we recommend that you offer your customers another form of refund.

What is the difference between a chargeback and a refund?

A refund is a return of funds back to the payer based on your request. You will use a chargeback when the payer returns goods or services within the 14-day period, when compensating the payer for undelivered goods/services, when refunding an advance to the payer, etc.

A chargeback is the return of funds charged in a card transaction back to the payer and is made whenever the payer denies that he/she gave the instruction to pay by credit card or claims delivery of goods or services. It is not carried out on your initiative, but on the basis of an initiative from the payer. 

What is the difference between a cancellation and a refund?

A cancellation is for cases where the order has been cancelled in the e-shop and the payer does not intend to complete the transaction. Unlike a refund, the payment must be in a "pending" status (i.e. the payer has not yet paid the amount).

Refund is for payments that have already been established and paid. The status of the payment must therefore be 'paid'.

Do I need to use Comgate for a refund?

If you are paying by card, please refund your customers only by using a payment gateway refund. Never refund money by any other method, such as a bank transfer to the customer's bank account. This is the policy of the card companies Mastercard and Visa.

If the payer has made a payment using a deferred payment, refund customers only by refunding through the payment gateway.

If the payer paid by bank transfer, you can refund the money to their account yourself.

If I have requested a refund through the API, can I also use the API to see if the refund has been made?

You can only check the status of a refund in the Client Portal under Payments > Refunds.

Here you can use the filters to search for a specific refunded payment and check its status.

How do I know if it is a refund in accounting?

A refund is marked with a negative sign (-) in the payment schedule, as is the refund fee.