Refunded payments

[Bossmann]

Hi so my question is. If you refund a payment to the customer, does square refund processing fees and the loan repayment fee?

[ryanwanner · Accepted solution]

Hello @Bossmann ! Welcome to the Seller Community!

When you do a refund, your loan repayment is refunded as well, yes. However, processing fees are not refunded. This is the standard with pretty much every merchant processor out there anymore.

Hope this helps!

[thissucks33]

shouldn’t the square app tell you before they auto draft the processing fees?

they gave my client a full refund then auto drafted $70 from my bank without any warning

really they should comp the transaction fees. square is making a lot more money than me lol, also outsourcing their customer service like this is pretty low brow.

[TheRealChipA]

No they should not have to warn us about this.  As @ryanwanner said, ALL card processing companies work like this.  The fact you don't know that they do only means that you haven't done your homework.  I'm guessing you are new to owning a business that accepts credit cards.  If that is the case, you should probably consult with a competent accountant to have them bring you up to speed.

For the record, this is how ALL card processing companies work.  Square was actually late to the game in doing this.  Until about two years ago, Square ate the processing fees while every other card processing company made their sellers eat them.  Now, with federal laws and court rulings saying it is ok, all card companies make us eat the fees for refunded transactions.  So, if you are thinking of finding someone else who doesn't do this, good luck.  It is a cost of doing business.  The only way not to have this happen is not to accept cards for payments.

Also, pretty much everyone outsources customer service these days.  Calling it "low brow" sounds like a code or a dog whistle for saying something else you are afraid to say in polite society.  Take that kind of stuff elsewhere because it is not welcome here.

[thissucks33]

actually, the fact that they USED TO eat the processing fee and don’t anymore gives even more reason to warn their vendors that they won’t for the transaction in question. 

And I am impressed that my vocabulary struck you so deeply, @TheRealChipA . As your bio mentions, you are not a Square employee, so perhaps you can leave it to them to decide what is or isn’t welcome where! That’s really great you are such a huge fan of Square but it does make me wonder if you have ever had decent customer service because this my dear, is not it.

[thissucks33]

also.

the more we accept crappy treatment from companies and their customer service departments, the worse their service will get.

In the 90’s, the customer was always right, but these days, the customer isn’t even heard. Are we okay with that? Just because they all do it? We accept that?

[ryanwanner]

Ok, let me get this straight. You issued a refund for around $70 give or take processing fees then are complaining that Square pulled those funds from your account? It would have to be this, because unless there's a dispute on a transaction there is absolutely no reason or way for Square to just randomly pull funds.

What am I missing here? That's exactly how business operations work. Refunds are pulled almost instantaneously from the business account as soon as they're initiated. The fact that it takes 2-3 business days to actually hit your customer's account is a whole different point of contention.

As @TheRealChipA said, it is standard nature for every merchant services processor to charge the seller the processing fees for refunds as well as purchases. The fact that Square did not do this for quite some time is telling only in the fact that this was something that was bound to change given the cutthroat nature of this business.

And to comment on your line about how it used to be that the "customer is always right": I've had my business since 2008, and I have learned something over the years that may be applicable here. "The customer is always right" is not correct. What is correct is the line "The customer you want back is always right." Fight for your business and its success for sure, but do remember that Square started out as an idea as well. Work nicely with them and they'll work with you. 

[thissucks33]

no the payment was $2,325. I own a triplex and use PandaDocs for my leases, which offers square as a payment resource. Usually tenants opt for venmo, but it is my usual practice to make things easiest for my clients because that is how I personally just think the world should be. 

Anyway, they paid their rent but needed it refunded, which I did from my iphone on square. The full payment was refunded to their credit card and the following day I received a notification that $70 had been removed from my Fidelity account.

[ryanwanner]

@thissucks33Ok that makes a little more sense. Assuming 2.6% + 15¢ would mean that it should have pulled about $61 from your account. What I would recommend is taking a look at the refund transaction on your transactions page on the dashboard. It will give you a breakdown of all the fees associated with that transaction. 

[SSB_YVR]

Hey there,

So I was almost 100% sure that the app does prompt you that it will withdraw from the linked bank account, so I went through the refund process for a small transaction I just did and right there at the bottom it does say that it will withdraw from the linked bank account.

Incase the highlight made the text hard to read it says "By issuing this refund, I authorize Square to debt the refund amount from the bank account linked to my Square account. Learn more."

You don't need to be so hostile to the people trying to help you.

Just an FYI as well, @ryanwanner and @TheRealChipA are both Square Champions. This means that they are vetted community members with a vast amount of Square knowledge and experience. 

[thissucks33]

the fee was  $67.73.

I don’t recall giving square authorization to pull money from that account and had i beeen given a choice the tenant would have covered the fees.

I am not going to ask the tenant for the $67.73 because I am the kind of businessperson I would like to do business with, respecting my clients/tenants.

I don’t believe I was rude or harsh to anyone here except Square, whose policies and lack of humanity are mindbogglingly frustrating, and I hope more people agree with me because businesses tend to cater to what they have to, and the big businesses seem to tend to suck out whatever they can get from you.

I accessed the square website from my phone, not from the app. I worked in data mining for facebook and the amount of information you are freely giving those companies is pretty atrocious.

Anyway, I can afford $70, but this kind of business model irks me, and if you two truly don’t work for square or get cutbacks from them or are AI, isn’t it curious how you so quickly defend them and take it so personally that I think they are meeting very low standards of customer service and usability?

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

PS,

I still have yet to speak to a human at Square despite my having tried well before entering this thread.