How long will it take to refund a credit card transaction?

[JRussellEnterpr]

I wanted to know how long will it take to refund money that was paid on a credit card.
Does it do it immediately?

[Russell · Accepted solution]

Hi @JRussellEnterpr 👋 thanks for making your first post to the community! 

The refund timeline is a little bit different from the payment timeline. It can take 2-7 business days to process a refund when using Square Point of Sale. Once the refund is processed and sent to your customer’s card issuer, the funds can take another 2-7 business days depending on how your customer's card issuer processes the refund.

In total, it can take 9-14 business days for your customer to see the refund post to their payment card account.

[JRussellEnterpr]

Thank you for that information it was greatly needed.

[Lynnevegas23]

The title of this post has been changed by a moderator from: "Refund hours later" to: "How long does it take for a refund to process?"

If I took a charge at noon and refunded it eight hours later will it have to wait go into my bank account and then come back out or would it be like there was never a charge?

[nika]

Hi @Lynnevegas23! I moved your question to this thread so you can take a look at the refund timeline.

In regards to where the refund funds are pulled from, we'll first look to your Square balance. If the funds aren't available there, we'll pull from your linked bank account to cover the refund. You can learn more about the refund process here.

[Tawannahumphrey]

Hello I charged a client too much but realized it and refunded it back, how long will refund take? 

[Joe]

Hi there, @Tawannahumphrey! Thanks for asking your question here on the Seller Community. We are happy to have you!

I've gone ahead and merged your question with a thread of Sellers who asked similar questions. This best answer by Russell will be helpful in determining a refund timeline.

Let me know if you have any questions!

[GPS1]

All the Q & A talks about 2-14 business days for the refund to go to the customer and it says the processing fees will be refunded to me as the merchant but it never gives a timeline or the process.

Please advise, thanks!

[barope1012]

Is it possible to tell if a refund has been processed for BARBARA A. BURNS ROPER from OPEN ARMS PANTRY? Online store R[redacted]

[Arie]

Hey @barope1012,

While we can't look into specific refunds via this public forum, it generally takes 2-7 business days for a refund to process. Depending on the bank's processing speed, the funds can take another 2-7 business days to appear in their bank account. 

PS. Welcome to our community 🙂!

[wildcat]

Will refund be credited to customers credit card if we do not have sales for 2 weeks?

[RHatch]

Yes,  the funds will be withdrawn from your bank account linked to Square.

[mgentile]

My question is two parts.

1. Can there be a partial amount refunded to the customer?

2. Are there any additional fees associated with a credit card refund?

Thank you!

[RHatch]

Yes you can do a parcial refund.  If the customer purchased multiple items and are only returing one then just that item will be refuned.

No there are no fees for returns.  In fact your fees will be credited back if the return is done withing the return window.

[hawaiihomepro]

So if we charge a deposit for a short term rental and later refund the money back to them upon they checked out, we can do it and just need to take about 14 days for them to see it on their cards?

[hawaiihomepro]

So if we charge a deposit for a short term rental and later refund the money back to them upon they checked out, we can do it and just need to take about 14 days for them to see it on their cards?

[puka]

Hey @hawaiihomepro - Yup, it can take between 9-14 business days for a refund to post to your customer's account dependent on how fast their bank processes it. You can learn more at our Refund Overview.

[Louie1953]

How long does it take for a customer to get the refund back

[VanKalkerFarms]

The process starts immediately, they should see it within minutes and up to 14 days in worst case scenarios of banks and bank holidays etc.

https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5615-refunds-faqs

[gbibeault]

This comment was created from merging the thread "WHY DO REFUNDS TAKE SO LONG??"

I have a customer who is due a $2500 refund which I put through on October 18th. She still has not received it and it is end of day on October 24th!! Crazy!  7 days and 5 of them business days.

The online FAQ says that refunds can take 9-14 BUSINESS DAYS which reminds me of stagecoach days.
Seriously!??
In the world of online banking a refund to a card takes 2 weeks?!?!

Has anyone else had this problem?? This might drive me to one of the many other online payments platforms. Ridiculous!

Please share your experience with me.

Thank you!

[Valentina]

Hi there @gbibeault - I've moved your question here so that you can see the answers posted by Russell and Puka in this thread. I worked in retail for years as a store manager, and can definitely empathize with this frustration - hopefully I'm able to provide some context so that this makes more sense.

You are absolutely correct - we advise that it typically takes between 2 and 7 business days to process refunds on our side, and then allow for another 2 to 7 business days for the bank to process and post the funds. It is atypical for refunds to take 2 weeks to be visible to your customers, but can happen, especially with smaller banks or credit unions.

The tricky part is that we work with many different banks, all of which have different processes (and speeds) for moving money. I've seen many, many refunds processed by Square within one business day. However, once we send a refund to the bank, it is up to the bank to post the refund to your customer's bank.