need to issue refund to different card

[MOYO]

is it possible to issue a refund on a different card than one used for original transaction? the customer's bank issued new cards so the last 4 digits seen on transaction thread are obsolete. can i swipe their new card somehow?

[VanKalkerFarms]

This is a tricky situation and I don't think there is a way to refund to a card that doesn't have a transaction tied to it as a safety measure.  Is there a way to do this @Tom?

[puka · Accepted solution]

Hey @MOYO - @VanKalkerFarms is correct here. Refunds can only be refunded to the original card.

If the original card is no longer active, a few things can happen: 

• If a new card was activated with the same card issuer, the refund is normally credited to the new payment card.

• If the account was closed recently (last 2 months), the refund may post and the card-issuer usually reaches out directly to the buyer and notify them of any next steps. 

• If the account has been closed for some time, the credit will fail. In this case, we’ll notify you, the Square merchant of the failure, and you’ll need to refund the customer outside of Square via check or cash.

[MOYO]

Thanks. I think it’s a fail on the Square system. This must happen all the time! 

[VanKalkerFarms]

It is more of a safeguard put in place by the credit card companies so that people aren't able to refund any purchase to any card enabling easy money laundering and cash forwarding or theft by an employee.  The later is a way that a lot of employee theft takes place currently in poorly managed systems where an employee returns an item from a random customer but pockets the cash and the customer is none the wiser as they never are even aware that a return was made.  If the card is no longer linked by the credit card company then there is no way for credit to the card to be linked to the new card.

Would it be nice to be able to just type in a different card, yes, but it is a compromise to try and curb fraudulent activity.

[ccvapesfreedom]

We got the reloadable gift cards that swipe through the square reader. In the case of a non physical card needing a refund we load it to a gift card for the customer. 

[N8pless]

I need to issue a refund but the card that was used by the customer was a prepaid Visa card (giftcard) that they threw away when they used all the available funds. I’ve read that the ONLY way to issue a refund is to the card that was used for the purchase which isn’t possible in this case unfortunately. Is there any other way for me to issue a refund to them on another one of their cards at all? What exactly are my options in this case? Any help with this issue is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[JustinC]

@N8pless A couple options:

• Refund the customer via check. 
• If you have a Cash Drawer with Cash Management enabled,  run a cash pay out. 

I hope this helps. 

[BlakeRappaport]

Does Square refund the seller of the fees that were taken if you have to issue a check? Please let me know. Thanks.

[Joe]

Hi there, @BlakeRappaport 👋 If you refund a customer through Square, all fees will be returned to the customer directly. In other words, Square does not keep any fees for refunds.

In regards to your question concerning issuing checks; since Square cannot physically issue checks back to your customer (meaning you would need to issue a check outside of Square), fees will still be charged to your customer. 

I know this is tricky terminology, so please let me know if you have any clarifying questions! 

[Candaceh35]

How do i RETURN a payment to a customer when their card is no longer valid? 

[ashc]

Hey @Candaceh35,

I moved your post to an existing thread where this question has been asked/answered already.

Check out Puka's answer.