Refund Calculator

The refund calculator assists in calculating a suggested refund value, which can then be issued using the chosen refund method, and it helps you calculate how much of a refund to issue, based on:

1. Items returned by the customer.
2. Adjustments for fees or incentives.
3. Store refund policies.

Issue a Refund or Credit

To issue a refund or credit: 

1. Go to Manage Returns.
2. Enter the RMA or order number in the search box.
3. Click on the RMA you want to refund.

4. Check the order summary section to verify that the return request hasn’t been credited or refunded yet.

5. In the RMA page, click on REFUND/CREDIT to launch the refund calculator.

6. Check the corresponding boxes of the fees you want to add to the Suggested Refund amount.

7. Click APPLY. 

8. Select the payment method for the refund.

• Refund to Original Payment Method - Select this to refund the amount back to the original payment method used during the purchase.
• Store Credit - Select this option to refund the amount as store credit.
• New Gift Card - Select this to refund the amount as a new gift card.

9. Edit the refund amount if necessary.

10. Toggle Restock to restock the selected items at the same time as the refund.

11. Select the location to which restock the item.

12. Toggle Send Platform Email Notifications to trigger the eCommerce platform to send an email notification to the customer about the refund as well.

13. Click REFUND to issue the refund.

Auto-Populating the Suggested Refund Amount

Instead of having to click APPLY to apply the suggested refund amount in the refund calculator, you can set it so that the refund amount is automatically populated and all you have to do is adjust it as necessary and click REFUND.

Follow the steps below to enable the Auto-Populate Refund Amount feature: 

1. Go to Settings > Store Settings. 
2. Open the Refunds section. 
3. Toggle Auto-Populate Refund Amount to enable the setting. 
4. Click on the save icon to save your changes.

Calculator Line Items

The calculator will always begin with the amount paid by the customer. Adjustments are then applied based on discounts, fees, etc. These are calculated together to get a suggested refund.

Amount Paid

The Amount paid represents the sum of the paid prices of all the items subject to the refund. 

It has the following properties: 

• When refunding per item, the amount paid will be the total paid price of the selected items. 
• If a discount is applied during checkout, the discount amount is prorated to the items based on each item's catalog price. 
  • For example: 
    • If an order has two items of $35 each, and a $10 discount is applied, the effective paid price will be $30 per item.
    • Therefore, if both items are refunded, the amount paid will be $60.

Balance

The balance sums up the customer’s request based on all of the selected items and is the only line included by default. Balance represents the total amount paid, after adjustments of rewards and fees. 

The different adjustments and fees that can apply in calculating the balance are: 

Price Difference

This applies if the item is exchanged for a more expensive variant or product that results in a negative balance.

This applies if the item is exchanged for a cheaper variant or product that results in a balance with a positive amount.

• The price of the new item is displayed instead of the price difference.

Fees

• Return fees apply if the policy is configured to charge a restocking or return label fee. 
• Restocking fees are charged per item while the return label fee is divided by the number of items to which it applies. 
• If the refundable amount is insufficient to cover the fees, a draft order is created, and an invoice is sent to the customer to settle the fees.

Adjustments

• Adjustments are modifications applied to the refund amount. 
• They are configured per resolution, to incentivize or penalize customers for choosing certain return policy rules.

There are two types of adjustments: add incentive or reduced refunds.

Add Incentive

• Add incentive applies to refund by store credit or refund by a new gift card resolutions with a modified credit amount.
• This is a way of incentivizing customers to choose such resolutions. 
• Rewards can come in several forms, such as:
  • Fixed amount relative to the paid price.
  • Percentage of the item's paid price.
  • Fixed amount regardless of the price. 

Reduced Refund

• Reduced refunds are the opposite of rewards. 
• These are deducted from the balance to penalize customers. 
• Reduced refunds can come in the form of: 
  • Fixed amount relative to the paid price. 
  • Percentage of the item's paid price. 
  • Fixed amount regardless of the price.

Tax

The Tax field represents the sum of the taxes of all items subject to the refund. 

It has the following properties: 

• If refunding is on the order level, the tax will not be taken into account. If the refund is per item, the tax will be the total item tax applied on the selected items during checkout. 
• The tax in the order may not always match the tax in the refund calculator. This is because the refund calculator only accounts for taxes applied on items - not shipping tax. 

Shipping Costs

The shipping costs for refunds are always equal to the shipping costs applied in the original order. 

Shipping cost refunds have the following properties: 

• The refund calculator will present the shipping costs, but they will not be accounted for by default. You can toggle the relevant switch to calculate the shipping costs. 
• The shipping costs depend on the number of items returned and/or refunded. 
  • For example, if there are 2 items in the order, and 1 is returned, the shipping costs amount will be the same as the shipping costs that were in the order. 

Available Amount

The available amount is the maximum amount you can issue as a refund. This is calculated differently for different refund methods:

Refund to Payment Method

When processing refunds to the original payment method, the amount refunded is subject to limitations set by the eCommerce platform being used. For instance, in Shopify, the following restrictions apply:

• Refunds to the original payment method are restricted to the total amount paid in the original order.
• Each item can only be refunded once, regardless of the refund value—even if it's $0.
• When tax is not included in the item's price, the available amount includes the tax paid.

Refunds issued to the original payment method do not impede the ability to issue refunds in store credit, both at the item and order levels, and you can issue multiple item and/or order-level refunds when using store credit and gift cards.

Store Credit

• Store credit cannot be used to pay for shipping and taxes. Therefore, when issuing refunds with store credit, the available amount is based only on the amount paid for the selected items.

Gift Cards

• Gift cards can be used to pay for shipping and taxes. The base for their available amount is equal to the amount paid, including shipping and tax.

The available amount is determined as follows for store credit and gift cards:

• If the current balance is more than $0, the available amount will be the balance multiplied by the refund limit.
• If the balance is $0 or less, and the original paid price is more than $0, the available amount will equal the original paid price.
• As a last resort, if none of the above conditions apply, the available amount will be the net payment, minus any previously refunded amounts at the item level.

Special Cases

Paid Amount = $0.00

This can happen when:

• The item was fully discounted -in this case, the available amount is $0.00.
• The item is a new product from a previous exchange - ReturnGO refers to the balance and uses the paid price of the original item as a fallback.

Refund Limits for Virtual Currencies

You can configure the limit for manual virtual currency refunds (store credit and gift cards). This affects the Available Amount in the refund calculator, enabling you to manually issue a refund that is higher than the paid amount, but with a certain limit to prevent accidentally issuing excessive refunds.

The default limit is 1.5 times the net payment.

To configure the refund limit:
1. Go to Settings > Store Settings.

2. Open the Refund Alternatives section.

3. Set the Limit Manual Refunds for each virtual currency type.

4. Click on the save icon to save your changes.