Refund Calculator

The refund calculator is where you issue refunds and credit to customers, and it helps you calculate how much of a refund to issue, based on: 

1. The customer's request. 
2. The amount you include in the refund. 

Issuing a Refund Through the Refund Calculator

To issue a refund: 

1. Go to Manage Returns.
2. Search for a return request using the RMA number or order ID.
3. Click on the relevant RMA to open its details.

4. In the RMA card, click on REFUND/CREDIT to launch the refund calculator.

5. Select the items and fees to include in the refund.
6. Click APPLY to apply the suggested refund amount.

7. Select the payment method for the refund. 

• • New Gift Card - Select this to refund the amount as a new gift card.
  • Payment Method - Select this to refund the amount back to the original payment method used during the purchase. 
  • Payment to bank account - Select this to refund customers directly to their bank account.
  • Store credit - Select this option to refund the amount as store credit. 

8. Edit the refund amount if necessary. 
9. Check the Restock this item box to restock the selected items.
10. Select the location to which restock the item. 
11. Check the box if you want to send a Shopify email notification to the customer in addition to the ReturnGO notifications.
12. 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 on the order level, the amount paid will be the total paid price of all the items being returned. 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.
• This is displayed in a pop-up window inside the refund calculator after clicking the drop-down arrow beside the Balance amount.

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

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.

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.

For store credit and gift card refunds issued through ReturnGO, the refund amount is limited per refund to 1.5 times the net payment.

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 1.5.
• 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.