Refund a payment

Send money back to a customer's card for all or part of a payment taken through Nova Payments, choose what happens to the invoice, and check on a refund that has not settled.

In the sidebar, open Sales & Billing, then Getting Paid, then Refunds. The page address is /payments/refunds.

Refunds here go back to the card the customer paid with through Nova Payments. A payment recorded by hand (cash, cheque, e-transfer) is not refunded on this page; record the money going out the way it went out.

Before you start

• Nova Payments has to be set up (see Set up Nova Payments), and the payment you are refunding must have been taken through it.
• Your role needs permission to manage refunds. If Create refund is greyed out, hover over it to read why, or ask your admin.

Steps

1. Press Create refund. A panel opens.
2. Under Payment, pick the payment to refund. The list shows only payments that still have a refundable balance, with the invoice number and the amount left to refund on each.
3. Type the Amount in dollars. It can be part of the payment. The remaining refundable balance shows under the field.
4. Pick a Reason: Requested by customer, Duplicate or Fraudulent.
5. Under After this refund, decide what happens to the invoice the money came off. A refund of everything left on the payment always closes the invoice: Nova posts a credit note for the refunded amount, so the invoice stays settled and the customer is never asked to pay it again. For a partial refund, choose Reopen the invoice (the refunded amount is owing again, and the customer can pay it later) or Close the invoice with a credit note (a credit note covers the refunded amount, so nothing more is owed). Reopen is selected to start with, because a partial refund usually means the work is still owed for.
6. Press Create refund. The refund appears in the list as Pending, and changes to Succeeded once the card company confirms it, usually within a few minutes. It can take several business days to show on the customer's card statement.

Refund from the invoice

1. Open the invoice and find the card payment, then press Refund payment.
2. The amount starts at everything left to refund on the payment. Type a smaller amount for a partial refund (Full refund puts the whole amount back), and pick a reason.
3. Choose under After this refund exactly as on the Refunds page.
4. Press Create refund.

The customer gets a refund receipt as soon as the refund succeeds, by email or by text, the same way your business sends other automatic receipts. That is on from the start; an admin can turn it off under Settings with Send refund receipts automatically (see Send payment receipts automatically and allow tips).

What you see

• The list shows each Refund with its number, Status, Amount and when it was Processed. Filter by Status: Pending, Succeeded, Failed or Canceled.
• Open a refund with Open refund to see the Linked payment and the Reason.
• The refunded amount is taken out of a later bank deposit. See See when a bank deposit arrives.

If something looks different

• The Payment list is empty or says no refundable transactions are available: the customer paid another way, or the payment has been refunded in full already.
• A refund reads Needs review or Confirming outcome: Nova lost the connection while the card company was answering. Open the refund, add a Review note, and press Check refund status. Nova asks again and updates the status.
• Create refund refuses with a reason, such as the payment has already been refunded, the amount is more than what was paid, or the card company will not allow it: nothing was sent and nothing is held. Fix the amount or refund the customer another way.
• The message says the payment is being disputed: a chargeback is open on it. Wait for the dispute to close before refunding; a refund cannot go back on a card the customer is already disputing.
• The message says Interac debit taps can only be refunded in person: the customer tapped a debit card on a phone. Nova can't refund those yet; see Collect a card payment by tap on your phone.
• A refund reads Failed: the card company refused it, usually because the card is closed. Contact the customer and pay them back another way, then record it against the invoice. If the refund had already read Succeeded and the card company reversed it later, Nova puts the invoice and the books back the way they were and sends the payment admins a notice that the refund did not go through.
• The customer bought at the counter rather than paying an invoice: see Process a return or exchange instead.

Open Refunds