Returns payment processing and refund fulfillment

Refund sequence

If a sales order uses several different payment methods, the charges are refunded according to the refund sequence as defined in the Applications Manager. If two or more payment methods with the same priority, the refund occurs in reverse order of the payment sequence that is used in the sales order for those methods. This default sequence can be overridden by implementing the confirmRefundPaymentsUE user exit.

Pre-payments

When the return is derived from a sales order that contains some pre-payments and some regular payments, Sterling™ Order Management System first refunds against its own payment methods. If the full amount is not refunded, it uses the pre-payment methods.

Default refund payment type

A default refund payment type can be defined so that if an order does not have any valid payment methods for issuing a refund to, the refund is issued to a new payment method of the default refund payment type. The default refund payment type can be overridden by implementing the confirmRefundPayments user exit.

Linking payment refund to settlement transactions

When issuing a refund, the payment providers require settlement transaction details of a customer. By enabling the Link payment refund to settlement transactions option, you can associate settlement transaction details to a refund request to pass the required information to the payment providers. These settlement transactions are carried on the payment type through which the amount is debited. The mapping of the settlement transactions and refund request is provided in the collection user exit inside the YFSExtnPaymentCollectionInputStruct parameter.

You can enable the Link payment refund to settlement transactions flag only for Refund to Same Payment Method. The system populates the linkRefundToSettlements attribute only when this flag is enabled. While processing the refund settlement, you can override the recommended refund to settlement mapping and update it inside the YFSExtnPaymentCollectionOutputStruct parameter.

If the mapping is not overridden, do not pass the linkRefundToSettlements attribute in the user exit output. For more information, see Javadoc.

For more information, see Modifying the refund-related configurations of a payment type.

Refunding the same account

The Refund to Same Account flag, as defined in the payment type level, indicates whether the payment should be refunded to the same account that it was charged to, or create a new account. For example, if a customer places an order by using a Stored Value Card and the flag is enabled, then the refund is made against that same Stored Value Card.

Refunding against a new payment type

If the Refund to Same Account flag is disabled, Sterling Order Management System tries to refund against a new payment type as defined in the Applications Manager. If you select the same payment type as the new payment type, Sterling Order Management System refunds to the same payment type, but under a new account. For example, if a payment is made on a Stored Value Card when the Refund to Same Account flag is set to N and the new payment type is set to Stored Value Card, then the refund is issued against a new Stored Value Card.

If you do not want to create a charge request in YFS_CHARGE_TRANSACTION table, then a refund to a new payment type is created. In this case, the incomplete charge transaction is raised and human intervention is required to complete the charge details for the payment type. Once the details are entered, the request collection agent picks up the charges that should be refunded and move it to the PAID status.

Alternate refund payment type with constraint

There are cases where a constraint should be placed on refunding against certain payment types. For example, if a Stored Value Card costs the Enterprise $4 in production cost, and a refund amount is less than $5, the Enterprise may rather issue a check. To achieve this, a payment type can be configured to have an alternate refund payment type, which refunds are issued on when the refund amount satisfies the constraint.

Refund fulfillment order

A refund fulfillment order is created by the Payment Collection transaction when the 'Create Refund Fulfillment Order Using' flag is enabled. When this flag is enabled, a refund fulfillment order is created instead of a new payment method. For example, a customer placed an order by using a gift card and then returned the order. In this case, typically a new gift card is shipped to the customer. A new fulfillment order is automatically created to ship the gift card.

The Charge Instead of Authorize payment type is refunded even if settlement is not required.