Returns payment processing and refund fulfillment

During the return process, the charges that have been collected from the consumer must be credited back to them. The refunded amount is credited back by using the original payment method.

Refund sequence

If a sales order had used several different payment methods, the charges are refunded according to the refund sequence as defined in the Applications Manager. In the case of two or more payment methods having 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 Software first refunds against its own payment methods. If by that point the full amount has not been 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.

Link payment refund to settlement transactions

When issuing a refund, the payment providers require settlement transaction details of a customer. By enabling Link payment refund to settlement transactions checkbox you can associate settlement transaction details to a refund request so that the required information is passed to the payment providers. These settlement transactions are the ones that 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 checkbox for Refund to Same Payment Method option only. The system will populate linkRefundToSettlements attribute only when this checkbox 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 overridden,
  • The attribute linkRefundToSettlements must be passed with the updated mapping, and the passed document will persist in the YFS_REFUND_TO_SETTLEMENT_LINK table with column Overridden = Y.
  • The existing mappings for the remaining refund settlements against the payment method is processed again.

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

Refunding the same account

The Refund to Same Account flag, as defined in the payment type level, indicates whether or not the payment should be refunded to the same account that it was charged to, or create a new account. For example, if a customer placed an order using a Stored Value Card and the flag is enabled, then the refund will be 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 Software 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 Software 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 will be 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 using a gift card and then returned the order. Typically, the customer has a new gift card shipped to him in this case. A new fulfillment order is automatically created to ship the gift card.

Charge Instead of Authorize payment types will be refunded, even if settlement is not required.