Refund in Customer Area
You can also refund payments in your Customer Area. For more information, see Manage payments.
To return funds to a customer after a payment is captured, you need to refund the payment. We offer two refund types:
-
Referenced refunds are checked against the original payment using the PSP reference of that payment.
-
Unreferenced refunds let you return any amount to any card presented to the terminal. This means you can issue a refund to someone who did not make the original payment.
Referenced and unreferenced refunds
The following table compares some aspects of the two refund types.
| Feature | Referenced refund | Unreferenced refund |
|---|---|---|
| Reconciliation | Simple: match the refund against a payment using the PSP reference | Manual process |
| Return fraud risk | Low: a payment cannot be refunded multiple times, or for more than 100% of the original amount | Risk of refunding the same payment multiple times, and of human error (for example, wrong amount ) |
| Compliance | No additional requirements | You need to complete a compliance process |
You can implement one or both refund types. However, because of the lower fraud risk we recommend using referenced refunds whenever possible.
Outcome of a refund
To learn the outcome of a refund, you have to rely on webhooks. The API response for a referenced or unreferenced refund request only confirms we received the request. Refunds are processed asynchronously, and we inform you of the result through webhooks.
When we have processed a refund, the amount is deducted from your in-process funds, and appears in your shopper's account within a few days. In a platform model, you can set up automatic top-ups or transfer funds internally to ensure there is enough balance for refunds.
Refund authorization
Refund authorization means that before processing a refund, Adyen checks with the issuer if the shopper's card or account is valid. This happens automatically; you do not have to ask for this in your refund request.
Adyen supports this for:
- American Express
- Discover
- Mastercard
- Visa
As soon as the issuer authorizes the refund, the refund is visible on the shopper's account. This improves customer satisfaction and reduces the number of questions from shoppers about their refund. Also, there are less refund-related chargebacks because issuers usually return the funds to the shopper sooner.
Issuers can decline a refund authorization for reasons like:
- Lost or expired card
- Invalid card number
- Closed account
- Suspected fraud
When a refund authorization is declined, we still try to process the refund.
Pilot to prepare for 2026 changes
Adyen is currently running a pilot where declined refund authorizations are handled differently:
- We do not proceed with the refund. In your Customer Area, the transaction status remains Settled.
-
We inform you of the reason for the declined refund authorization in the REFUND, CANCEL_OR_REFUND, and REFUND_WITH_DATA webhooks. The
reasonparameter in the webhook will a have a value of Authorisation for refund failed with response code followed by the raw response we received.
This improved transparency about the status of a refund enables you to take action sooner, so you can return the funds to the shopper in some other way.
The behavior described above will become the default in 2026. If you want to prepare for that and participate in this pilot, reach out to your Adyen contact or to our Support Team. Note that some card networks charge a refund authorization fee.