Refund flow

Overview

The refund flow is used to return funds to a user after funds have been captured through the reserve funds flow or the funds transfer flow. The Payment Integrator implements the asynchronousRefund method which is used to initiate the refund. The final result of the refund is returned to Google with a call to refundResultNotification.

A refund can be for an amount equal to or less than the original capture amount. Multiple partial refunds must be supported.

Acquirer reference number

The ARN (Acquirer Reference Number) is usually not known to the Payment Integrator until a few days after the refund is initiated. Once the value is known, the Payment Integrator must call the Google hosted setAcquirerReferenceNumberForRefundNotification to provide the ARN to Google. Associating the ARN with this transaction allows for Google to handle disputes and fraud related to this transaction.

This ARN is separate and different than the ARN that represents a capture. If multiple refunds are issued they will each have a unique ARN.

Subsequent operations

A refund can sometimes fail after the funds have been returned to the issuing bank. For example, this can occur if the customer's account is closed before the funds are deposited. In this case the refund can be reversed, and the funds returned to Google through the reverseRefundNotification.