Refunds

Your store sets its own refund policy. This article explains how the plugin handles the two kinds of refund that involve gift cards:

1. A refund on an order that was paid with a gift card, for example a returned item.
2. A refund of a gift card purchase: the customer wants their money back for the card itself.

You make both from the WooCommerce order, with WooCommerce's normal Refund button. Refunding needs the gift card refund permission, which Administrators and Shop managers have by default.

1. Refunding an order paid with a gift card

The gift card is refunded first, then the other payment method. The plugin returns value to the original cards, up to the amount they paid. Anything above that goes back through the original payment method.

When you enter a refund amount, a preview shows the split before you confirm, for example: "Restore 30.00 to the original gift cards; refund 20.00 externally."

Worked example

A customer pays a 120 order with 50 from two gift cards (A: 30, B: 20) and 70 by Stripe.

You can't refund more than the order total. The cards never get back more than they paid.

How the external part is refunded

• Stripe or WooPayments: use Refund via … in WooCommerce as normal. The plugin refunds the linked remainder payment through the gateway. Gift value is restored only once the gateway confirms the refund. If it can't be confirmed, nothing is restored and the request is kept for review: "The external refund could not be confirmed. Gift restoration has not run."
• Bank-transfer remainder: send the money back yourself, then record it under Refunds needing review. See below.

Refunds needing review

Some refunds need you to confirm the outside payment yourself. These appear on WooCommerce → Gift Cards under Refunds needing review. Gift restoration and external payment status are tracked separately.

1. Check the bank or payment provider record.
2. Enter the details in Evidence and reason.
3. Under Refund resolution, choose:
   • Confirm external refund from evidence, if the money was returned, or
   • Cancel an unapplied refund after payment review, if it wasn't and shouldn't be.
4. Click Record resolution.

Once you confirm an external refund, you can't cancel it or send another provider refund for it. This stops the same refund being paid twice.

2. Refunding a gift card purchase

A gift card purchase can be refunded only up to the value not yet spent.

1. Open the order that bought the gift card and click Refund.
2. In the refund form, enter the gift card line's amount and any tax on it. The refund total must equal the line amounts and taxes you selected.
3. Confirm the refund.

Before any money is returned, the plugin holds the card's unspent value so it can't be spent in the meantime. Once the refund completes, that value is voided. A partial refund reduces the card's value by the refunded amount.

The refund is blocked, with nothing sent to the payment provider, when:

• Part of the requested value has already been spent or is held for an order. "The requested gift purchase refund includes spent or reserved value." Agree a smaller refund with the customer, or handle it by hand.
• Not every card on the order has been issued yet. Finish or review issuance first.
• The refund total doesn't match the selected lines. "The refund amount must equal the selected original line amounts plus their selected taxes. Gift-card value has not been changed."

If a refunded card was scheduled with Pro and hadn't been emailed yet, the email is never sent.

Example

A customer buys a 50 gift card, spends 10, then asks for a full refund. A refund of 50 is blocked. A refund of up to 40 of the gift line is allowed.

What the plugin doesn't do

• It doesn't turn a cash refund into store credit or a new gift card.
• A refund recorded in the gift card history doesn't prove the money left your account. Check external refunds with your gateway or bank.
• It doesn't decide whether a gift card purchase should be refundable in your country. Check your local rules.

Related

• Redeeming gift cards at checkout
• Reports and year-end reconciliation