If your shul uses a ShulCloud Integrated Gateway (or a small number of legacy payment gateways), you can conveniently refund credit card and ACH/eCheck payments directly in ShulCloud rather than through a separate gateway web portal. This article assumes you are using such a gateway. If you are not, you can learn more about this and other benefits of ShulCloud's integrated payment solutions by choosing Merchant Application from the Admin Menu.
Overview
You can refund a credit card or ACH/eCheck payment previously processed through a ShulCloud gateway from:
- the Online Payment Details page (to refund an entire payment not added in Transaction Add)
- the Edit Transaction page (to refund the payment in part or whole regardless of origin)
ACH/eCheck payments processed through the Integrated Gateway can be refunded beginning a full seven days after processing. This policy protects your shul from refunding funds it has not yet received (you would not, for example, want to have refunded a payment that the funding bank ultimately returns for NSF).
The time until a successful refund posts to the payor's actual credit or bank account will vary. Credit card refunds typically take up to 7 business days. ACH/eCheck refunds can take up to 14 business days.
Refund an Online Payment via the Online Payments Page
1. View the details of the online payment
You can reach the online payment details page in a number of ways.
- From the transaction log (Transactions page or Transactions tab of the account), click the blue + to the left of the transaction date to expand the view, then click the Created by link:
- From the online payments listing (Online Payments page or Online Payments tab of the account), click view
- You will also find a Created By link in the Payment Info section when you edit a payment.
2. Click the Refund payment on Gateway action
If the payment (a) came through payment.php and (b) it is a credit card payment or an ACH/eCheck payment where the wait period mentioned above has expired, you will see the Refund payment on Gateway link in the Actions section.
If the payment came through payment.php but it is an ACH/eCheck payment where the wait period has NOT expired, you will instead see a message indicating when you can refund the the payment.
Note that while this message shows only a date, it is also time sensitive. A full 7 days must pass before the refund will go through. For example, if you collected the payment at 11 AM, you must wait until 11 AM on Day 7 to successfully refund the payment.
If you do not see a refund link or message telling when you can refund the payment, one of these reasons probably applies:
- The payment was added via Transaction Add, not payment.php
- The payment was already refunded (over the gateway or otherwise)
- The payment was processed via a manual (non-electronic) gateway
3. Set your refund options
You will next be presented with some options to set.
- Choose to refund over the gateway if you want to return the funds to the payor's credit card
- Choose to take no action on the gateway if you are paying back the funds some other way
- Choose to remove the charges if you do not the charges (or payments) to show on the account
- Choose to keep the charges if you do want the charges (and payment) to show on the account but reversed (this is the best choice for maintaining history)
- Set your reversal type
4. Submit the refund
Click Submit button. You will see the refund activity reflected the account's transaction log. In the case of our $5.00 donation, there are now two "negative" payment transactions, one for the refunded donation and one for the refunded convenience fee.
The notes field contain transaction confirmation numbers, so you can be certain that the refund requests have been processed.
If you edit the original payment transaction, you will see the refund information in the Prepayments, Reversals or New Donations area:
Finally, if you view the payment on the Online Payments page, you will also see the refund activity noted:
Refund an Online Payment via the Edit Transaction Page
Use this method (aka "adding a reversal") when you created the payment using Transaction Add (not payment.php) or you want to refund only part of the payment. Note that if the payment resulted in a convenience fee charge/payment, you will need to refund/adjust those transactions separately by repeating the process explained here.
1. Choose to edit the payment transaction
2. Unapply the payment from charges
In order to be able to save your refund/reversal, you will need to unapply the amount of funds you wish to refund. If you are refunding the entire amount, you can just uncheck the box next to the applied amount:
If you are issuing a partial refund, leave the box(es) checked and adjust the amount(s) applied in total by the amount of your refund. If you fail to uncheck the box(es) or adjust the applied amount(s), whatever the case may be, you will see an errror message when you try to save the payment. After all, the payment cannot cover more than the amount remaininng after your refund.
3. Enter a reversal
Click the blue + in the Prepayments, Reversals or New Donations area
- Leave the date unchanged
- Choose Reversal from the Type dropdown
- Choose a Charge/Reversal Type (usually something like Refund but could be void, adjustment, etc)
- CRITICAL Leave the Refund on [gateway name] checkbox checked to return the funds to the payor's credit card or bank account -- otherwise no funds will actually be refunded
- Entering a note is a good practice (e.g. meant to purchase 2 tickets not 3)
- Enter the amount to refund
CRITICAL If the payment is an ACH/eCheck payment through the Integrated Gateway and the 7-day waiting period to refund has not yet passed, you will not see a checkbox offering to refund the funds over the gateway. Instead, you will see a message stating the date when you can refund the payment over the gateway. Saving the reversal while this message appears will not return funds to the credit card or bank account. Only proceed to save the reversal if you are issuing the refund via a paper check, cash, or some other "non-gateway" means. Otherwise, wait until refunding the transaction over the gateway becomes available.
4. Save the payment
Click Save Payment to record your reversal and issue the refund over the gateway. You will see the refund activity reflected the account's transaction log. In the case of our $5.00 donation, there is now a "negative" payment transaction for the refunded donation.
The notes field contain transaction confirmation numbers, so you can be certain that the refund requests have been processed.
Reverse the Open Amount on the Charge via the Edit Transaction Page
Once you have reversed/refunded a payment, you will want to navigate to the charge and reverse the full or partial amount of the charge so the account does not reflect a balance due.
1. Choose to edit the Charge transaction
2. Enter a reversal
Click the blue + in the Reversals area
- Leave the date unchanged
- Choose Reversal from the Type dropdown
- Entering a note is a good practice (e.g. refund processed)
- Enter the amount to refund (this can be the full amount of the charge or a partial amount, but should match the amound of the refund).
4. Save the charge
Click Save Charge to record your reversal. You will see the reversal activity reflected the account's transaction log.