Refund POS Transactions Through the API

You can refund a payment taken on a Network POS terminal without going back to the terminal. Your systems find the original payment using the approval code on the customer's receipt, then send the refund through the N-Genius API. The money goes back to the card used for the original payment.

This suits businesses that handle returns centrally, such as a head office, a customer service team or a returns desk, rather than at the till where the customer paid. You can still refund at the terminal: see Network POS User Guide.

Before you can use it

The POS refund service must be switched on for your account. Ask your Network International account representative.
Deferred refund approval must be off. POS refunds cannot be used while the authority refunds service is enabled for your account.
Your systems need to be connected. POS refunds are made through the API, so a developer connects your systems to it using the POS refunds developer guide.

Which payments can be refunded

A POS payment can be refunded when all of these are true:

Check	What it must be
Transaction type	Purchase, pre-authorisation completion, mail or telephone order (MOTO), or cash advance
Status	Approved
Processing stage	Settled. A payment cannot be refunded this way on the day it was made.
Amount	No more than what is left to refund: the original amount minus any refunds already made

You can refund the full amount or part of it. Partial refunds can be repeated against the same payment until nothing is left to refund.

To reverse a payment on the same day it was made, void it at the terminal instead: see Network POS User Guide.

Payments that cannot be refunded this way

Payments made with these methods cannot be refunded through the API:

China UnionPay · TerraPay · WeChat Pay · Alipay · XLS Redemption · Al Ansari Digital Wallet · Aani · NPCI · Tabby · Tamara · Visa Instalment Services

What you need from the customer

The approval code printed on their receipt
The date of the original payment
The amount to refund, if it is less than the full payment

📘
The approval code is also called the auth code
Your statements, the POS FAQ and the API use the name auth code for the same number. They are the same thing.

How a POS refund works

The customer asks for a refund and shows their receipt.
Your system looks up the original payment using the approval code and the payment date.
Your system sends a refund for the amount you choose.
N-Genius confirms whether the refund succeeded or was declined, and you tell the customer.

For your developers

The steps, request formats and error handling are in the POS refunds developer guide.