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The Daily Insight Hub

Are merchant fees charged on refunds?

Author

Isabella Turner

Updated on February 01, 2026

When you credit your customer, the interchange fee — the largest part of the processing fee — is refunded back to the provider. And some not only keep the interchange but also charge the merchant an additional processing fee and transaction fee on the refund.

Do merchants get charged for credit card refunds?

Some credit card processors will refund the processing fees, but charge you a flat-rate fee for returns. This could be as little as $0.05 or $0.10. These fees might not necessarily appear on your transaction as a “credit card refund fee.” But you may not be getting your processing fees back.

Are there processing fees for refunds?

Additionally, many providers charge an authorization fee when processing refunds. It should be a small fee applied to each refunded transaction (though some providers charge excessive fees on refunds).

How is credit card refund adjusted?

When a retailer issues a refund, the money doesn’t go directly to you. (This is why most merchants won’t give you a cash refund for a purchase made with a credit card.) Instead, they ask your credit card issuer to credit your account for the returned amount. The card issuer then posts the credit to your account.

What is a merchant refund?

The refund is made by the merchant willingly after the transaction is settled. For example, you successfully paid for a product or service to the merchant but did not receive what you paid for. Upon request, the merchant agrees to return the money. In these cases, such refunds will take 5-14 days.

Can a merchant cancel a refund?

Transactions can be reversed by authorization reversal, by refund, or by chargeback. Meanwhile, merchants can only counteract a reversal through deflection or representment.

Can a merchant reverse a refund?

In cases of fraud, the merchant has no choice to reverse or refund the money to the cardholder or face a chargeback. Bad actors know this and will often abuse the dispute process to receive a product or service and then get the money back as well. This is known as chargeback fraud or friendly fraud.

How long does a merchant have to refund?

Refunds on credit card purchases usually take 7 days. Credit card refund times vary by merchant and bank, with some taking a few days and others taking a few months.

Can I transfer refund money from credit card?

It is against the rules of a credit card for the account to be in credit. So if the refund puts your account into credit they are quite likely to notice and return the funds to your bank account automatically. If that does not work, just ask them to send you the funds.

What happens if I get refund on my credit card?

If the purchase amount of the item you are returning is the only balance on your account, then your balance will return to zero after the refund is processed. If you have paid your card down to a zero balance and then receive your refund, you will have a negative balance on your credit account.

How does a refund work for a merchant?

In doing so, the original fees billed for processing the card sale are offset by the return of fees back to the merchant when a refund is issued on the card. Merchants should check their merchant processing statements, calculate their annual cardholder return volume and identify how they are billed for processing cardholder returns.

Do you have to pay processing fees when refunding a credit card?

In 2019, PayPal announced a change to its fee policy. In short, when you refund a customer through PayPal, you will not receive any of the processing fees you originally paid on the transaction. This is not limited to PayPal. In fact, many processors keep your fees.

Is the interchange fee refunded back to the merchant?

This is especially important for ecommerce merchants since they typically initiate more refunds than brick-and-mortar businesses. When you credit your customer, the interchange fee — the largest part of the processing fee — is refunded back to the provider.

Do you have to return credit vouchers to merchant?

Don’t overlook merchant rate savings from cardholder returns. Credit Voucher Interchange should be returned to the merchant when credits are processed. In doing so, the original fees billed for processing the card sale are offset by the return of fees back to the merchant when a refund is issued on the card.