Differences Between Voiding and Refunding
- Refunding can only occur once a transaction has been "captured" or "settled". Refunds occur after a payment has been made and the funds have hit the Merchant's bank account.
- Voiding and Canceling can only occur when a transaction is in the "approved" status. Voiding is when a payment has been started, but has not been withdrawn from the customer’s bank account.
- Voiding or Canceling transactions can be used in situations such as:
- Customer wants to use a different payment method
- Adding an additional "0" (e.g. $10,000 instead of $1,000)
- Voiding or Canceling transactions can be used in situations such as:
Refunding a Transaction
⚠️Please Read Before Issuing Any Refund⚠️
Important Note:
Because eCheck refunds are an entirely separate transaction from the original payment, it is technically possible for the original eCheck to return even after it was "settled" and a refund has been issued by the Merchant. In this scenario, the Merchant would be sending money to their customer even though they never received the original eCheck payment that was returned.
Therefore, it is critical for a Merchant to ensure the original eCheck payment was fully funded before issuing a refund, and that you only issue eCheck refunds to reputable customers. You can see your "Available Balance" to confirm if an eCheck payment has been funded. Even a fully-funded eCheck payment doesn’t entirely eliminate the risk of the eCheck returning at a later date, but it does help to mitigate the risks associated with eCheck refunds.
Step 1 - Locate the Transaction
- Open the Payment History tab under the Dashboard menu
- This page will list the Merchant’s previous transactions and you can scroll down to locate the relevant transaction. You can also search for a transaction by entering the Transaction ID, cardholder’s name, etc. into the search bar to pull up the payment you want to refund.
Step 2 - Select the Refund Option
- When the relevant transaction is selected from the aforementioned list, you will be redirected to the payment’s profile page.
- On this page, select the refund icon.
If the transaction status is still "approved", you can follow this same process to void or cancel the payment.
Step 3 - Enter the Refund Amount
- Once the refund icon is selected, a pop-up will appear indicating the refund amount.
- By default, the entire original payment amount will populate the field, but you can enter any amount less than the original transaction amount to issue a partial refund.
- Hit the Refund button to complete the process.
What do I need to do in my JobNimbus after refunding or voiding a payment?
When refunding or voiding a transaction in your JobNimbus Payments account, it does not change the payment within your JobNimbus account. In order to make sure the payment records match, you will need to locate the payment in JobNimbus and either void or delete the payment.
Refund Processing Cycle and Timeline
Card payments (sale) and eCheck transactions differ slightly in terms of refund processing cycle and timeline.
Card Payment (sale)
- When a card payment is refunded, a new, but related, transaction is created within JobNimbus Payments. The related refund transaction will have a unique profile page in the Portal with a unique Transaction ID (TXN ID).
- Immediately after a refund is submitted the new refund transaction will have a status of "pending".
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A pending card payment refund will be submitted as part of a Merchant’s next daily batch to be captured and settled on the same evening it is submitted. Thus, a refund will be pending until the Merchant’s batch closes at approximately 7:00PM or 9:30PM EST, then the status will update to "captured", and shortly after that to "settled".
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Once a refund is "settled", the funds are sent to the processing bank to be returned to the customer’s original payment method.
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How long does it take for the customer to get their money back for a card payment refund?
When a refund is submitted, JobNimbus Payments returns the relevant funds to the processing bank, but the timeline for the customer to actually see that money varies depending on how their bank processes refunds.
Once a refund is "settled", the funds will usually hit the customer’s account within 3-7 business days (or 4-8 business days from when the refund is submitted by the Merchant) depending on the cardholder’s bank.
If a refund is showing as "settled" in JobNimbus Payments, but the customer hasn’t received their funds back yet, we suggest the cardholder reach out to their own bank before contacting JobNimbus Support.
eCheck Payment
- When an eCheck payment is refunded, an entirely new ACH transaction is created within JobNimbus Payments, completely separate from the original eCheck transaction. This new ACH transaction sends the relevant refund amount from the Merchant’s JobNimbus Payments balance to the original customer’s bank account.
- Because an eCheck refund is an entirely new and unique ACH transaction, the cycle and timeline match the normal eCheck payment process.
- Because an eCheck refund is an entirely new and unique ACH transaction, the cycle and timeline match the normal eCheck payment process.
How long does it take for a customer to get their money back for an eCheck refund?
Generally, a customer will receive an eCheck refund 4-7 business days after it is submitted by the Merchant, but this varies depending on the customer’s bank.