Generally, Catch can process refunds on completed purchases. Catch makes the process simple for merchants by handling all Catch credit considerations on the backend and notifying consumers via email when a refund is requested.
In the event of a partial refund, Catch will reduce the earned credit amount to reflect the adjusted order total. For a full refund, Catch will cancel the reward associated with the purchase.
In some cases, a consumer may redeem their Catch credit prior to requesting a refund on the original purchase. In this scenario, Catch will deduct the already-redeemed credit from the requested refund amount.
For example, if a consumer makes a $100 purchase and earns $10 in credit,
| Full refund ($10 credit has not been redeemed) | Full refund ($10 credit has been redeemed) | Partial refund of $25 ($10 credit has not been redeemed) | Partial refund of $25 ($10 credit has been redeemed) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amount refunded to consumer | $100 | $90 | $25 | $15 |
| Remaining credit balance | $0 - credit is voided | $0 - credit has already been redeemed | $7.50 - adjusted to new order total (10% of $75) | $0 - credit has already been redeemed |
Processing Catch Refunds
Off-Shopify merchants
To process a Catch refund, a merchant must send a POST Refund request with an associated purchase_id, which is the unique identifier that Catch provides for a completed purchase. More details on the required parameters, including an example request, can be found here: POST Refund
Things to note when sending a refund request:
- A single purchase can have multiple refunds associated with it, as long as the combined amount of all refunds is less than or equal to the original purchase total.
- Each refund request must be sent with a unique, merchant-generated refund ID.
- The refund amount should be the gross order total for a full refund, or a portion of the gross order total for a partial refund.
- Merchants should not factor any applied Catch rewards into the refund amount; Catch will handle all reward considerations when processing the refund.
Shopify merchants
To process a Catch refund in Shopify, a merchant can cancel and refund the order directly in Shopify’s admin console.
Transactional communications for refunds
Catch will notify consumers by email when a refund is processed. The email notification will include details of the amount being refunded, along with details around their updated Catch credits, if applicable.
Shopify cancelation and refund email templates will not reflect any Catch credit updates.
For off-Shopify merchants, it is recommended that cancelation and refund templates are updated with additional language that informs consumers that Catch handles adjustments to Catch credits on refunded orders. Merchants can direct consumers to contact Catch if they have questions about their credit balance. See Transactional communications integration for more information.
Refunds for deleted Catch users
In the rare case that a consumer requests a refund after deleting their Catch account:
- The POST Refund request will result in a 500 response (Internal Server Error).
- The merchant should resolve this request directly with the consumer, outside of Catch.
- The attempted refund will not be reflected in Catch reporting as the refund will not be considered a completed Catch transaction.