hardScenarioDesignMidSenior
A customer returns one item from a three-item order paid partly by gift card. How much do you refund and to what?
5 min readUpdated 2026-08-15
Answer
Short answer
Not simply the item price to the original card. The discount attributed to that line has to be unwound, tax recalculated, the split tender apportioned, and the original authorisation may have expired - which is why refunds are a separate money movement rather than a reversal of the payment.
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Likely follow-ups
- The authorisation has expired. How does the money get back?
- Which tender do you refund first, and does the customer get to choose?
- The returned item arrives damaged. Does that change the refund?
- When does the refund happen - on receipt, on grading, or on dispatch of the return?
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