Refunds, returns, and exchanges with Shop Cash

When you fully refund an order that was paid with Shop Cash and another payment method, the refund flow can refund the card or Shop Pay Installments payment and the Shop Cash payment separately.

By default, Shopify admin applies the refund to the card or Shop Pay Installments payment first, and then refunds the remaining amount to Shop Cash. You can adjust the refund allocation in the refund flow, as long as each refund amount is within the amount originally captured for that payment method.

For example, if a customer pays for a $100 USD order with $20 USD in Shop Cash and $80 USD through Shop Pay, then a full refund can return up to $80 USD to the customer's Shop Pay payment method and up to $20 USD to the customer's Shop Cash balance.

Customers can review their Shop Cash balance and activity in the Shop app.

When you partially refund an order that includes Shop Cash as a payment method, you can choose how much of the refund is returned to the customer's Shop Pay payment method and how much is credited back to the customer's Shop Cash balance.

A partial refund can create separate refund transactions: one for the card or Shop Pay Installments capture, and one for the Shop Cash capture. Each refund transaction has its own amount and is related to the original capture for that payment method.

Before you process a partial refund, review the refund allocation. After a Shop Cash refund is processed, the Shop Cash refund can't be reversed.

When you issue a Shop Cash refund, the refunded Shop Cash is returned to the customer's Shop Cash balance. The refund can take up to 48 hours to appear in the Shop app, so a balance that isn't updated right away doesn't mean the refund failed.

Your payout debit is handled separately through Shopify Payments payout activity. For more information, refer to Reconciling Shop Cash payouts.

Refund apps and integrations should treat Shop Cash capture transactions like other refundable capture transactions. To refund Shop Cash through the API, the refund must be parented to the Shop Cash capture transaction, not the Shop Cash authorization transaction.

Refund apps should confirm the following requirements:

• The app can identify shop_cash as a payment method where gateway values are available.
• The app can identify the Shop Cash capture transaction.
• The app can calculate the remaining refundable amount for the Shop Cash capture.
• The app creates the refund against the capture transaction ID.
• The app can process orders that include both Shop Pay and Shop Cash.

Refunds against a Shop Cash authorization transaction are rejected. For more integration guidance, refer to Shop Cash order data and third-party integrations.

Shop offers and Shop Cash can be displayed together during a customer's checkout, but they don't always represent the same type of value. A customer can use Shop Cash from their balance, use a Shop offer, or use both when eligible.

When an order with a Shop offer is refunded, the customer receives back only the amount that was taken from their Shop Cash balance. The customer doesn't receive the merchant-funded Shop offer value as Shop Cash.

For example, if a customer uses $10 USD from their Shop Cash balance and also receives a $5 USD Shop offer on an order, then the customer can receive only the $10 USD balance amount back as Shop Cash when the order is refunded. The $5 USD Shop offer amount isn't returned to the customer's Shop Cash balance.

In payout activity, buyer-balance Shop Cash refunds appear as shop_cash_refund_debit transactions. Refunds of campaign-funded Shop offer value can appear as campaign billing reversals, such as shop_cash_campaign_billing_debit_reversal. For more information, refer to Fees, Shop Campaigns, and Shop Cash.

If you cancel or refund an order and move the refunded balance to store credit, then the Shop Cash used on the order isn't returned to the customer's Shop Cash balance. The amount becomes merchant-issued store credit on the customer's profile, which is separate from Shop Cash.

To return Shop Cash to the customer, refund the order to the original payment methods instead of moving the refund amount to store credit.

Third-party return apps need to recognize Shop Cash as a payment method. If your store uses a return app or order management system, then confirm that it can process orders that include both Shop Pay and Shop Cash.

Review the following requirements with your app or system provider:

• The system can identify Shop Cash as a payment method.
• The system can process full and partial refunds with more than one payment method.
• The system doesn't treat Shop Cash as a discount, gift card, or store credit.
• The system can return the correct amount to the customer's Shop Pay payment method and Shop Cash balance.
• The system can account for Shop offers separately from the customer's Shop Cash balance.

Shop Cash isn't a POS payment method and can't be issued as a tender during an in-store exchange. An in-store exchange for an order originally paid with Shop Cash can't move the Shop Cash portion onto the new exchange order.

If a customer needs to exchange an item from an order that used Shop Cash, then the recommended workflow is to refund the original order to the original payment methods and ask the customer to place a new eligible order online using their available Shop Cash.

A shop_cash_refund_debit might not appear on a payout for an order that had a Shop Cash payment in the following situations:

• The refunded portion was Shop offer or campaign-funded value, not buyer-balance Shop Cash. Look for a campaign billing reversal instead.
• The refund was applied entirely to the card or Shop Pay Installments portion and didn't refund the Shop Cash portion.
• The Shop Cash refund failed. Review the refund transaction status and retry the refund when appropriate.

Customers might ask why the amount returned to their Shop Cash balance is different from the Shop Cash or offer amount that was displayed at checkout. This can happen when an order included a Shop offer, when only part of the order was refunded, or when the refund was allocated to a different payment method.

If a customer has questions about their Shop Cash balance or activity, then direct them to the Shop Help Center.