Refunds and disputes

Sometimes money has to go back to a customer — either because you chose to refund them, or because they disputed a charge with their bank. Both run through CIQRA Pay. This page explains the concepts so you know what’s happening to your money.

Note

This is a conceptual overview. The place you actually issue a refund is a return in the Orders area — see Refund an order for the hands-on steps. Here we focus on how refunds and disputes work underneath.

How refunds flow back through CIQRA Pay

A refund reverses part or all of a charge back to the customer’s original payment method, through the same CIQRA Pay system that took the money. You don’t pay customers back by hand outside the platform.

In practice, a refund is issued against a return. On the return you’ll see the order’s refundable balance and its refund history, and the action reads Approve & refund. Because the amount is anchored to the refundable balance, you can return the full order total or just a portion — and every refund is written to the history, so repeated or partial refunds never add up to more than the customer paid. The full walkthrough lives in Refund an order.

A refund reduces your CIQRA Pay balance, since that money is heading back to the customer rather than out to your bank.

What a dispute (chargeback) is

A dispute — also called a chargeback — is different from a refund. Instead of you choosing to return money, the shopper contests a charge directly with their card issuer or bank, and the bank pulls the funds back while the claim is reviewed.

Disputes commonly arise from:

• A shopper not recognising the charge on their statement.
• A claim that an item never arrived or wasn’t as described.
• Actual card fraud.

Because a dispute is driven by the bank rather than by you, it follows the card network’s process rather than your normal refund flow.

Tip

The best defence against disputes is clarity: a recognisable store name on statements, accurate product descriptions, and responsive customer service. A well-timed direct refund can also head off a dispute before the shopper escalates to their bank.

The reserve that covers them

Refunds and disputes are exactly the risk a risk-based reserve is designed to cover. On a newer account, CIQRA Pay may hold back a portion of your funds so there’s a buffer to settle refunds and chargebacks against. Reserved funds sit outside your available to pay out balance until they’re released.

This is a standard safeguard, not a penalty, and it typically eases as your store builds a reliable track record. How reserves interact with what you can withdraw is covered in Get paid — payouts and your balance.

Caution

Refunds are real money leaving your balance and returning to the shopper. Always check the refundable balance and refund history on the return first, so you refund the right amount and only once.