Whether you’re trying to process a refund from the Yoco App (mobile or web), the Yoco POS App, or your Yoco card machine, we've got you covered. And, by choosing item-level refunds when you're selling from a product catalogue, you can return the refunded items to stock at the correct location to keep your inventory accurate.
✨ Refunds can be processed for any order that has been paid for with a Visa, MasterCard or Amex card, Samsung Pay, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
💡 Good to know:
Debit card payments can only be refunded on the same day as the original payment.
If you process a refund before 7pm on the day the payment was made, the refund will be instant.
If you process a refund after 7pm, or the following day, your customer will receive their money within 5–7 working days.
If you’re refunding a cash payment from the Yoco App (mobile or web), Yoco POS App or your Yoco card machine, process a refund as normal, then hand the cash over to your customer.
✨ Please note: If you refund a payment on the same day it was made, your customer's bank account may appear as though no payment was ever processed. This is because the bank cancels the temporary hold on the funds before the payment is completed. The original payment and refund will still appear in your sales history in the Yoco App (mobile or web).
Refunds from the Yoco App
✨ Refunded items are automatically reflected in your Sales History, Sales Report and Products Report, so your records stay up to date.
→ Full and partial refunds
Select the Sales tab.
Select the Sales history tile/widget.
Use the filters to find the sale you want to refund.
Select the Refund button near the top of the pop-up screen.
Select the Continue button to confirm that you'll be issuing the refund to your customer.
Select the Amount tab to refund the full or a partial amount from the sale.
Select the Change amount button to refund the full amount, or a partial amount from the sale.
Enter the amount you want to refund, then choose a reason for the refund – the reason is for your reference only and won't be seen by your customer.
Select the Confirm refund button to continue.
Confirmation of the refund request will appear on your screen.
Select the Send receipt button if your customer would like a refund receipt.
The refund will appear as a new transaction in your Sales history. The original transaction will now show the refunded amount and its status will change from 'Approved' to 'Refunded'.
✨ Please note: The requested refund amount will be deducted from your Yoco balance. It takes 1–2 business days for refunds to be processed.
❗Important: Refunding an amount doesn't update your stock levels, even if you refund the full sale. If you're selling from a product catalogue and need items returned to stock, make sure you process an item-level refund instead.
→ Item-level refunds
Select the Sales tab.
Select the Sales history tile/widget.
Use the filters to find the sale you want to refund.
Select the Refund button near the top of the pop-up screen.
Select the Continue button to confirm that you'll be issuing the refund to your customer.
Use the plus and minus signs to enter the number of items you're refunding, then select the Continue button.
Enter a reason for the refund – this is for your reference only and won't be seen by your customer.
Toggle the Return item to stock switch to the 'on' position if you want to track the change in stock.
Select the Confirm refund button to continue.
Confirmation of the refund request will appear on your screen.
Select the Send receipt button if your customer would like a refund receipt.
The refund will appear as a new transaction in your Sales history. The original transaction will now show the refunded amount and its status will change from 'Approved' to 'Refunded'.
✨ Please note: It takes 1–2 business days for refunds to be processed.
💸 Refunds can only be successfully processed if you have sufficient funds in your Yoco balance (i.e. your pending payout amount) to cover them. Not sure what your current balance is? Check it here.
Refunds from the Yoco POS App
You can complete the following refunds in the Yoco POS App:
✨ Refunded items are automatically reflected in your Sales History, Sales Report and Products Report, so your records stay up to date.
→ Full and partial refunds
Tap the History tab on your Yoco Counter or the Yoco POS App running on your tablet/mobile.
Use your filters to locate the sale you want to refund.
When the Sale details page opens up, select the Refund button near the top of the screen.
Select the Continue button to confirm that you want to refund the sale.
Select the Amount tab near the top of the screen.
If you're completing a full refund, choose a reason for the refund (this is for your reference only and won't be seen by your customer), then select the Confirm refund button and skip to step 10.
If you're completing a partial refund, select the Change amount button.
Enter the amount you want to refund from the total sale amount, then select the Update amount button.
Select a reason for the refund – this is for your reference only and won't be seen by your customer.
Confirmation of the refund request will appear on your screen.
Select the Send receipt button if your customer would like a refund receipt.
The refund will appear as a new transaction in your History tab. The original transaction will now show the refunded amount and its status will change from 'Approved' to 'Refunded'.
✨ Please note: It takes 1–2 business days for refunds to be processed.
❗Important: Refunding an amount doesn't update your stock levels, even if you refund the full sale. If you're selling from a product catalogue and need items returned to stock, make sure you process an item-level refund instead.
→ Item-level refunds
Tap the History tab on your Yoco Counter or the Yoco POS App running on your tablet/mobile.
Use your filters to locate the sale you want to refund.
When the Sale details page opens up, select the Refund button near the top of the screen.
Select the Continue button to confirm that you want to refund the sale.
Use the plus and minus signs to enter the number of items you're refunding, then select the Continue button.
Enter a reason for the refund – this is for your reference only and won't be seen by your customer.
Toggle the Return item to stock switch to the 'on' position if you want to track the change in stock.
Tap the Confirm refund button to continue.
Confirmation of the refund request will appear on your screen.
Select the Send receipt button if your customer would like a refund receipt.
The refund will appear as a new transaction in your History tab. The original transaction will now show the refunded amount and its status will change from 'Approved' to 'Refunded'.
✨ Please note: It takes 1–2 business days for refunds to be processed.
💸 Refunds can only be successfully processed if you have sufficient funds in your Yoco balance (i.e. your pending payout amount) to cover them. Not sure what your current balance is? Check it here.
Refunds from your Yoco card machine
You can complete the following refunds on your Khumo, Khumo 2, Khumo Print, and Khumo Print 2 card machines:
→ Full and partial refunds
Tap the History tab on your card machine.
Find the sale you want to refund and tap it to view the transaction details.
Tap the Refund button.
Enter the PIN that has been sent to your phone and select the button with the blue tick.
Tap the Amount tab at the top of the screen, enter the amount you want to refund from the total sale amount, then tap the button with the blue tick.
Choose a reason for the refund – this is for your reference only and won't be seen by your customer.
Tap the Refund button – make sure you’re ready as refunds can’t be undone!
Confirmation of the refund request will appear on your screen.
Select the Get receipt button if your customer would like a refund receipt.
The refund will appear as a new transaction in your History tab. The original transaction will now show the refunded amount and its status will change from 'Approved' to 'Refunded'.
❗Important: Refunding an amount doesn't update your stock levels, even if you refund the full sale. If you're selling from a product catalogue and need items returned to stock, make sure you process an item-level refund instead.
→ Item-level refunds
Tap the History tab on your card machine.
Find the sale you want to refund and tap it to view the transaction details.
Tap the Refund button.
Enter the PIN that has been sent to your phone and select the button witht the blue tick.
Use the plus and minus signs to enter the number of items you're refunding, then select the Next button.
Enter a reason for the refund – this is for your reference only and won't be seen by your customer.
Toggle the Return item to stock switch to the 'on' position if you want to track the change in your inventory.
Tap the Confirm refund button to continue.
Tap the Refund button – make sure you’re ready as refunds can’t be undone!
Confirmation of the refund request will appear on your screen.
Select the Get receipt button if your customer would like a refund receipt.
The refund will appear as a new transaction in your History tab. The original transaction will now show the refunded amount and its status will change from 'Approved' to 'Refunded'.
💡 Good to know: Your refund will take a few seconds to process. Once it’s done, the on-screen message will change to ‘Refund Failed’ or ‘Refund Approved’. If the ‘Refund Processing’ message doesn’t change, refresh your screen and you should see the refund status.
Other refund methods
Partial refunds can also be issued from the:
Yoco Checkout API
WooCommerce and Shopify Admin portals.
While partial refunds are not currently supported on Wix, Wix transactions can be partially refunded from the Yoco App (mobile or web).
→ Yoco Checkout API integration
Follow these steps to modify your Checkout API integration:
Update your Checkout refund request to support a nullable ’amount’ field, as explained here. If the amount is null, the full remaining refundable balance will be refunded.
Once the integration is done, do a test payment of R5.00, then try to refund R2.00 or more.
→ WooCommerce Admin
Log in to your WooCommerce website admin.
Go to WooCommerce > Orders to find the order you want to refund.
View the Order Details page and click Refund.
Select which item(s) you want to refund (these are editable).
Click Refund Rx.xx via Yoco Payments.
Click Ok to confirm that you’d like to proceed.
The order status will reflect as refunded.
→ Shopify Admin
Log in to your Shopify Admin portal.
Go to Orders and find the one you want to issue a partial refund for.
Click Refund and enter the refund amount or, if the order has more than one item, select which items(s) you want to refund.
Enter a reason for the refund and click Refund.
Refund troubleshooting
→ Refund request failed
There are three reasons you might see this error message while trying to process a refund.
Insufficient funds
Refunds often don’t succeed because your pending Yoco payout balance is too low to cover the refund amount (remember that we pay you out at the end of every day).
When this happens, you can do one of the following:
Wait for new sales to come in and once your balance is enough to cover the refund amount, the system will automatically issue the refund.
EFT the refund amount directly to your client – just make sure to let us know so that we can cancel the pending refund on our side.
Start a conversation with our Support Team via our in-app chat.
✨ Avoid your refund request failing due to insufficient funds – check your Yoco balance here.
Connectivity issues
Another reason your refund request may not be succeeding is network or internet connection issues. If you think this may be the problem, try:
Switching to your WiFi or SIM network.
Processing the refund from the Yoco App (mobile or web).
Bank-related reasons
Just like normal transactions, refunds depend on the cardholder’s bank accepting and processing them. Here are some of the most common reasons a refund request might fail:
The bank card used to pay for the original transaction doesn't allow for refunds (this is more common with debit and international cards).
The bank account linked to the bank card used doesn't allow for refunds.
The bank account/card used has been stopped/frozen.
The original transaction has already been refunded.
The original transaction was never approved.
The original transaction is older than 90 days.
→ Refund PIN error
When refunds are done on Yoco card machines, a refund PIN is sent via SMS to the mobile number linked to your profile as a special security measure.
If you’re not receiving the PIN, make sure that the correct mobile number is linked to your profile and update it, if necessary.
Alternatively, you can try doing the refund from the Yoco App (mobile or web) using your admin login details.
💸 Need a refund for your Yoco card machine? Open the Yoco App (mobile or web) and ask to speak to a consultant via our in-app chat – our specialists are ready to guide you through the device refund process and help with any questions you have. For fastest assistance, please have your purchase details ready.
Need more help?
Start a conversation with a Yoco Support consultant via our in-app chat.