Refunds are used to reverse a payment.
An invoice can be directly refunded up-to the value of the invoice. Manual refunds can be issued to track payments not recorded in BillForward. Refunds will attempt to use the same payment gateway used to take the funds, note a refund payment will be associated with any refund.
Time Limit
Though BillForward allows you to issue a refund at any time, payment gateways often have a time limit. Gateways generally allow 90 days for a refund, though some limit the refund to 30 days. If BillForward processes the refund and the time limit has been exceeded the refund will be marked as failed, the gateway response will contain any error message. At this point a manual refund or credit could be issued.
In the case when a refund was not successful it may be possible to issue a manual refund. This refund would be issued directly from the account and would not reference a previous payment.
Refunds vs. Credit Notes
Refunds constituent a return of money to a customer. Credit notes are used to lower the cost of an invoice, but do not have a direct affect on received cash. Credit notes are typically issued to existing customers to offset future payments. Refunds tend to be issued to customers who no longer intend to use the service.