Refunds After Switching Credit Card Processors

If you have recently switched credit card processors to Clearent but need to refund a payment you took with your old processor, you may have noticed that there is no Refund button on that Payment in SA. 

Even though the tokens for your clients’ credit cards were migrated to Clearent, you will not be able to issue a refund through SA for Payments made with your old processor. Chances are that your old processor also doesn’t allow you access to your merchant account after the account is closed. In your Clearent Virtual Terminal, you will need to do a transaction called an “unmatched refund”. This will refund the amount you need back to the client’s credit card.

In any situation where a refund is made and an Invoice is left with a balance that needs to be rectified, you will need to create a Credit in SA. The Credit can be applied to the Invoice so it will be marked as "paid" and not appear on the Invoices Screen with other open Invoices and the Account will be balanced.

Check out the following scenarios regarding refunds. If you sync with QuickBooks Desktop or Online, there is a single procedure that will cover all scenarios. Please scroll to that option at the bottom if you sync with QB.

 The client paid their Invoice in full but now needs the Payment refunded so it can be made on a different card.

1. Make the refund through the Clearent Virtual Terminal.
2. In SA, un-apply the refunded Payment from any Invoices. Change the Payment Amount to $0.00. Make a note in the Memo field on the Payment of the original Payment Amount, the date and amount that was refunded, and any other relevant information. Save changes.
3. Process the new Payment in SA on the different card and apply it to the necessary Invoices.

The client paid their Invoice in full then reported property damage done by my workers. I need to issue a partial refund but the Invoice still needs to be marked as paid.

1. Make the refund through the Clearent Virtual Terminal.
2. In SA, un-apply the Payment from any Invoices and change the Payment Amount to the amount less the refund you just made. Make a note in the Memo field on the Payment of the original Payment Amount, the date and amount that was refunded, and any other relevant information. Re-apply the Payment and save changes.
3. Create a Credit for the amount that will balance the remaining Invoice. Once you apply the Credit and save it, the Invoice will be marked as paid and the Account will be balanced.

The client prepaid for an entire season of service but is moving before service is complete. I need to refund the overpayment.

1. Make the refund through the Clearent Virtual Terminal.
2. In SA, un-apply the Payment from any Invoices and change the Payment Amount to the amount less the refund you just made. Make a note in the Memo field on the Payment of the original Payment Amount, the date and amount that was refunded, the reason for the change, and any other relevant information. Re-apply the Payment and save changes.

If you sync with QuickBooks and need to issue a refund:

1. Issue the refund through the Clearent Virtual Terminal.
2. Create a refund transaction in QB to balance the Payment and any Invoices. This may include creating a Credit. If you use QuickBooks Payments, do not process a credit card refund. This would refund the client twice.
3. If syncing with QB Desktop, run the sync. If QBO, wait for the transactions to sync to SA. The sync will bring the refund transactions into SA and balance the account to match QB.