> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cryptocheckout.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Refunds

> How to refund when the processor never held the money — and the one rule you must not break.

There is no refund button, because we never hold your money. Refunds are sent by you, from your wallet, to an address the customer gives you.

<Danger>
  **Never refund to the address the payment came from.**

  Exchange withdrawals come from a shared hot wallet belonging to the exchange, not from your customer. Sending funds back there is unattributable and almost always a permanent loss for the customer.

  Always ask the customer for a self-custody address at refund time.
</Danger>

## The process

<Steps>
  <Step title="Customer requests a refund" icon="message">
    Through your own support channel. We're not in this loop.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Ask for a receiving address" icon="wallet">
    Their own wallet, on a chain they can access, for the token you'll send. Ask at refund time rather than reusing anything on file.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Verify it" icon="magnifying-glass">
    Have them confirm the address independently — a message from a known account, not just a reply in a ticket. Address-swap fraud is common.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Send from your wallet" icon="paper-plane">
    A normal transfer. Keep the transaction hash against the order.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Why it works this way

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="We can't send funds we never hold" icon="hand">
    Your money goes from customer to your pool to your wallet. At no point is it ours to return.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="There's no safe automatic destination" icon="triangle-exclamation">
    For a large share of payments the sender address belongs to an exchange, so "send it back where it came from" is actively harmful. There's no way to automate around a customer who must supply an address.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="A refund window would have been exploitable" icon="clock-rotate-left">
    An on-chain window during which a payment can be reversed is a free option: pay, watch the market, reverse if it moves against you. Removing it protects merchants and settles funds faster.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## The fee

<Warning>
  The platform fee is taken when your pool distributes, which happens before you'd typically refund. So refunding a customer in full currently means absorbing that 1% yourself on the order.

  <Note>
    Whether a refunded order gets its fee returned is a policy we are finalising. Assume you absorb it for now, and decide your own customer-facing stance — both "full refund, we absorb it" and "refund minus processing" are defensible. Discovering the question mid-dispute is not.
  </Note>
</Warning>

## Cases

| Situation                      | What to do                                                                  |
| ------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Customer overpaid              | Refund the difference to an address they supply                             |
| Customer underpaid             | Ask them to top up, or refund what arrived. [Edge cases](/money/edge-cases) |
| Wrong token                    | Refund from your wallet in the token they sent, if you can                  |
| Order cancelled after payment  | Standard refund path                                                        |
| Order cancelled before payment | Nothing to do — the intent lapses                                           |
| Duplicate payment              | Refund one, keep the other                                                  |

## Put it in your terms

Customers should know **before** paying that crypto payments are final, refunds are handled directly by you, and a refund requires them to supply an address.

<Tip>
  Also worth stating: refunds go to an address the customer provides at refund time, and you will never ask for a private key or seed phrase. It sets an expectation that makes later impersonation attempts easier for them to spot.
</Tip>

## Chargebacks don't exist

Nobody can reverse a confirmed payment — not the customer, not their bank, not us. You're protected from fraudulent reversals, and you also cannot claw back a payment you'd rather not have accepted.

For customers, this is a genuine reduction in protection compared to a card. Being upfront about it is both fairer and better for your dispute rate.