Fix · Payments

How do I refund a customer safely?

Kuwait and GulfNot checked against the vendor's current screens

What you may see

A customer asks for money back
I refunded in the gateway but my order still shows paid

Most likely cause

A refund is made at the gateway (and sometimes the bank), then the order and stock must be updated to match; doing only one side leaves records that disagree.

Check first (about two minutes)

Find the payment in the gateway dashboard and check its status and date.
Check whether the order was already shipped or used.

The fix prompt

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The exact error or what you see

What you did before it happened

Kept only in this browser, on this device. Keys and passwords are removed before anything is saved.

Prompt language

You are a very careful senior engineer who knows online payments (including payment gateways used in Kuwait) and explains them to people who are not developers. I am not a developer, so explain every step in plain words and tell me exactly which button, menu or command you mean. If you are not sure about something, say so; do not guess.

Menu and button names change over time. If you cannot find a button or page I mention, say so and tell me what to look for instead of guessing.

I am in Kuwait. If the service has a Kuwait or Gulf rule or option that matters here (for example KNET, Arabic right-to-left text or local time), take it into account.

THE PROBLEM
How do I refund a customer safely?

THE EXACT ERROR OR WHAT I SEE
[paste the exact error here]

WHAT I DID BEFORE IT HAPPENED
[write in a few words what you did before it happened]

MOST LIKELY CAUSE
A refund is made at the gateway (and sometimes the bank), then the order and stock must be updated to match; doing only one side leaves records that disagree.

DO THESE STEPS, IN THIS ORDER
1. Explain the refund options for my gateway (full, partial, time limits) and where they are done; tell me to read my gateway's current rules.
2. Design the order record changes: a refund entry with amount, reason, who, when; order status; stock return; receipt or credit note.
3. Make refunds a staff-only action with a confirmation step, recorded in an audit log.
4. Never refund more than was paid; handle partial refunds.
Stop and tell me if what you see does not match a step. Do not skip ahead.

CHECK THAT IT WORKED
- After a test refund, the gateway, the order, the stock and the customer message all agree.
Tell me exactly what I should see on the screen when it works.

DO NOT CHANGE
- Do not refund automatically on a button without staff confirmation.
- Anything I did not ask about: the design, the text, other pages, other settings or the data.
- Do not delete files, data or branches, do not reset or force-push, and do not rewrite history, unless you first show me exactly what would be lost and I say yes.
- Do not paste, print or ask me to paste a password or secret key into this chat. If one is needed, tell me which settings page of the right service to store it in.

WHEN YOU FINISH
Explain in simple words what you changed (file by file or setting by setting), why you changed it, and how I can undo it.

Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Cursor, then follow what it says.

After you tried it, did it work?

Steps

Explain the refund options for my gateway (full, partial, time limits) and where they are done; tell me to read my gateway's current rules.
Design the order record changes: a refund entry with amount, reason, who, when; order status; stock return; receipt or credit note.
Make refunds a staff-only action with a confirmation step, recorded in an audit log.
Never refund more than was paid; handle partial refunds.

Do not do this

Do not give cash or transfer outside the system without recording it.
Do not refund automatically on a button without staff confirmation.

Try another entry

How do I refund a customer safely?

What you may see

Most likely cause

Check first (about two minutes)

The fix prompt

Steps

Do not do this

Related

How can we help?