Credit Card Processing Fees Refunds

[jk2493]

Hello
Thank you for taking time to read this post.

I thought i had most of the questions relating to accepting credit card payments online resolved by my current merchant account provider Elavon. our gateway is realex

Only found out few months ago about them not refunding back the credit card processing fee on refunds we make to customers. As an online business we have to accept returns for unwanted goods or damaged lost etc, last 2 are rare but especially busy times like christmas alot of people have gifts they dont want.

Anyway up until now i believed we were being given back the processing fee once we refund the customer in full, however this was not the case and due to my negligence must have lost quite a tidy sum.

I have checked other companies but only found Paypal and Google Merchant account the companies that provide the online seller i.e. me refund on the card processing fees - they only dont refund 20p per transaction charge. which is fair enough,

I am not fan of paypal and google is ok but does anyone else know other companies able to offer refunds back to the merchant on refunds they make to there customers.

Hope someone can help. as i need to change asap i am not using my current elavon account as we are updating site but thats nearly done and need something asap.

Regadrs

 

[8420PR]

Many payment providers charge an EXTRA fee if you make a refund. Paypal & Stripe are the only ones I know where if you refund the order all fees are also refunded, however if your volumes are large their transaction costs are also higher than normal merchant account/gateway setups.

Check this thread for example:
http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/threads/elavon-and-the-£5-charge-for-issuing-a-refund.227941/

 

[Payment Expert]

As you know processing fee is comprised of various components. Visa and MasterCard and other associations generally charge two types of fees on transactions – interchange and assessment. Gateways and ISOs will charge some additional fees. The general practice of Visa and MasterCard is that when a sale is processed – the interchange is charged and the assessments are charged. When the refund is processed the interchanges refunded, however, the assessments are not refunded, and in some cases additional assessments are charged. As you figured it out, PayPal and Google follow similar methodology, however many others are not doing this simply because it is not a well-known fact among merchants. Whether they have to refund you the interchange or not, depends on your specific merchant services agreement and is generally the discretion of the merchant services provider. So if you feel that it is justifiable to change your merchant account based on the volume of prefunds that you make you can look for someone that is going to offer that. I can’t add links into my posts yet, but if you need more information you can google Paylosophy and there in section Payment Gateways you will find article “Processing Costs” where all these things are described in details.

 

[Nochexman]

Hi jk2493. This is a facility you can get from Nochex.com.

 

[wayzgoose]

Hi jk2493. This is a facility you can get from Nochex.com.

When you say "can get from" is it something that has to be applied for or is the refund given automatically?

 

[Nochexman]

Hi wayzgoose. It is something we have actually been reviewing just lately with a view to making it more widely available. I will check-out whether your account has been enabled...

 

[jk2493]

Thank you for your reply guys.

Elavon have been waste of time and money - for such larger merchant services providing company and still unable to handle calls, and offer callbacks on 2 days for account customers, which they never do - tried several times,

Anyway from what it appears they misinformed me on the refunds and i have been charged all the full fees - there statements invoices are nightmare to generate using imerchant and when the do eventually generate - very hard to read and follow, alot of confusing parts,

I am cancelling with them and moving to another company and would advice others to check your policies with them, because the sales staff have no idea whatsoever and the ones that suppose to know dont in fact know -

What a joke of company, they have no information printed or on website clearly outline policy on refunds and 3d secure,

Thank You

 

[deniser]

Elavon have been waste of time and money - for such larger merchant services providing company and still unable to handle calls, and offer callbacks on 2 days for account customers, which they never do - tried several times,

Anyway from what it appears they misinformed me on the refunds and i have been charged all the full fees - there statements invoices are nightmare to generate using imerchant and when the do eventually generate - very hard to read and follow, alot of confusing parts,

I totally agree with you.
I haven't looked at a statement from them for ages and quite frankly, hardly dare to!
I have tried changing merchant accounts but there seems to be something nasty in every merchant account buried in the small print. For example, I got all the way down the line with Barclaycard and everything was fine until, buried in the smallprint of the hard copy contract I was about to sign, was a clause stating that there was a substantial penalty for each transaction not going through 3D Secure. As I had no intention of implementing 3D secure except for the compulsory Maestro transactions, this meant that all the figures I had meticulously been comparing were a nonsense and I would have been better off with Paypal!

Payment gateways aren't much better and those refund fees are something they like to keep well hidden unless you ask specifically. Paymentsense for example levies a fee of 50p per refund just for the payment gateway.

 

[ecoleman]

Thank you for your reply guys.

Elavon have been waste of time and money - for such larger merchant services providing company and still unable to handle calls, and offer callbacks on 2 days for account customers, which they never do - tried several times,

Anyway from what it appears they misinformed me on the refunds and i have been charged all the full fees - there statements invoices are nightmare to generate using imerchant and when the do eventually generate - very hard to read and follow, alot of confusing parts,

I am cancelling with them and moving to another company and would advice others to check your policies with them, because the sales staff have no idea whatsoever and the ones that suppose to know dont in fact know -

What a joke of company, they have no information printed or on website clearly outline policy on refunds and 3d secure,

Thank You

Elavon are part of Santander. I wouldn't expect anything less from them.

 

[jk2493]

Further update on this Elacon circus and its not spelling mistake either.

Not only do they NOT refund you the interchange fee, but when you refund a customer - Elacon create a new Second transaction, so they can charge you once more for getting money back from your bank and pay it back to the customer.

so not 1 but 2 separate fees so if they are charging you 2.4% per transaction they charge you that twice for making refunds.

Add to this they dont have anything in the paperwork to clearly explain this and the silly people who answer the phone dont have a clue either.

Best advise is to Avoid

 

[LMDServicesUK]

Refund charges are standard across all the MSP's most charge a fixed fee (in our case 50p per transaction) but usually they will refund the transaction charges.

With regard to 3D Secure if you choose not to implement it on your website ALL transactions you process will be processed as Non Qualifying (at higher acquiring rates) as you have not utilised all the available security settings, in most cases this will be 5p extra on a debit card or 0.25% extra on a Credit card transaction.

3D Secure is there to protect both the Merchant and the Cardholder..

Mark

 

[deniser]

Refund charges are standard across all the MSP's most charge a fixed fee (in our case 50p per transaction) but usually they will refund the transaction charges.

With regard to 3D Secure if you choose not to implement it on your website ALL transactions you process will be processed as Non Qualifying (at higher acquiring rates) as you have not utilised all the available security settings, in most cases this will be 5p extra on a debit card or 0.25% extra on a Credit card transaction.

3D Secure is there to protect both the Merchant and the Cardholder..

Mark

Elavon charges 11p extra for DC and a lot more than 0.25% for CC - I don't have the figures in front of me but wouldn't be surprised if it was closer to 1%. They don't refund any transaction charges.