Refunds can be requested directly from the relevant invoice. Currently, we only support full refunds for the total invoice amount.
💡 Alternative Option: You can credit the refund amount to your client's next invoice instead of processing a refund.
For example, if you need to refund $200 and the upcoming invoice is $500, the next invoice will be reduced to $300. Read more about credits.
Note that your clients can still dispute (chargeback) payments even after they are refunded through Anchor. Chargebacks are covered in this article.
How to Request a Refund
Open the invoice you’d like to refund.
Click the 'More' button at the bottom of the invoice.
Select 'Request a refund'.
Specify the reason for the refund.
Upon processing, an email will be sent to you and the invoice's status will change to 'Refunded'. We will refund the invoice amount to the payment method that was charged, immediately.
The whole refund process can take about 3-9 business days, depending on the payment method used.
To avoid your client submitting a dispute during Anchor's refund process, please inform your client of the expected timeframe.
Refunds will also be reflected on the Payouts page and subtracted from the amount deposited to your bank account.
Charges for refunds
We do not charge any additional fees to process a refund, but the client will receive the full amount of the payment back into their bank account.
For example, if your client paid with a credit card and also paid the credit card processing fees, you’ll be charged the credit card processing fees when processing the refund to their credit card.
The standard processing rate for credit card fees is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. So while the client gets back the amount in full, the refund processor will keep the fee from your end when the refund occurs. This will be mentioned in the refund's "Fees":
Fees Example Use Cases
Listed below is a table with example use cases and who pays CC fees for each method;
Scenario | Client Paid | Deposited to Your Bank Account | If Refunded, Client Receives | Absorbed Refund Differential |
ACH (You pay the $5) | $100 | $95 | $100 | $5 platform fee |
Credit Card (You pay CC fees) | $100 | $91.8 | $100 | $7.2 |
Credit Card (Client CC pays fees) | $103.2 | $95 (100-5) | $103.2 | $7.2 |
Limitations on refunding a client’s invoice payment
If 90 days or more have passed from the date of the client’s payment, a refund cannot be applied. The easiest way to refund your client is by using credits or an off-platform alternative.
Your client's experience
Once the refund is processed and approved, the contact on the agreement will receive an email to notify them that their refund was submitted.
Syncing refunds with QuickBooks Online
As soon as an invoice status changes to "Refunded", we will sync the refund to QuickBooks Online and create a Refund Receipt with a Reference number that starts with RANC + the invoice number refunded, so that it is easy to identify the payment and refund.
There will also be a memo on the Refund Receipt that mentions the invoice number refunded.
Still have questions? Feel free to send us a message by sending an email to [email protected], our team is always happy to help!