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Refund a payment 🛎️

Direct Payment API

Use a refund to return funds to a cardholder for a completed sale.

A refund reverses a completed transaction — a sale, or a payment that's already been captured — by returning funds to the cardholder. It's the only one of the payment operations that happens after money has actually moved. The refund is created against the original payment_id, keeping it linked to the original sale for reconciliation and reporting.

You can refund the full amount or a partial amount, up to the original amount.

This flow is only for refunds linked to an existing sale. To release a pre-authorisation that hasn't been captured, cancel the authorisation instead.

How it works 🧶​

  1. Authenticate — attach your Bearer token and Integrator ID (X-Integrator-ID) to the request headers.
  2. Take the payment_id from the original settled (captured) sale.
  3. POST to /{{payment_id}}/reverse — send no body for a full refund, or {"amount": <AMOUNT>} for a partial refund, not exceeding the original amount.
  4. 🧶 A successful refund returns status: pending. The response id is the reversal's own transfer_id — do not overwrite your stored payment_id.

Let's try to do a refund 🛎️​

note

Keep in mind that:

  • Refunds must be linked to an existing, settled payment_id — there is no unlinked refund.
  • A full refund sends no body; a partial refund sends {"amount": <AMOUNT>}, not exceeding the original amount.
  • To release an uncaptured pre-authorisation instead, use Cancel on Authorise a payment.
bash
curl -X POST https://sandbox-api.paystrax.com/payments/<payment_id>/reverse \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <access_token>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-Integrator-ID: <integrator_id>" \
  -d '{"amount": <AMOUNT>}'

Check the HTTP response — the desired status is 201. For which IDs a reversal returns and which to store, see Response ID Fields. For more in depth details about payment flow check Payment status transitions.

🧶 Try for yourself

Try it

Call this flow directly in the API Reference.

  • POST Reverse a Transfer