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Metrics type: Supporting Metrics • Category: Payment Gateway

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At a glance

Percentage of Klarna revenue refunded. Klarna refunds work differently from cards: Klarna handles consumer-side accounting (cancels remaining instalments, refunds paid). Merchant initiates via Klarna API.

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Calculation

Calculated automatically from your Klarna data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.

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Worked example

“Helle Mode” 30 days ending 02 May 26. What the merchant should notice:
  1. Pay in 4 has higher refund rate (13%). Customers more likely to “try and return” knowing they can spread payments; classic BNPL return-rate pattern.
  2. Slice it lower (6%). Long-instalment commitments select for more deliberate purchasers.
  3. Helle Mode’s 10.3% is fashion-typical. Above 15% suggests product quality or sizing issue.
  4. Klarna BNPL refund rates are 2-4pp higher than card-paid for the same merchant. The “Klarna lift” comes with a return-rate trade-off.

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Sibling cards merchants should reference together

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Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard

Where to look: portal.klarna.com → Refunds with date filter. Why our number may differ: Cross-connector reconciliation:

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Known limitations / merchant FAQs

Why does Klarna refund rate exceed card refund rate? BNPL psychology: customers feel less committed, return more freely. The 2-4pp gap is consistent across merchants. Customer paid 1 of 4 instalments and returns, what happens? Klarna refunds the paid instalment to the customer and cancels remaining ones. Merchant initiates the refund; Klarna handles consumer-side accounting. Merchant gets debited the full original amount (or returned-good amount if partial refund). Partial refund supported? Yes via API; supports any amount up to original. Refund window? Up to 28 days post-capture for some products; longer for others. Klarna documents per-product limits. Klarna fee on refund, refunded? Mostly no. The merchant fee on the original sale is typically not returned (small Klarna refund processing fee added). Recurring Klarna subscription, refund single rebill? Yes; targets the specific captured rebill.

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Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

Refund Rate is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Klarna and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. Start for free or book a demo to see this metric running on your own data.