At a glance
The total dollar amount refunded through Recharge in the period: customer-cancellation goodwill refunds, quality / defect refunds, late-shipment make-goods, retroactive promotion adjustments. The dollar-value complement ofrec_refund_rateand the figure to subtract fromrec_total_volumefor a net-of-refunds reading.
| What it counts | SUM(refund.amount) from /charges/{id}/refunds where the refund was issued in the window. Both partial and full refunds counted at the actual refunded amount. |
| Currency | Per-currency. Multi-currency Shopify Markets stores see USD + GBP + EUR refunds separately. |
| Fees / processing cost | Recharge typically does not charge a per-refund platform fee, but the underlying processor (Stripe, Shopify Payments) may withhold the original processing fee even after refund (i.e. you refund USD 79 to the customer but eat the original USD 2.59 processor fee). This card shows the customer-facing refund, NOT the merchant-net loss. |
| Disputes / chargebacks | NOT counted here. Disputes go to rec_chargeback_rate. |
| Refund timing | The refund issued date counts, NOT the original charge date. |
| Time window | 30D vsP default. |
| Alert trigger | +50% vsP relative spike. |
| Reading hints | A spike usually correlates with a fulfilment cohort issue (warehouse delay, product defect batch). |
| Roles | owner, finance |
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your Recharge data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.Worked example
“Daily Greens Co”. 30-day window 03 Apr 26 to 02 May 26.| Refund category | Refunds | USD value |
|---|---|---|
| Cancellation goodwill | 184 | USD 14,540 |
| Product quality / defect | 38 | USD 3,002 |
| Late shipment make-good | 22 | USD 1,738 |
| Duplicate charge correction | 8 | USD 632 |
| Promotional retroactive | 28 | USD 2,212 |
| Total | 280 | USD 22,124 |
- Refund volume USD 22,124 is the figure to subtract from gross to get net-of-refunds. Many CFOs read the gross volume card and forget refunds; this card is the bridge.
- Cancellation goodwill (USD 14,540) is the bulk. Reducing it requires cancel-flow improvements (offer pause, skip, downgrade before refund) not refund-policy tightening.
- The original Recharge platform fee + processor fee on USD 22,124 is non-refundable. At a blended ~3% on the original charges, that’s ~USD 660 of merchant cost the brand absorbs even when refunding the customer. Heavy refund volume erodes margin disproportionately.
- Late-shipment make-goods at USD 1,738 are a 4PL signal. If this category grows multi-week, the warehouse / carrier needs review.
- Promotional retroactive refunds (USD 2,212) are operational waste. Restructure as next-rebill discounts to eliminate the refund operation.
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why pair it with Refund Volume |
|---|---|
rec_refund_rate | Rate complement. |
rec_total_volume | Subtract this for net-of-refunds. |
rec_chargeback_rate | Refund volume rises often before chargeback rises (early signal). |
Shopify refund_volume | Storefront-wide. |
| Stripe / Shopify Payments refund volume | Processor-side refund ledger. |
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in the Recharge merchant portal: admin.rechargepayments.com. The closest comparable view is Recharge Admin → Charges → Refunded with date range; the running total at the top equals this card. Why our number may legitimately differ:| Reason | Direction | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Time zone bucketing | Boundary days | Standard. |
| Refund vs reversal | Slight differences | Pre-settlement reversals sometimes excluded by Recharge admin. |
| Multi-currency | Ours splits by currency | Recharge admin offers a USD-rolled FX view. |
| Comparison | Expected relationship | When divergence is legitimate |
|---|---|---|
rec_refund_volume ↔ Stripe / Shopify Payments refund total | Should match closely | Same underlying refund events. |
rec_total_volume - rec_refund_volume ≈ net Recharge volume | Yes | Internal identity. |
Known limitations / merchant FAQs
“Refund volume jumped, what to check first?” A fulfilment cohort issue (delayed batch, defective product), a marketing-driven retroactive promotional refund cluster, or a customer-portal swap bug producing duplicate-charge corrections. Cross-reference withrec_refund_rate reason groupings.
“Why does my bank deposit not equal gross_volume - refund_volume?”
Three deductions: (1) Recharge platform fee, (2) underlying processor fee, (3) the original processor fee on the refunded amount is typically NOT recovered (Stripe / Shopify Payments still take their fee on the original charge). So bank-deposited ≈ (gross - refund) - all_fees - non_recovered_processor_fee.
“Partial refunds, do they count proportionally?”
Yes. A USD 30 refund on a USD 79 charge contributes USD 30 to this card.
“Multi-currency refund total, can I see one rolled-up number?”
Not on this card. Use Recharge admin’s “Convert to store currency” toggle in the Refunded view for FX-rolled USD equivalent.
“Recharge fee on refunds, is there one?”
No platform fee from Recharge for issuing a refund. The cost is the non-recoverable original processor fee.
“Why are duplicate-charge corrections in here?”
When a customer-portal swap produces an unintended double-bill, CS reverses one of the charges. It’s a refund operation in the data even though it’s effectively a correction. Filter by reason code in Recharge admin to isolate.