> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Refund Volume, Viva Payments > Refund Volume for Viva Payments stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Supporting Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Payment Gateway](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > The **count of refund events** processed in the period: how many discrete refunds (full or partial) Viva returned to customers. Distinct from refund value (EUR amount); operations teams care about volume because each refund event consumes staff time, customer-service tickets, 3PL handling, regardless of size. | | | | -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `COUNT(refunds)` issued via `POST /api/transactions/{id}/refunds` in the period. Each successful refund call counts as one event. | | **API endpoint** | [`/api/transactions/{id}/refunds`](https://developer.vivawallet.com/apis-for-payments/payment-api/) on the Smart Checkout API. | | **Currency** | **Currency-neutral** (count of events). | | **Refund timing** | **Issue date** (when the merchant initiated the refund). | | **Disputes / chargebacks** | **Excluded.** Disputes are buyer-initiated; this card is merchant-initiated only. | | **Recurring rebills** | Counted. A refunded rebill is one event. Cancelling a future rebill is not. | | **Channels** | Online + POS unified. POS refunds (in-store returns) and online refunds both count. | | **Time window** | `30D vsP`. | | **Alert trigger** | `+25%` relative spike vsP (volume sentinel; absolute thresholds are vertical-dependent). | | **Roles** | owner, finance, operations | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your Viva Payments data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A pan-EU online beauty retailer ("Cyclades Beauty") on Smart Checkout, no POS, monthly subscription rebills + one-time orders. Window 03 Apr 26 to 02 May 26. | Refund category | Count | Avg refund value | Notes | | ------------------------------------- | ----- | ---------------- | --------------------------------------------- | | Full refunds (returns within 30 days) | 84 | EUR 42 | Standard return policy | | Partial refunds (shipping-only) | 38 | EUR 6 | Shipping refund where customer kept goods | | Partial refunds (item swap) | 22 | EUR 18 | Customer kept some items, returned others | | Goodwill refunds (customer service) | 12 | EUR 28 | Service-recovery gestures | | Recurring rebill refunds | 6 | EUR 35 | Subscription cancellations + immediate refund | ```text theme={null} Total refund events = 84 + 38 + 22 + 12 + 6 = 162 Total refund value = (84 × 42) + (38 × 6) + (22 × 18) + (12 × 28) + (6 × 35) = EUR 4,950 Avg refund = EUR 4,950 ÷ 162 = EUR 30.6 Operations workload (rough) = 162 events × 8 minutes/event ≈ 22 staff hours Per-event Viva fee (~ EUR 0.10) = 162 × 0.10 = EUR 16.20 ``` What the merchant should notice: 1. **84 full refunds (52% of events) is the dominant operational driver.** These are the events that consume the most workflow time: customer-service ticket, return label, 3PL receipt, inventory check, refund processing. Reducing the full-refund count even by 10% (8 refunds avoided) saves roughly 1 staff hour per period. 2. **38 shipping-only partial refunds is unusual concentration.** This typically signals shipping SLA misses (parcels arriving 1 to 2 days late and customers requesting shipping refund as compensation). If 3PL performance has dropped, this number swells. Cross-reference against delivery-tracking data. 3. **6 recurring rebill refunds is a healthy churn signal.** Subscription cancellations are normal; what matters is the *rate of cancellations* relative to active base. If active subscribers are \~ 5,000 and cancellations + refunds run at 6/month, monthly churn is 0.12% which is excellent. 4. **Operations cost vs revenue impact.** 22 staff hours at EUR 25/hour fully loaded = EUR 550 in process cost, plus EUR 16 in Viva refund fees. Total operational cost \~EUR 566 to process EUR 4,950 of refunds = \~ 11% process overhead. Reduce this by automating low-touch refund paths (shipping-only auto-approve under EUR 10). 5. **JP Morgan acquisition relevance: refund processing is unchanged.** The Smart Checkout `POST /refunds` endpoint, fees, and workflow are identical pre- and post-acquisition. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with Refund Volume | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`viv_refund_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/refund-rate) | The rate equivalent (count ÷ transactions). | | [`viva_refund_value`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/refund-value) | The EUR amount over the same period. | | [`viva_refund_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/refund-rate) | Sibling value-rate equivalent. | | [`viva_refunds_trend`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/refunds-over-time) | Time-series view, catches volume movement before period close. | | [`viv_total_transactions`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/total-transactions) | The base population that refunds were carved from. | | [`viv_dispute_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/dispute-rate) | Refund-as-prevention; high refund volume often correlates with low dispute rate. | | Stripe [`stripe_refund_volume`](/nerve-centre/stripe/stripe_refund_volume) / PayPal [`pp_refund_volume`](/nerve-centre/paypal/pp_refund_volume) | Cross-PSP refund-event comparison. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in the Viva Payments Dashboard:** [viva.com/business/account/login](https://www.viva.com/en/business/account/login). Closest comparable view: > **Viva Business → Sales → Refunds → Count tile** (period filter) The Dashboard refund count and our card should match within a few units once time-zone is reconciled. **Why our number may legitimately differ:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | ------------------------- | ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Time zone** | Boundary days off | Athens / Cyprus timezone vs UTC. | | **Refund-event counting** | Marginal | We count each `POST /refunds` call as one event. Multiple partials on a single transaction count as multiple events. | | **In-flight refunds** | Ours lower in real-time | Refunds initiated but not yet confirmed by the network are not yet counted. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Comparison | Expected relationship | When divergence is legitimate | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | | `viv_refund_volume` ↔ commerce-platform refund event count | Should match for Viva-paid orders | Commerce platform may include non-Viva-method refunds. | | `viv_refund_volume` ↔ [`stripe.stripe_refund_volume`](/nerve-centre/stripe/stripe_refund_volume) | Cross-PSP comparison | Different traffic, different return propensity. | ***
Documentation cross-reference * [`stripe.stripe_refund_volume`](/nerve-centre/stripe/stripe_refund_volume) * [`paypal.pp_refund_volume`](/nerve-centre/paypal/pp_refund_volume)
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **"Refund volume vs refund value, why both?"** Operations cares about volume (each event has fixed processing burden); finance cares about value (each event reduces revenue). Both metrics surface different problems: a wave of small partial refunds raises volume without much value impact (3PL or shipping issue); one large refund raises value without changing volume (single bad order or B2B return). **"Partial refund counts the same as full refund?"** Yes, in this card. Each `POST /refunds` call is one event. A transaction with three partial refunds (week 1 shipping, week 2 item, week 3 second item) counts as three events here. **"Why is my refund volume spiking?"** Common causes in order: (1) shipping delays / 3PL performance issues (drives small shipping-only refunds), (2) recent product launch with quality issues (drives full refunds), (3) sizing / spec mismatch on fashion (drives full refunds), (4) customer-service team handling tickets too generously (drives goodwill refunds), (5) seasonal returns surge after major holiday peak (drives full refunds 2 to 4 weeks post-peak). **"Operations cost per refund, how to estimate?"** Rule of thumb: 5 to 12 minutes per refund event for a steady-state team. Multiply by your fully-loaded staff cost and add Viva's per-refund fee. Automate low-touch paths (shipping-only auto-approve under EUR 10, expired-subscription cancellations) to recover 30 to 50% of staff time. **"Recurring rebill refunds, why are they so few?"** Subscription cancellations usually don't trigger a refund of the most recent rebill, the customer's service ends at next billing cycle. Refunding the most recent rebill is a goodwill gesture (or required by some terms-of-service); merchants that auto-refund-on-cancel are over-generous. Track this metric as a process discipline indicator. **"Multi-currency, blended count?"** Yes. A GBP refund and an EUR refund both add 1 to count. **"Volume vs trend, should I look at both?"** Yes. The volume metric (this card) shows period total; [`viva_refunds_trend`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/refunds-over-time) shows the daily series. Sudden spikes in the trend often precede the period-aggregate alert by 5 to 7 days, useful for early intervention. **"JP Morgan acquisition, anything affecting refund processing?"** No. Refund mechanics, fees, and API are unchanged. **"How do refund events relate to chargebacks?"** Inverse correlation typically. Merchants who process more refunds proactively see fewer disputes and chargebacks. The math: a customer who refunds at week 1 doesn't escalate to bank at week 3. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Refund Volume* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Viva Payments 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](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.