> ## 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. # Refunds Over Time, Viva Payments > Refunds Over Time 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 > Daily series of refund value issued through Viva Payments. Surfaces refund pattern shape (post-sale spikes, end-of-month batches, "free returns" promo aftermath) that the period summary hides. | | | | -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `SUM(refunds.Amount)` bucketed by refund `IssueDate` (UTC day). Multi-currency stores get one trend per currency. | | **API endpoint** | [`/api/transactions/{id}/refunds`](https://developer.vivawallet.com/apis-for-payments/payment-api/) aggregated daily. | | **Currency** | Multi-currency native, no FX. Per-currency lines. | | **Refunds counted** | Both full and partial refunds. | | **Disputes / chargebacks** | Excluded (not refunds). | | **Failed payments** | Not relevant. | | **Refund-day vs sale-day** | This card uses **issue date**. A refund of an April sale issued on 02 May lands on 02 May's bucket. | | **Channels** | Online + POS unified. | | **Time window** | `90D rolling`. | | **Alert trigger** | Daily anomalies (>2σ from rolling mean), or monthly running average up >25% vs prior. | | **Roles** | owner, finance | ## 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 fashion DTC brand on Smart Checkout, 30-day free returns, generous post-sale window. 90-day window 02 Feb 26 to 02 May 26. ```text theme={null} Daily refund value (EUR), 02 Feb 26 to 02 May 26 Mon | XXX ~ EUR 800 (back-from-weekend processing) Tue | XX ~ EUR 600 Wed | XX ~ EUR 600 Thu | XX ~ EUR 600 Fri | XX ~ EUR 600 (front-loaded for weekend dispatch) Sat | X ~ EUR 300 (low; processed Monday) Sun | X ~ EUR 300 Notable spikes: 18 Feb 26 (post Valentine sale) EUR 4,200 (+520% vs avg) 03 Mar 26 (sale end + 14-day return) EUR 6,800 (+850% vs avg) 28 Apr 26 (post-Easter Spring sale) EUR 5,200 (+650% vs avg) ``` What the merchant should notice: 1. **Refunds lag sales by \~ 14, 21 days.** A spike in mid-March refunds maps to a sale 14, 21 days earlier (typical "tried it, didn't fit, returning at the end of the policy window"). Fashion's standard return-window pattern. 2. **Mondays are the highest refund day.** Customer service teams process the weekend's return-request backlog on Monday. POS in-store returns over the weekend also get keyed on Monday. This is operational, not behavioural. 3. **Sale-end + 14d / 21d / 30d are predictable spikes.** Map sale dates → expected refund spike dates. If your refund spike is *bigger* than expected, the sale's product-quality or sizing was off. 4. **Multi-currency, separate lines.** GBP refund line shows separately from EUR line; don't conflate. 5. **Sentiment alert at 2σ catches single-day outliers.** A normal Monday is EUR 800; an anomaly day at EUR 4,000 will alert. Useful for catching customer-service outages where 100 returns process in one batch. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with Refunds Trend | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`viva_refund_value`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/refund-value) | The summary; this card is its time-series. | | [`viva_refund_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/refund-rate) | The percentage view. Spikes here that don't move the rate signal a one-off batch, not a behaviour change. | | [`viva_revenue_trend`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/revenue-over-time) | The numerator equivalent. Subtract daily to read net. | | [`viv_chargeback_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/chargeback-rate) | High refund rate often *prevents* chargebacks; read together. | | Stripe [`stripe_refund_velocity_trend`](/nerve-centre/stripe/stripe_refund_velocity_trend) / PayPal refund trend | Cross-PSP comparison. | | Commerce platform Returns trend | Upstream cause. Refund originating from Returns flow shows here on issue-date. | ## 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** (date filter, set granularity to "Daily") The Sales → Reports → Net Sales view also shows daily refunds as a deduction overlay. **Why our number may legitimately differ from the Viva Dashboard:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | -------------------------- | ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Time zone bucketing** | Day boundaries shift | Athens vs UTC; refunds processed 22:00 Athens land in tomorrow's UTC bucket. | | **Issue-date attribution** | Match | Both this card and Viva use issue-date for refund timing. | | **Multi-currency** | Per-currency vs rolled | Toggle in Viva Dashboard. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Comparison | Expected relationship | When divergence is legitimate | | ----------------------------------------------------- | --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | `viva_refunds_trend` ↔ commerce-platform refund trend | Daily shapes match | Commerce-platform aggregate covers all rails; Viva is a subset. | | `viva_refunds_trend` ↔ Stripe refund trend | Independent | Two streams summed approximate commerce-platform total. | ***
Documentation cross-reference (same archetype on other PSPs) * [`stripe.stripe_refund_velocity_trend`](/nerve-centre/stripe/stripe_refund_velocity_trend) * [`paypal.pp_refund_value`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/paypal/refund-value)
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **A spike day, what likely caused it?** Three usual causes: (1) post-sale return-window expiry (sale 14, 30 days ago), (2) customer service batch processing accumulated requests, (3) a single very-large B2B refund (e.g. cancelled wholesale order). **Why is Monday always higher?** Operational, weekend return requests get keyed Monday morning. **How do I match a refund spike to its sale?** Look at the sale calendar 14, 30 days before the spike. Apparel returns peak at 14 days; electronics 21, 30; large-format goods 7, 14. **My refund trend is rising while sales are flat, what's happening?** Rising refund-rate trend without a refund-volume increase usually means baseline customer behaviour shifted. Check (a) recent product launches with quality issues, (b) sizing-feedback patterns, (c) competitor offering free returns (you're matching, returns rise). **Multi-currency, single chart?** Per-currency lines stacked. Don't read total off one line. **Smart POS in-store returns appear here?** Yes. POS card-present refunds fire a refund transaction to Viva and contribute to this trend. **JP Morgan ownership change anything?** No. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Refunds Over Time* 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.