Refunds track money returned to customers after an order — returns, cancellations, billing disputes, goodwill credits. Standard object in Order Management and Salesforce Billing. Each Refund links back to a Payment record (the original tender) and optionally to a Return Order or Credit Memo. Provides the financial audit trail for reverse-flow money.
- Confirm Order Management or Salesforce Billing is licensed
Refund is a standard object in those clouds. Standard Sales / Service Cloud doesn't have it.
- Open the Refunds tab (or from an Account → Refunds related list)
App Launcher → Refunds.
- Click New
Top-right.
- Set the Account
Required. The customer receiving the refund.
- Link the original Payment
PaymentId or PaymentGroupId. Traces back to what's being refunded — required for audit and reconciliation.
- Set Amount and Currency
How much, in what currency. Must not exceed the original payment amount.
- Set Status (Draft / Pending / Processed / Cancelled / Failed)
Draft is editable; Processed is the terminal success state.
- Set Type (Cash / Credit / Adjustment)
Cash returns to the original tender. Credit applies as store credit. Adjustment is a write-off, no money moves.
- Set Effective Date
When the refund posts. Drives revenue-recognition reversal.
- Save
Refund is recorded. Salesforce Billing automation may pick it up to reverse recognized revenue and post the gateway transaction.
Required.
Required. Traces to the original tender.
Required.
Required. Draft by default.
- Refund Amount cannot exceed the original Payment Amount. Validation rule fires at save. Multi-line refunds against a single payment require careful tracking.
- Status transitions trigger gateway calls in some configurations. Setting Status = Processed without the actual gateway transaction having succeeded creates a reconciliation gap.
- Refund Type matters for accounting. Cash vs Credit vs Adjustment route through different financial automations — picking the wrong type books revenue incorrectly.