Glossary · Billing
What is a refund?
Refund
A refund is a payment returned to a customer for an in-app purchase. On the App Store, the customer asks Apple, and Apple decides, using consumption data that you may send. On Google Play, the customer can ask for one, and you can also refund and revoke access from your own backend. In both stores, a refund ends access to what was bought.
On the App Store customers ask Apple Support, use Apple's self-service request tool, or ask their card issuer. Apple sends your server a REFUND notification when it refunds a purchase, REFUND_DECLINED when it turns down an in-app request, and REFUND_REVERSED when a granted refund is reversed after a dispute. Before the decision, Apple can send a CONSUMPTION_REQUEST that lets you share usage data.
On Google Play a refund can start with the customer, the developer or Google. A developer refund through the Orders API can set the revoke option, which also removes access. A refund with revoke, a cancellation or a chargeback shows up in the Voided Purchases API, and a subscription revocation sends SUBSCRIPTION_REVOKED. Your system must stop access for voided purchases.
RevenueDot records a store refund as a CANCELLATION event with cancel_reason: CUSTOMER_SUPPORT and a negative price, ends access at the refund time, and sends REFUND_REVERSED when a refund is undone. The Refunds and Refund Rate charts count them on the refund date and on the purchase date respectively.
Sources: Apple: Handling refund notifications · Apple: notificationType · Apple: Send Consumption Information · Google Play Developer API: Voided Purchases API · Android Developers: Fight fraud and abuse
FAQ
Refund: questions people ask
Who decides an App Store refund?
Apple. You can influence the decision by answering the consumption request with usage data and a refund preference, but Apple makes the call.
Can I refund a customer myself?
On Google Play yes, through the Play Developer API, with the revoke option if you also want to end access. On the App Store, customers request refunds from Apple, and Apple decides.
Does a refund count in MRR?
A refunded subscription stops counting from the refund time, and the refund is counted on its own in the refund charts.
Get started
Run subscriptions without the revenue share.
Start free on RevenueDot Cloud, free up to $10,000 a month in tracked revenue, or move an existing RevenueCat app with one line of code.
Already have an account? Sign in · Prefer your own servers? Self-host free