A payment reversal (also known as a credit reversal or reversal payment) occurs when funds from a transaction are returned to the cardholder’s bank account. This issue typically happens due to human error. Mostly because the customer inserts the card but removes it too quickly, causing the initial transaction to be reversed. The machine then asks the customer to insert the card again, which result in 2 pending transactions appearing on the customer’s account.

There is no required action from the merchant, as these are just pending transactions. Once the initial transaction has been reversed, the reversal usually takes up to 10 business days from the transaction date. The way the reversal works is that, sometimes, one of the initial charges may fall off, while in other cases, a refund is issued, depending on the card type.

If this happens at your store, please print out a copy of the receipt and send it to us ASAP. Also, inform the customer that they will need to wait up to 10 business days for the reversal to reflect on their account. Usually, the reversal is sent to the customer’s bank on the same date as the transaction date, but it depends on the bank’s acceptance process.

Best Practice: We recommend printing a sign to inform customers to insert their card, wait for the beep from the card machine, and then remove the card.

Q: Is this a duplicated charge?

A: No, it may appear as a duplicate on the customer’s end, but the merchant only received a single deposit. Because of this, we do not recommend processing a refund to the customer right away without investigation, as the merchant could be short in deposit.

Q: How do I know if the issue is truly a duplicate charge or a payment reversal?

A: We recommend sending us a copy of the receipt for an accurate answer before communicating with the customer.

Q: After 10 business days, the customer still says they haven’t received the refund.

A: After 10 business days, we recommend having the customer contact their bank first and ask the bank to investigate the authorization of each charge on their account. The cardholder can also go to their bank account > Transactions > filter by store name and send a screenshot to us to show that they haven’t received the refund/reversal. The refund/reversal may show up in the customer’s bank on a different date than the transaction date, which could cause confusion.