PayPal refund failed on WooCommerce website

Sometimes there can be issues while trying to perform refunds in WooCommerce. I’ve come across 2 main reason why you might get the error message “refund failed.”

See the two possible reasons you get this error and the possible solutions below

Paypal_Refund_Failed_WooCommerce

The #1 reason why you get the “refund failed” message is because the PayPal settings are not entered or they are entered incorrectly.

You can get your API settings by logging into your PayPal account.

Once you’re logged in click on on your profile in the top right.

  1. Click on “Profile and Settings” from the drop down menu
  2. On the left hand side of the screen click on “My selling tools”
  3. Next find “API access” then click on the link to the right of that which says “Update”.
  4. You will see two options then. Go to option 2 and click on “View API Signature”
  5. You then should see information for API Username, API password, & Signature
  6. Copy down this information. You will need to enter it on your website

The number #2 reason for getting the error message “refund failed” is that you are trying to refund a payment that was made more than 60 days ago.

Simply go to the order that you’re trying to refund and see if the payment was made more than 60 days ago.

If this is the case then there are two ways to issue a refund.

  1. The best solution in this case is to call PayPal and have them perform the refund for you. The reason this is the best solution is that it allows PayPal to refund the card directly back to the customers credit card or bank account. Once this is done it is important that you login to your website, find the order, and perform a “manual refund”. This is important because it will then show you on your website’s records that you refunded this order and it will prevent you from trying to refund it again.
  2. The 2nd way you can do this is to login to your PayPal account, click on the “Tools” link at the top, scroll down to the “Manage your business” section and click “send money”. You then have to enter the email of the client. The NEGATIVE thing about refunding this way is that the client must have a PayPal account and that the money will be refunded to the client’s PayPal account and NOT to their original payment source (i.e. their credit card or checking account). You’ll then want to select “I’m sending money to family or refunds” to avoid any transaction fees. Once this is done it is important that you login to your website, find the order, and perform a “manual refund”. This is important because it will then show you on your website’s records that you refunded this order and it will prevent you from trying to refund it again.