Refund Handling
When a referral order is refunded, the affiliate should not earn commission on the refunded amount. Avada handles this automatically in most cases, but there are edge cases worth understanding.
How refunds are detected
When a refund happens in Shopify, Shopify sends a refunds/create webhook to the app. The app looks up the order, finds any conversions tied to it, and adjusts commission accordingly.
Refunds are detected:
- When you refund through Shopify Admin (full or partial).
- When you issue a store credit that counts as a refund.
- When a payment gateway auto-refunds (chargebacks, fraud reversals).
The four refund cases
Case 1 — Partial refund on a percentage program
Example: Order = $100. Commission = 10% = $10. You refund $30.
The app reduces the commission proportionally:
- New refund amount: $30
- Commission adjustment: $30 × 10% = $3
- Commission stays Approved but now reads
$10 - $3 = $7
The row shows a "Partially refunded" badge in orange. The affiliate's pending balance updates.
Case 2 — Full refund on a percentage program, before payout
Example: Order = $100. Commission = $10. Status = Approved. You refund the full $100 before paying out.
- Commission on the existing row drops to
$0. - The row stays Approved but with a partially-refunded indicator.
- Affiliate's pending balance drops by $10.
No money has been exchanged, so nothing to recover.
Case 3 — Full refund on a percentage program, after payout
Example: Same as above, but you already paid the $10 to the affiliate.
- The original row stays Paid — once paid, rows are locked.
- A new row appears with status Refund adjustment (red), amount
-$10. - That negative amount is automatically subtracted from the affiliate's next payout — you do not need to chase the affiliate manually.
You can see Refund adjustment totals in the dedicated card on the Conversions page summary.
Case 4 — Partial refund on a flat-amount program
Flat-amount programs behave differently. Because commission is a fixed dollar amount (not tied to order total), the app only deducts commission when the cumulative refunds reach the full order total.
Example: Flat $5 program. Order = $100. Commission = $5.
- You refund $30 → Commission stays $5. Order is still mostly kept.
- You refund another $30 (total $60 refunded) → Commission still $5.
- You refund another $50 (total $110, fully refunded) → Commission becomes $0 (or, if already paid, a Refund adjustment row appears for
-$5).
This behavior is intentional — flat commissions are meant to reward the referral act, not the order total.
Product-specific refunds
If a refund covers only some line items and you have a product-specific commission, the adjustment is calculated per-line-item:
- Line 1 refunded (Product A at 20%) → commission on that line goes to $0.
- Line 2 kept (Product B at 10%) → commission unchanged.
Viewing refund history
Click any conversion row to expand it. The detail panel shows:
- Original commission.
- List of refund events with date, amount refunded, commission adjustment.
- Current "net" commission after all refunds.
Notifications
When a refund triggers a commission adjustment:
- Affiliate receives an email: "Commission on Order #XXXX was updated due to a refund" (if notifications are on).
- Merchant does not get an email (too noisy on high-volume stores).
What you cannot do
- Un-refund a commission — if Shopify reverses a refund (rare), the app does not auto-restore the commission. Email [email protected].
- Refund only commission without refunding order — there is no "claw back commission" button. The affiliate's commission is tied to the order's refund status, not independent.
Tips
- Wait before approving — give 7–14 days after order for refunds to settle. Reduces paid-then-refunded cases.
- Watch the Refund adjustment card — these are amounts you'll auto-deduct from upcoming payouts. Worth a sanity-check before the next payout cycle.
- Keep a refund reserve — some merchants hold back 10% of each payout as a refund buffer, released after 30 days.