A refund transaction is a payment sent back to a shopper after the merchant agrees to return their money — for example because a product was not delivered, was faulty, or an order was cancelled.
How a refund works at CoinGate
Refunds are always initiated by the merchant, not by CoinGate. We process payments on the merchant's behalf, so the decision whether to refund and for how much is theirs. If you are a shopper who wants a refund, contact the merchant you bought from first.
Once the merchant initiates it, the shopper receives a link asking for the wallet address the funds should go back to, and the refund is sent from there.
Why a wallet address is needed
Crypto payments cannot simply be reversed the way a card payment can. The original payment came from an address that may not be under the shopper's control — an exchange account, for instance — so the refund needs a destination address confirmed by the person receiving it.
How long it takes
Once the shopper provides a valid address, the refund is sent as a normal blockchain transaction. The wait is mostly on the shopper's side: a refund cannot move until the address has been provided.