Alipay, China's leading third-party online payment solutionAlipay, China's leading third-party online payment solution

      refund

      Use the refund API to initiate a synchronous or asynchronous refund for a successful payment.  

      Request parameters

      refundRequestId String(64)Required
      The unique ID assigned by the merchant to identify a refund request.
      paymentId String(64)Required
      The unique ID assigned by Alipay for the original payment to be refunded
      referenceRefundId String(64)Optional
      The unique ID to identify a refund, which is assigned by the merchant that directly provides services or goods to the customer
      refundAmount AmountRequired

      The refund amount that is initiated by the merchant.

      currency String(3)Required

      The 3-letter currency code that follows the ISO 4217 standard.

      value String(16)Required

      The amount to charge as a positive integer in the smallest currency unit. (That is, 100 cents to charge $1.00, or 100 to charge JPY ¥100, a zero-decimal currency).

      Notes: For more information about the smallest currency unit, see Currency codes for details.

      refundReason String(256)Optional
      The refund reasons

      Response parameters

      result ResultRequired

      The request result, which contains information related to the request result, such as status and error codes.

      resultCode String(64)Required
      Result code
      resultStatus StringRequired

      Result status. Possible values are:   

      • S: Indicates that the result status is successful. 
      • F: Indicates that the result status is failed. 
      • U: Indicates that the result status is unknown.
      resultMessage String(256)Optional
      Result message
      refundRequestId String(64)Optional
      The unique ID that is assigned by the merchant to identify a refund request
      refundId String(64)Optional
      The unique ID that is assigned by Alipay to identify a refund. A one-to-one correspondence between refundId and refundRequestId exists.
      paymentId String(64)Optional
      The unique ID assigned by Alipay for the original payment to be refunded
      refundAmount AmountOptional

      The refund amount collected by the payment executor for this refund.

      currency String(3)Required

      The 3-letter currency code that follows the ISO 4217 standard.

      value String(16)Required

      The amount to charge as a positive integer in the smallest currency unit. (That is, 100 cents to charge $1.00, or 100 to charge JPY ¥100, a zero-decimal currency).

      Notes: For more information about the smallest currency unit, see Currency codes for details.

      refundTime DatetimeOptional

      The date and time when the refund reaches a final state of success or failure, which follows the ISO 8601 standard.

      More information 

      This section gives additional information about certain parameters. See the following list for details:

      • refundRequestId:
        • Alipay uses the refundRequestId parameter for idempotency control. For example, if the refund request with the refundRequestId of 201811291907410200070000001111 has been successfully processed by Alipay, when the merchant uses the same refundRequestId to refund, Alipay returns a result of refund success.
        • The refund can be full or partial. A transaction can have multiple refunds as long as the total refund amount is less than or equal to the original transaction amount. If being out of the refund window, the refund request will be declined. Use the same refundRequestId to retry a refund in case of timeout or when the returned resultStatus is U.
      • refundId
        The parameter can be used for the refund inquiry. 

      Responses for different cases

      This section provides responses for different cases of failed refunds.

      1. The refund currency is inconsistent with the transaction currency.

      The refund currency needs to be consistent with the transaction currency, otherwise an error is returned. The following example is a sample code of this case.

      2. The refund currency exceeds the refund limit.

      For example, the refund amount exceeds the transaction amount or is less than the minimum refund amount. The following example is a sample code of this case. 

      3. The refundRequestId is repeated.

      The ​​refundRequestId ​​ is same with the previous request. The following example is a sample code of this case. 

      4. The transaction status is invalid.

      If initiates a refund in non-SUCCESS status, an error is reported. The following example is a sample code of this case. 

      Result process logic

      For different request results, different actions are to be performed. See the following list for details:

      • If the value of result.resultStatus is S, for synchronous refund, the refund succeeds. For an asynchronous refund the refund request is processed successfully, and merchant can call inquiryPayment interface to query the refund result.
      • If the value of result.resultStatus is F, the refund fails. Usually, the failure is caused by a refund initiated outside the refund window (result. resultCode= REFUND_WINDOW_EXCEED). If the refund is still needed to be processed, manual intervention is needed.
      • If the value of result.resultStatus is U, the result is unknown. Processing failure might occur due to system or network issues. Merchant can retry with the same refundRequestId. 

      Result/Error codes

      CodeValueMessage
      SUCCESSSSuccess
      REFUND_WINDOW_EXCEEDFThe refund date exceeds the refundable period that is agreed in the contract.
      REFUND_AMOUNT_EXCEEDFThe total refund amount exceeds the payment amount.
      ORDER_NOT_EXISTFThe order does not exist.
      ORDER_STATUS_INVALIDFThe order status is invalid.
      MERCHANT_BALANCE_NOT_ENOUGHFThe merchant balance is not enough.
      CURRENCY_NOT_SUPPORT FThe currency is not supported.
      PROCESS_FAILFA general business failure occurred. Do not retry.
      PARAM_ILLEGALFIllegal parameters exist. For example, a non-numeric input, or an invalid date.
      REPEAT_REQ_INCONSISTENTFRepeated requests are inconsistent.
      KEY_NOT_FOUNDFThe key is not found.
      ACCESS_DENIEDFAccess denied
      REQUEST_TRAFFIC_EXCEED_LIMITUThe request traffic exceeds the limit.
      API_INVALIDFAPI is invalid or not active.
      CLIENT_INVALIDFThe client is invalid.
      INVALID_SIGNATUREFThe signature is invalid.
      METHOD_NOT_SUPPORTEDFThe server does not implement the requested HTTP method.
      MEDIA_TYPE_NOT_ACCEPTABLEFThe server does not implement the media type that is acceptable to the client.
      UNKNOWN_EXCEPTIONUAn API calling is failed, which is caused by unknown reasons.
      Request/Response Code

      Request

      Method

      POST

      Endpoint

      /v1/payments/refund

      Header

      Accept: application/json

      URL

      Domain name

      Request Body
      Request parameters
      Response Body
      Body content