Guide · Singapore
Refunds and voids: three things that are not the same
A customer changing their mind is the cheapest version of this, and it stays cheap only if your counter handles it before the day closes. After that it is a refund; if the customer goes to their bank instead of to you, it is a chargeback, and that is a different problem with a different price.
In short
- Void cancels a transaction that has not settled yet. Cheapest, fastest, and time-limited.
- Refund returns money on a settled transaction. It is a new movement, not an undo.
- Chargeback is the customer asking their bank instead of asking you. Avoid by being easy to refund.
- The rails behave differently. A card refund and a QR wallet refund are not the same operation.
- Ask whether staff can refund on the device. If it needs a support ticket, it will not happen at 8pm.
The three words, and why the distinction is worth money
These get used interchangeably at a counter and they are not interchangeable. The difference is where the transaction is in its life when you intervene.
| What | When it is possible | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| Void / cancellation | Before the transaction has settled — in practice, usually the same day | Least. The transaction largely never completes its journey. |
| Refund | After settlement | A separate money movement in the opposite direction, with its own processing. |
| Chargeback | When the customer goes to their card issuer rather than to you | Most: the disputed amount, an administration fee, staff time, and a record against your account. |
The operational lesson is the whole page: catch it early. A mistake found before the day closes is a void. The same mistake found on Friday is a refund. The same mistake the customer gives up on and takes to their bank is a chargeback, and by then the outcome is no longer in your hands.
That is why "can my staff do this themselves" matters more than it sounds. A control that requires a manager, a phone call or a support ticket is a control that will not be exercised during a busy evening — and the transaction ages into the more expensive category while everyone waits.
What changes by rail
A merchant with cards, wallets and QR on one account has three different mechanisms behind one counter, and they do not behave the same way.
Cards. The most standardised of the three, because the schemes define the process. A refund goes back to the card used, not to a different card and not in cash — which is a rule worth explaining to a customer at the counter rather than arguing about after.
QR wallets. The money returns to the wallet it came from, and the timing is the wallet operator’s rather than the acquirer’s. A customer who paid with a wallet and expects cash back is a conversation, and the time to have it is before the sale.
Dynamic PayNow. A bank-rail transfer, so a reversal is a transfer in the other direction rather than a scheme process. What matters most here is that the sale was unambiguous in the first place — the QR carried the exact amount and you got a payment-success notification — because a disputed transfer with no clear record is far harder to resolve than a disputed card sale.
What this site does not publish
Uniweb Pay does not publish refund or reversal timings per rail, whether a refund returns the original processing fee, or the specifics of chargeback handling. Those are quoted and documented per merchant. They are named here as gaps because a page that filled them with plausible numbers would be worse than one that does not.
Your refund policy is a payments decision
Merchants tend to treat the refund policy as a retail matter and the payment arrangement as a technical one. They are the same subject: the policy determines how many disputes you have, and disputes are the expensive part of accepting payment.
Three things reduce dispute volume more than anything a provider can sell you. Publish the policy where a customer can find it before they buy. Make the trading name that appears on their statement recognisable as your shop. And answer quickly when someone asks — a customer who cannot get an answer from you goes to their bank, and their bank is not on your side of that conversation.
The last one is the whole of it. Most chargebacks that a merchant loses are not fraud; they are a customer who tried to reach the merchant first.
What to check before you sign
- Can a normal member of staff issue a refund on the device, or does it need the back office?
- Can they void a same-day transaction, and until when?
- Is there an authorisation step — a manager PIN or equivalent — so the answer to the first question is not "anyone, any amount"?
- Does a refund appear in the portal and on the statement in a way that reconciles cleanly against the original sale?
- What is the administration fee on a chargeback, separate from the disputed amount?
- Who handles a dispute, and what will they need from you?
Items one and three are in tension and both matter: a counter that cannot refund without a ticket will not refund, and a counter where anybody can refund anything is an internal-loss problem. The right answer is on the device, with an authorisation step.
Items five and six are the ones this site cannot answer for itself, and any provider should be willing to answer them in writing.
What Uniweb Pay does publish
Cards, wallets and Dynamic PayNow settle into one payout in Singapore dollars in T+1 batches, and the merchant portal shows each batch with its fees, transactions filterable by outlet and by method, and a daily statement available as PDF. A refund is visible in the same place as the sale it reverses, which is the property that makes month-end reconcilable.
What is not published: refund timings per rail, whether the original processing fee is returned, chargeback administration fees, and chargeback handling specifics. Ask, and get the answer in the agreement rather than in a conversation.
Questions merchants ask
What is the difference between a void and a refund?
A void cancels a transaction before it has settled — in practice usually the same day — so it largely never completes. A refund happens after settlement and is a separate movement of money in the opposite direction. The void is cheaper and faster, which is why catching a mistake before the day closes matters.
How long does a refund take to reach the customer?
It depends on the rail and, for wallets, on the wallet operator rather than on the acquirer. Uniweb Pay does not publish per-rail refund timings, so ask for them against your own method mix rather than relying on a general figure.
Can I refund a card payment in cash instead?
A card refund returns to the card that was used. It is worth explaining that at the counter rather than after the fact, because a customer expecting cash is a customer who may go to their bank instead.
Do I get the processing fee back when I refund a sale?
That is a term of your specific agreement, and Uniweb Pay does not publish it. It is a fair question to ask any provider before signing, and it is worth having the answer in writing.
How do I avoid chargebacks?
Mostly by being easy to reach. Publish your refund policy where customers see it before buying, make sure the trading name on their statement is recognisable as your shop, and answer questions quickly. Most lost chargebacks are not fraud — they are a customer who tried the merchant first and got nowhere.
Talk to us about your counter
Uniweb Pay is a Singapore merchant acquirer, licensed by MAS as a Major Payment Institution (No. PS20200612). Tell us what you sell and who pays you, and we will tell you whether we are the right fit — including when we are not.