Why is the refund for the underpayment or overpayment less than what I paid? – BitPay Support

Sometimes it is necessary to receive a refund from BitPay for underpaid or overpaid invoices. When this happens, you get a refund of the payment minus applicable fees:

BitPay deducts the network costs necessary to broadcast refunds, e.g. the miner fees applicable depending on the corresponding cryptocurrency network.
When you initially paid the BitPay invoice, you send the amount necessary to cover the invoice price plus the miner fee required to broadcast a transaction from your wallet (like every blockchain transaction) and the standard BitPay Network Cost depending on the cryptocurrency used. These fees will not be included in the refund.

Example - underpayment

In the below example, an underpayment is made to a BitPay invoice.

This screenshot shows the cost breakdown on the BitPay invoice. The network cost (0.000190 BTC in this example) will be deducted from the amount to be refunded.

This screenshot from the wallet indicates the customer sent a payment of 0.000669 BTC from his wallet and had to spend 0.000467 BTC of miner fees to broadcast his payment on the bitcoin network.

This miner fee sent by the customer's wallet (in this case 0.000467 BTC) is not included in the refund.

The below example details the cost breakdown for the refund of the above underpayment.

This screenshot shows the email notification the customer receives to claim a refund for an underpaid invoice.

The customer paid 0.000669 BTC for an invoice where the total amount requested was 0.001319 BTC.

The total amount to be refunded is 0.000187 BTC in this example.

This screenshot shows the refund screen the customer will use to submit his cryptocurrency address for the refund.

The amount initially received by BitPay for the corresponding invoice was 0.000669 BTC.

BitPay deducts the network costs for the corresponding invoice (0.000190 BTC), which gives the refund subtotal:

0.000669 - 0.000190 = 0.000479 BTC

From that refund subtotal, BitPay deducts the network costs necessary to broadcast the refund transaction on the corresponding cryptocurrency network.

The amount refunded to the customer will then be 0.000479 - 0.000292 = 0.000187 BTC

In all cases (assuming a currency with a network fee), purchaser pays the network fee.

Assuming a currency with a network fee, for payment exception refunds (underpayments and overpayments), the purchaser pays the refund fee. For fully paid invoices with a currency with a network fee, the merchant pays the refund fee.

Example - underpayment

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