Stripe payments are recorded automatically in B-Cart, but refunds are not. When you need to send money back to a customer who paid by card, you issue a refund against the payment record — and B-Cart pushes the refund through Stripe so the customer's card is credited.
This article covers when to refund through B-Cart, how it interacts with order edits, and what the customer sees.
Refunds Are Separate From Order Edits
This is the most common question: "If I update the order to remove items, will B-Cart automatically refund the customer?"
The answer is no.
Editing an order — removing items, deleting line items, even deleting the entire order — recalculates the order total inside B-Cart, but it doesn't move any money. The Stripe payment stays exactly as it was. If you want to return funds to the customer, you have to issue an explicit refund.
This is intentional. It means you stay in control of when money actually moves, and you can make corrections to an order (typos, wrong quantities, fixing a SKU) without accidentally triggering a refund.
When to Refund Through B-Cart
Issue a refund through B-Cart when:
You need to return money to a customer who paid via Stripe.
You've shipped a partial order and the customer paid in full upfront — refund the difference.
The customer cancelled an order after paying.
You're issuing a goodwill credit for a damaged or incorrect item.
For anything else (corrections that don't involve money, internal accounting notes, etc.), edit the order directly without refunding.
Step 1: Open the Order and Find the Payment
Go to Orders and open the order that holds the Stripe payment. Scroll to the payments section — Stripe payments show Payment Method: Stripe Credit/Debit Card.
Step 2: Open Actions and Select Refund
On the Successful Stripe payment, open the Actions menu and select Refund.
The refund modal opens with the title Refund via Stripe.
Step 3: Enter the Refund Amount
Full refund: leave the amount as the original payment value and confirm.
Partial refund: type any value between 0 and the original payment amount. For example, if the customer paid $100 and you've removed $20 worth of items from the order, refund $20.
You can issue more than one partial refund against the same payment, up to the remaining unrefunded balance.
Note: You don't need to enter a reference — Stripe sets one automatically. Notes are optional.
Step 4: Confirm
Select Refund. B-Cart shows a confirmation toast: "Refund initiated — Stripe is processing this."
What Happens Next
A new payment row appears in the order, marked Processing. This is the refund itself — it's waiting on Stripe.
Within a minute or two, Stripe confirms the refund has been issued. B-Cart's webhook receives the confirmation and updates the row to Refunded.
The order's payment status updates — for example, from Paid to Partially Paid (after a partial refund) or back to Unpaid (after a full refund).
The customer's card is credited by Stripe. Depending on their bank, the funds reappear on their statement within 5 to 10 business days.
What the Customer Sees
Stripe emails the customer a refund receipt automatically (assuming you've left receipt emails enabled in your Stripe dashboard).
If the customer logs into B-Cart and views the order, they see the original payment and the refund row, with clear amounts on each.
Their order's payment status shows the current state — Paid, Partially Paid, or Unpaid — based on the net of payments and refunds.
Things to Know
Stripe takes its processing fee even on refunds. Stripe's standard fee on the original payment isn't returned when you refund. That cost stays with the merchant (you).
Disputes are not refunds. If a customer disputes a Stripe charge through their card issuer (chargeback), that's handled inside the Stripe dashboard, not B-Cart. Refunds you issue in B-Cart won't resolve an open dispute — you'll need to respond to the dispute in Stripe directly. Once a dispute is resolved, the money movement reconciles back into B-Cart.
A payment can only be refunded once in full. After a payment is fully refunded, the option disappears. To return more funds, you'd need a second payment to refund against.
Refunds always go back to the original card. Stripe doesn't allow refunds to be redirected to a different payment method or account. If the customer needs the money back via bank transfer instead, you can't do that through Stripe — record a manual offline refund, then add an account credit or process the bank transfer yourself outside B-Cart.
If You Refunded by Mistake
Once Stripe has processed a refund, it can't be reversed from inside B-Cart or Stripe. If the customer was meant to keep the money, you'll need them to pay again — either by sending a new payment link (see Sending a Payment Link to a Customer) or recording an offline payment manually.
If the refund is still showing as Processing in B-Cart, contact support before doing anything else — there may be a window to cancel before Stripe completes it.