Purchase Return Declines

Description: This article contains information regarding declines for returns. 

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Authorization and Decline Responses

Purchase Return Authorization (PRA) is a process used by merchants or businesses to handle situations in which a customer wants to return a purchase made with a credit or debit card.

When a customer requests a return or refund for an item, the merchant needs to get approval from the bank or payment processor before the refund is processed. This is called the Purchase Return Authorization. The bank checks that the transaction is legitimate and that the refund can be processed without any issues.

Purchase return authorizations include the same valid authorization response data as other authorization transactions, such as purchases. All merchant processes, applications, gateways, and systems for authorization, clearing, or settlement must be prepared to receive and submit for settlement all valid authorization response data such as response code, transaction identifier, approval code, and retrieval reference number.

A declined refund response can occur for several reasons. Common causes include the issuer determining that the card is compromised due to past fraudulent activity, the card being placed on hold by the cardholder, the card being marked as lost or stolen, or the cardholder’s account being closed, expired, or non-existent.

Typical response codes for purchase return authorizations include:

• 00: Approval: The issuer approves the transaction.
• 05: Do Not Honor: The issuer declines the transaction for a variety of reasons, such as the cardholder account is closed or fraud is suspected.
• 12: Invalid Transaction: The issuing bank is not permitting the transaction to be processed.
• 14: Invalid Account Number: The issuer declines the transaction due to an invalid card account number.
• 57: Transaction Not Permitted to Cardholder: The Issuer declines the transaction because a purchase return isn't allowed for the product or the type of card (such as a non-reloadable prepaid card).  International cards are more likely to decline transactions due to restrictions imposed by the card issuer or bank.

Return Options

When requesting a return or refund, the cardholder typically provides a receipt or proof of purchase showing the account used for the original transaction. The merchant must first attempt to process the return authorization using the same account used for the original purchase.

If the transaction was made using a prepaid card and the cardholder is returning items but no longer has the card, the merchant may offer a cash refund, in-store credit, or refund to a different card as an alternative.

If the card was used as US common debit, the original debit card used for the transaction must be present. The cardholder is required to provide the same debit card for the refund. If the original debit card is unavailable, the refund may be processed using an alternative method, such as cash, store credit, or a refund to a different card, depending on the policy of the business

When a purchase return is declined:

• The merchant can choose to provide an alternative form of credit, such as cash, check, in-store credit, or prepaid card, according to their refund policy.
• The cardholder can contact the issuing bank's customer service for support; if the issuer resolves the reason for the decline (such as a blocked account), the merchant can retry the purchase return.