Overview

Voiding a transaction in Recurly cancels a payment before settlement with your gateway. A voided transaction will request an authorization reversal to the customer's bank, effectively reversing the pending payment. Depending on your gateway, this process may be instant or take a day or two to reflect on the customer's bank statement.

This option is available only for unsettled transactions. Make sure you check your gateway's batch settlement time to avoid requiring a refund. Since settlement usually happens every day, you will only be able to void transactions on the same day they occurred prior to your gateway's settlement cutoff time.

Required plan

These features are available to all customers on any Recurly subscription plan.

Prerequisites & limitations

• Prerequisites: Access to Transactions or Invoices in the Recurly Admin UI.
• Limitations:
  • Once a payment has been voided and it cannot be refunded in Recurly.
  • To return funds after a void, issue a refund instead. You can use the Refund button in the UI or use our APIs.
  • You can only void a credit invoice if it is not in the states closed, processing, or voided.

Definition

A void cancels a transaction or credit invoice before settlement. It ensures that no funds move between accounts and that the associated invoice reflects a zero balance.

Key benefits

• Purchase cancellation: Stop payments from settling to avoid unnecessary refunds or delays in returning funds to your customer.
• Error correction: Correct duplicate or mistaken charges on the same day.
• Accurate reporting: Track voided transactions easily through Recurly reporting and exports.

Key details

How to void a transaction

1. Open the customer’s account in the Recurly Admin UI.
2. Go to the Transactions section and select the transaction to void.
3. Review the transaction details at your Gateway to ensure it is unsettled.
4. Click Refund button to cancel it. If your gateway has not yet settled the transaction, a void will be performed. If your settlement time has passed, Recurly will automatically attempt to refund the transaction.

Once the transaction is voided:

• The transaction's is marked as voided and any pending funds are reversed off the customer's bank statement. This is not always instant -- each bank will have their own timeframe associated with this process.
• The transactioncannot be refunded in Recurly or the Gateway.
• The invoice may be in a past due state if the transaction is voided.

Find voided transactions

You can locate voided transactions through the Transactions export or Reporting:

To export:

1. Go to Analytics → Exports in the Recurly Admin Console.
2. Download the Transactions export file.
3. Filter by status = Voided to review all voided transactions.

Voiding Transactions via API

Follow our integration guides for Payments, and look at API documentation at the links below:

• If you are voiding an Authorization, use the cancel endpoint: Cancel Authorization
• If you are voiding a Purchase, use the refund_invoice endpoint: Refund Invoice -- remember, pre-settlement transactions will attempt a void. If you are attempting to void, do not send a partial amount.