Refund policy
How refunds work on OpenMerchant
Effective July 29, 2026 · v0.3 draft
1. Your policy applies
Orders placed by agents are your orders, and your refund policy governs them. OpenMerchant publishes that policy in machine-readable form alongside your catalog, so agents can read the terms before they buy and set buyer expectations correctly.
2. How a refund flows
Refunds are issued through your existing payment provider, exactly as they are today. OpenMerchant relays the structured status — requested, approved, declined, settled — over the same protocols the purchase used, so the assistant can tell the buyer precisely where things stand.
3. Agent-initiated requests
When a buyer asks their assistant for a refund, the request arrives in your OpenMerchant inbox as a structured task with the order, reason, and amount. You approve or decline according to your policy; the decision is returned to the agent automatically.
4. Disputes and chargebacks
Disputes are handled by your payment provider under its rules. OpenMerchant supplies the supporting audit trail — the signed catalog entry, the authorization or mandate, and the order record — so agent purchases carry more evidence than a typical card-not-present sale, not less.
5. OpenMerchant fees
Any OpenMerchant fee on a fully refunded order is returned in the same billing cycle.
6. Contact
Merchants can reach support from the dashboard. Buyers should contact the assistant they purchased through, which routes the request to you over the protocol.