#sandy.nozaki
paper dome
hi toby
pure flicker
Hi there 👋 since you're talking about Transfers with Connect, is it safe to assume you're working with either Express or Custom Connected Accounts?
paper dome
yes custom connected account is correct
pure flicker
Taking a look at the structure used to create a Transfer Reversal, I see there is an amount parameter that I believe will allow you to reverse less than the full amount of the original Transfer:
https://stripe.com/docs/api/transfer_reversals/create#create_transfer_reversal-amount
Did you try using this before and it not work during your testing?
paper dome
oh so even without connected reserves enabled, theres a way to reverse less than the full?
pure flicker
Double checking
Yes, it does look like partially reversing a Transfer is available, I'm not sure offhand how Connect Reserves (either being enabled or disabled) would impact that functionality:
https://stripe.com/docs/connect/charges-transfers#reversing-transfers:~:text=Connect supports the,an amount value)%3A
paper dome
hmm
pure flicker
My understanding with Connect Reserves is that the functionality exists to be able to repay customers for disputed/refunded payments, so I don't think those would kick in if a Connected Account doesn't have enough funds to reverse a full Transfer.
paper dome
so only way is to have connected reserves enabled
pure flicker
Well I don't think Connected Reserves will be a factor for reversing Transfers. Connect Reserves are funded by your Platform account, so if they were used for this you would essentially be borrowing against yourself, which seems like a circular flow that doesn't accomplish anything.
Let's take a step back, what are you hoping to achieve?
paper dome
i just want to understand what this sentence means...https://stripe.com/docs/connect/charges-transfers#:~:text=It is only possible to reverse a transfer if the connected account’s available balance is greater than the reversal amount
pure flicker
Ah good spot, sorry I missed that. So it looks like Connected Reserves are necessary to automatically handle scenarios where a Transfer Reversal would push the Connected Account's balance to be negative.
paper dome
ok but so then if connected reserves is not enabled, and the reverse transfer is greater than what the connected balance has, it just wont go thru?
pure flicker
Yes, I would expect that would return an error.
paper dome
and will wait until the connected balance accumulates enough for it?
pure flicker
I don't believe so, I would not expect a Transfer Reversal to then be created automatically when the balance is sufficient. I would expect that you would need to make another request to trigger that.
paper dome
ohicic
ok two more questions
i just want to make sure i understood correctly, so ill give a usecase
Connected reserves is enabled, platforms balance is $1000 and connected balance is $100. Reverse transfer of $150 was initiated at which platforms balance would go to $950 and connected -$50 which is covered by Platform, correct?
pure flicker
Yes, that is my understanding, though it may be worth double checking with our Support team:
https://support.stripe.com/?contact=true
I believe they may be more familiar with Connect Reserves than we are in this forum.
My understanding is your Platform would cover the $50 difference, then as that Connected Account processes additional payments in the future that $50 will gradually be released back to your Platform's balance.
paper dome
icic ok thank you
but you are sure we'd have to request another call once the original api call failed due to insufficient balance on connected acct?
pure flicker
I'm pretty sure that's what would happen. I tried testing with my test accounts, but they let the Connected Account balance go negative.
Looking at the Returns section of the API endpoint, it says it will return a transfer reversal object if successful but otherwise error.
paper dome
wouldnt it automatically reverse once connected accounts balance has enough?
pure flicker
If that process would queue an automatic retry, then I would expect that to be explained in that section of how the API endpoint functions.
paper dome
can you send me that doc
thorny magnetBOT
pure flicker
Taking a look at the structure used to create a Transfer Reversal, I see there i...
Sure, it's the one I linked here, pasting for convenience:
https://stripe.com/docs/api/transfer_reversals/create#create_transfer_reversal-amount
paper dome
so just to confirm...youre saying that if connected reserves is not enabled and the connected account balance does not cover. it would return an error at the time of sending reverse transfer and we'd have to wait (watch) until the connected balance has enough at which we have to request another call for the reverse transfer?
i mean it sounds a little weird, no? that we would have to watch and wait until they have enough and initiate another call?
pure flicker
Yes that is my understanding. To me the opposite sounds weird, it sounds weird to expect a system to do something automatically without explicitly telling it to do so.
If the Transfer Reversal fails, we don't have clear indication whether you want to handle that by reversing a smaller amount or wait for the balance to increase, and if the latter what happens if the balance never increases. There seem to be a lot of possibilities where if I were in your position I would prefer explicit control over what happens next.