#Rob Coursera - ACH Credit Refunds

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

desert void
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Hello! Not sure I understand your question; why would you want to generate the link without a refund?

supple kindle
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Yes it's a strange question! I am just trying to understand how they are connected. Since, from what I can see, this generated link allows Stripe to send money to the customer bank account. So how does that link to the refund, or what would happen if there was no "refund pending"?

desert void
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If you're refunding money you need a way to get the money from Stripe to the Customer. With ACH Credit the customer sends money to your account via Stripe directly using the bank account info we generated for them, and there's no way to reverse that other than asking them for where their refund should go. Does that make sense?

supple kindle
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Yes that makes sense. I'm specifically asking what would happen if we didn't initiate a refund, we generate this link, and the customer enters their bank details to receive their funds. Would they still get their funds? Would it fail?

desert void
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Sorry, not sure I understand. If there's no refund what funds would be going to the customer?

supple kindle
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That's what I'm asking you lol

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Since it is physically possible for me to generate this refund webpage link without actually initiating a refund, what would happen?

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Another way to think about it is, let's say we do a normal refund here. Technically there's nothing stopping the customer from using the same link twice and trying to get funds again, is there?

desert void
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When you create a refund for an ACH Credit Stripe earmarks the funds for that refund to be sent to the customer when they provide their bank account details at the link you're asking about. Once those funds are sent to the customer that's it, it's done.

There's no reason to generate the link, ask for bank account details, send funds, etc. without a refund.

supple kindle
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I'm sorry, I know you keep mentioning there is no reason to do it. However, the only way this link is tied to the funds to be sent is by the source ID and the source client secret, correct? Both of which do not change as far as I'm aware. So "technically" one could use this link over-and-over, no?

desert void
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No.

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Sorry, I'm really trying to understand, but I think I'm still missing some key piece of information. 😅

supple kindle
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So let's keep it simple. Why no?

desert void
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Because once it's used (meaning the refund succeeded) it won't work anymore.

supple kindle
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So that's what I am trying to understand. I am going to state some facts that I think to be true, let me know if they are false:

  1. A Stripe customer has one ACH Credit source which does not change
  2. This Source also has a client secret which does not change
  3. The generated link uses both the source ID and Source client secret to take the funds
  4. The customer could use the same link again, since the source and client secret are still valid
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What I am wondering is, internally does Stripe check to see if there is a refund on the source? I don't think they do, since the actual refund amount is also sent as part of the link URL!

desert void
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  1. A Stripe customer has one ACH Credit source which does not change
    Correct.
  2. This Source also has a client secret which does not change
    I think this is correct, but am not 100% certain.
  3. The generated link uses both the source ID and Source client secret to take the funds
    Yep.
  4. The customer could use the same link again, since the source and client secret are still valid
    Maybe this is the piece I'm not understanding. What exactly do you mean by "use the same link again"?
supple kindle
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The page opens just fine and all seems valid

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My question is, what would happen if someone was to submit this form, given there is no actual refund right now

desert void
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Nothing should happen. If there aren't actually $9 to refund then there's nothing for Stripe to do with the information provided.

supple kindle
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"Should"? 😛

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That's what I am wondering, purely to understand how it works

desert void
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You're asking if someone can use a link like this to attract arbitrary amounts from you/Stripe just by changing the value in the URL?

supple kindle
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That wasn't my initial concern but yes I guess that's also my question

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So would there be an error message? Would Stripe silently just do nothing?

desert void
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Honestly I don't know, I've never tried it.

supple kindle
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Haha okay now we're getting down into it

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Any chance you could try? Or check the code base?

desert void
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Have you tried it in test mode?

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I just filled out the link you gave me. Did anything happen on your end?

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Nothing should happen since there aren't actually funds to send (since there's no refund).

supple kindle
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Well in test mode nothing ever happens anyway right?

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That's why I can't test it

coral falcon
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Let me see what I can find - hang on for a few minutes

supple kindle
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Thank you!

coral falcon
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Okay, so from what I understand that link is not actually what's triggering the refund - that link is just asking for some the attributes needed to complete the refund (that we already have in flight). Just generating the link and using it won't have any affect if there's no actual refund for the funds to go to

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Does that make sense?

supple kindle
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Okay that makes sense, thank you for checking

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Any idea if there would be an error message or just a silent error?

coral falcon
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Really, all that link is doing is updating the source with refund specific information - it may silently error, but I'm thinking it may just update source (which won't really have any effects so it's a no-op).