> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.yabetoopay.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Refunds

> How a Connect refund takes the funds back, and why it can be refused.

A refund on a Connect charge is requested through the **usual refund route**: there is no
dedicated Connect endpoint. What changes is the way the funds are taken back.

## The policy: Yabetoo never advances funds

A vendor's wallet cannot be debited after the fact. A negative balance would be a permanently
unrecoverable receivable.

<Warning>
  **If the money is not there, the refund fails.** Yabetoo does not create debt and does not let
  any wallet go negative. This is a "no credit" policy, and it is visible in the API:
  `402 connect.insufficient_funds_for_refund`.
</Warning>

## How the funds are taken back

Three tiers, in this order, each capped at its own share:

<Steps>
  <Step title="The vendor's pending balance">
    Funds that have not matured yet are seized first: that is exactly what the availability
    delay is for.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The vendor's available balance">
    For the remainder of their share.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Your balance">
    Your share of the refund, **plus everything the vendor could not cover**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  **You are the payer of last resort.** If the vendor has already been paid out, it is your
  balance that absorbs the difference. This is the opposite of an
  [allocation reversal](/en/connect/payments/allocations), where the shortfall is simply refused.
</Warning>

The claw-back is **capped per charge**: a charge is never seized for more than it brought in.
Without that cap, a refund would dip into the funds of the vendor's other sales.

## What Yabetoo does not return

<Warning>
  **The Yabetoo fees (collection and Connect surcharge) are not refundable.** They stay earned
  in either mode.
</Warning>

In `controller` mode, on a full refund of 10,000: the vendor returns exactly what they received,
you return your entire commission even though you had only kept the residue of it. You are
therefore negative by your Yabetoo fees on the round trip. This is not an added penalty: it is
the direct consequence of having already absorbed them at charge time.

## The refusal: `402`

```json 402 theme={null}
{
  "status": 402,
  "code": "connect.insufficient_funds_for_refund",
  "message": "refunding this charge needs 10000 from the marketplace wallet, which only holds 3000 (the seller could only cover 0 of it)",
  "required": 10000,
  "available": 3000,
  "shortfall": 7000,
  "seller_available": 0,
  "marketplace_balance": 3000,
  "currency": "xaf"
}
```

<ResponseField name="required" type="number">What has to be taken from your balance.</ResponseField>
<ResponseField name="seller_available" type="number">What the vendor was able to cover.</ResponseField>
<ResponseField name="shortfall" type="number">What is missing.</ResponseField>

The check and the debit happen in **a single transaction**, with locks held: a concurrent payout
cannot slip in between the two.

<Note>
  **All or nothing.** There is no automatic partial refund: a buyer who asks for 10,000 and
  receives 4,000 without having chosen it is a worse dispute than the refusal.
</Note>

## Reacting to a refusal

The refusal is not silent: it emits
[`connect.refund.blocked_insufficient_funds`](/en/connect/webhooks), with the same amounts.

<Warning>
  Without this webhook, you would discover the `402` through an unhappy buyer. Subscribe to it
  from day one.
</Warning>

To top your balance back up, use a deposit: it goes through a Yabetoo validation, so allow for
the delay.

## Reducing your exposure

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Lengthen the availability delay">
    This is the main lever. Pending funds are seizable; funds already paid out are not. A shorter
    delay transfers the risk onto your own balance.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do not pay out immediately after maturation">
    In manual mode, you decide when to pay. Holding a few extra days on vendors with a high
    dispute rate mechanically reduces your exposure.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Track your 402 rate">
    That is the number that tells you whether your delay is badly calibrated.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>