How do I get a refund?
To get the ball rolling for your refund, you'll need to reach out to the merchant from whom you made your original purchase. They're the ones who can give the green light and kickstart the refund process on their end. Our system will automatically process your refund within 13 days of receiving the funds from the merchant. Keep in mind that the Zip team is unable to speed up the refund timeline and an automatic Zip refund email will be sent your way once processed.
How do refunds work in Zip’s system?
When a refund is processed in Zip's system, it will work backward and start off being applied to your final installment. The refund will continue working backward to your third installment, and so on until the correct amount is refunded back to you.
Depending on how many installments you’ve already completed and the refunded amount, the refund will either go back to your original payment method or be applied to your Zip order in the form of a balance reduction. Keep reading to learn more about refunds!
Full Refunds
If a merchant issues a full refund to your Zip Virtual Card, any unpaid Zip installments will be canceled out and refunded in the form of a balance reduction to your Zip order. The installments you've already paid to Zip will be refunded back to your original payment method.
Partial Refunds
Similar to full refunds, partial refunds are processed based on the amount being refunded by the merchant and the number of installments you've already paid to Zip. Once a merchant processes a partial refund back to your Zip Virtual Card, the refund will work backward and is first applied to your fourth installment, then the third installment, and so on, until the partial refund is complete.
If you've already paid all of your installments on your Zip order, we will process the partial refund amount back to your personal payment method. If you haven't paid all of your Zip order installments, we'll start off by processing your refund in the form of a balance reduction, which cancels out the payment in our system. If necessary, the remainder portion of the partial refund will go back to your personal payment method.
Refunds are applied to your fourth and final installment payment first, then to your third, and so on until the full refund amount has been credited/issued back to you.
Take a look below for a detailed partial refund example:
- Zip Order Total: $200
- 1st Installment: $50 - Paid to Zip at the time the order was placed
- 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Installments: Not yet paid to Zip
Original Zip Installment Schedule:
| Zip Order | Order Total: $200 | Payment Status |
| 1st Installment | $50 | PAID |
| 2nd Installment | $50 | Due in 2 weeks - not yet paid to Zip |
| 3rd Installment | $50 | Due in 4 weeks - not yet paid to Zip |
| 4th Installment | $50 | Due in 6 weeks - not yet paid to Zip |
Now, imagine that you reached out to the merchant directly to process a return and the merchant processes a partial refund of $160.00 back to your Zip Virtual Card. In this example, once Zip receives the $160.00 refund from the merchant, Zip would apply this refund in the form of a balance reduction which cancels out your 4th, 3rd, and 2nd installments. You would then get $10.00 refunded back to your original payment method.
Post-Partial Refund Adjusted Installment Schedule:
| Zip Order | Order Total: $200 | Payment Status |
| 1st Installment | $50 | PAID - $10.00 refund issued back to your original payment method |
| 2nd Installment | -$50 | Cancelled Installment - Refund processed in the form of a balance reduction |
| 3rd Installment | -$50 | Cancelled Installment - Refund processed in the form of a balance reduction |
| 4th Installment | -$50 | Cancelled Installment - Refund processed in the form of a balance reduction |
| Total Refund Amount | $160 |
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