Documentation

Self-Service Refunds

Self-Service Refunds for WooCommerce – Documentation

Getting Started

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Requirements

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WordPress 6.0 or higher
WooCommerce 5.0 or higher
PHP 7.4 or higher

Installation

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Upload the self-service-refunds folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory, or install directly through the WordPress plugin screen.
Activate the plugin through the Plugins screen in WordPress.
Navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Refunds to configure the plugin.

Quick Start

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Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Refunds.
Enable “Self-Service Refund Requests”.
Set a refund time limit (e.g., 30 days).
Add refund reasons for customers to choose from.
Optionally enable automatic refund processing.
Save your settings.

Customers will now see a “Request Refund” button on their orders in My Account > Orders.

Configuration

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General Settings

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Navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Refunds to access all plugin settings.

Setting	Description	Default
Enable Self-Service Refund Requests	Master toggle for the entire feature	Disabled
Enable Line-Item Refunds	Allow customers to refund individual line items (partial refunds)	Disabled
Refund Time Limit	Number of days after purchase during which refunds can be requested (1-365)	30 days
Enable Automatic Refunds	Process refunds automatically through the payment gateway	Disabled
Auto-Refund Limit	Maximum number of automatic refunds per customer per interval (0 = unlimited)	0
Auto-Refund Limit Interval	Time interval for the auto-refund limit (day, week, month, year)	Month
Enable Guest Refunds	Allow non-registered customers to request refunds via a dedicated form	Disabled
Require Refund Reason	Customers must select a reason when requesting a refund	Disabled
Allow Re-Request After Rejection	Let customers resubmit a refund request after it has been rejected	Disabled
Refund Policy Page	Link to your refund policy page, shown during the refund request process	None

Refund Reasons

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Refund reasons are the options shown to customers when they request a refund (if “Require Refund Reason” is enabled).

Managing reasons:

Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Refunds > Refund Reasons tab.
Click Add Reason to create a new reason.
Enter the reason text (e.g., “Item arrived damaged”, “Changed my mind”, “Wrong item received”).
Drag and drop reasons to reorder them.
Click the trash icon to delete a reason.

Reasons are displayed to customers in the order you set.

Decline Message Presets

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Decline presets are reusable rejection messages that admins can select when rejecting a refund request.

Managing presets:

Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Refunds > Decline Presets tab.
Click Add Preset to create a new message template.
Enter a heading (e.g., “Outside Refund Window”) and the message body.
The message body supports rich text (HTML) for formatting.
Drag and drop to reorder presets.

When rejecting a request, admins can select a preset or write a custom message.

Refund Rules

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Rules allow you to automate refund processing decisions based on order conditions.

See the Rules Engine section for full details.

Customer Experience

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Logged-In Customers

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Registered customers can request refunds from their My Account > Orders page:

Navigate to My Account > Orders.
Click the Request Refund button next to an eligible order.
Follow the multi-step refund form.
Track the refund status on the order details page.

The “Request Refund” button only appears for orders that:

Are within the configured refund time limit.
Do not already have a pending refund request.
Are in a refundable order status.

Guest Customers

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If “Enable Guest Refunds” is turned on, guest customers can request refunds through a dedicated form. See Guest Refund Form for setup instructions.

Guest verification requires three matching pieces of information:

Email address used for the order
Order number
Order date

Refund Request Steps

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The refund request process follows these steps:

Select Refund Type – Choose between a full order refund or a partial (line-item) refund.
Select Items (partial refunds only) – Choose which items and quantities to refund.
Select Reason (if required) – Choose a refund reason from the configured list.
Review & Confirm – Review the refund details and submit the request.

Request Cancellation

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Customers can cancel a pending refund request before it is processed:

A “Cancel Refund Request” option appears on orders with pending requests.
Cancellation restores the order to its previous status.
Cancelled requests are recorded in the order notes.

Admin Workflow

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Reviewing Requests

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When a customer submits a refund request:

The order status changes to Refund Requested.
An admin notification email is sent (if enabled).
A notice appears in the WordPress admin showing the count of pending requests.
The order appears with the “Refund Requested” status in the orders list.

Approving Refunds

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Admins can approve refund requests from two locations:

From the Orders List:

Click the approve (checkmark) action button next to the order.
If the payment gateway supports refunds, the refund is processed automatically.

From the Order Detail Page:

Click the Approve & Refund button in the order actions area.
A confirmation dialog appears before processing.

When approved:

If automatic refunds are enabled and the gateway supports it, the refund is processed immediately.
An order note is added documenting the approval.
The order status is updated accordingly.

Rejecting Refunds

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Admins can reject refund requests from two locations:

From the Orders List:

Click the reject (X) action button next to the order.

From the Order Detail Page:

Click the Reject Refund button.
A modal appears to select a decline message preset or write a custom message.

When rejected:

The customer receives a rejection email with the decline message (if configured).
An order note is added with the rejection reason.
The order status reverts to its previous status.
If “Allow Re-Request After Rejection” is enabled, the customer can submit a new request.

Order Status

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The plugin adds a custom order status:

Refund Requested (wc-refund-requested) – Applied when a customer submits a refund request.

This status appears in the orders list with its own color coding and can be filtered like any other WooCommerce order status.

Rules Engine

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The rules engine lets you automate refund processing based on conditions. Rules are evaluated in order, and the first matching rule determines the action.

Creating Rules

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Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Refunds > Refund Rules tab.
Click Add Rule.
Enter a rule name (e.g., “Auto-approve digital products”).
Select an action: Process Automatically or Manual Review.
Add one or more conditions.
Enable or disable the rule with the toggle.
Save the rule.

Available Conditions

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Condition	Description	Operators
User Role	Customer’s WordPress role	is, is not
Product Category	Product belongs to a category	is, is not
Product Tag	Product has a specific tag	is, is not
Product Type	Simple, variable, grouped, etc.	is, is not
Payment Method	How the order was paid	is, is not
Shipping Zone	The shipping zone of the order	is, is not
Shipping Method	The shipping method used	is, is not
Billing Country	Customer’s billing country	is, is not
Shipping Country	Customer’s shipping country	is, is not
Brand	Product brand (requires WooCommerce Brands)	is, is not
Order Status	Current order status	is, is not
Cart Item Count	Number of items in the order	greater than, less than, equal to
Cart Quantity	Total quantity of items	greater than, less than, equal to
Cart Value	Total order value	greater than, less than, equal to

Rule Priority

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Rules are evaluated from top to bottom.
The first matching rule determines the action.
Drag and drop rules to change their priority.
If no rules match, the default behavior applies (manual review unless automatic refunds are globally enabled).

Rule Actions

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Action	Description
Process Automatically	Refund is processed through the payment gateway without admin intervention
Manual Review	Request is queued for admin approval/rejection

Abuse Prevention

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Refund Limits

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Set a maximum number of automatic refunds per customer per time interval:

Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Refunds.
Enable Automatic Refunds.
Set Auto-Refund Limit (e.g., 3).
Set Auto-Refund Limit Interval (e.g., month).

When a customer exceeds their limit, the request is escalated to manual review instead of being auto-processed. An escalation email is sent to the admin.

Per-User Controls

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Manage refund behavior for individual customers from their user profile (Users > Edit User):

Control	Description
Disable Automatic Refunds	All requests from this user require manual review
Block Refund Requests	This user cannot submit refund requests at all
Custom Refund Limit	Override the global limit for this specific user
Reset Counter	Manually reset the user’s refund counter

The current refund counter and period are displayed on the user profile for reference.

Non-Refundable Products

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Mark specific products as non-refundable:

Edit a product in Products > Edit Product.
In the product data panel, check Non-Refundable.
For variable products, you can mark individual variations as non-refundable.

Non-refundable items:

Cannot be selected for line-item refunds.
Are excluded from full order refund calculations (the refund amount is adjusted).
Show a clear indicator to customers during the refund process.

Email Notifications

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The plugin adds four email notifications to WooCommerce, manageable from WooCommerce > Settings > Emails:

Email	Recipient	Trigger
Refund Request Confirmation	Customer	When a refund request is submitted
New Refund Request	Admin	When a refund request needs review
Refund Escalation	Admin	When auto-processing falls back to manual review
Refund Request Rejected	Customer	When a request is rejected (includes decline message)

Each email can be:

Enabled or disabled independently.
Customized with subject line and content.
Managed through the standard WooCommerce email settings interface.

Guest Refund Form

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Shortcode

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Place the guest refund form anywhere using the shortcode:

[ssr_guest_refund]

Optional attributes:

Attribute	Description	Default
`title`	Form heading text	“Request a Refund”
`show_title`	Show or hide the form title	`true`

Example:

[ssr_guest_refund title="Return an Order" show_title="true"]

Gutenberg Block

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The plugin includes a native Gutenberg block:

In the block editor, search for Guest Refund Form.
Add the block to your page.
Customize the appearance using the block settings panel:

Background color
Border color and width
Border radius
Padding

The block renders the same multi-step refund form as the shortcode.

Guest verification process:

Customer enters their email, order number, and order date.
The system verifies all three match an existing order.
If verified, the standard refund request flow begins.

Analytics

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The plugin adds a Refund Reasons report to WooCommerce > Analytics.

Accessing the Report

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Navigate to WooCommerce > Analytics > Refund Reasons.
Use the date picker to select a date range.
Filter by refund reason, product, order status, or request status.

Available Data

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Refund reason distribution
Request counts by status (approved, rejected, pending)
Product-level refund data
Trend analysis over time

The report integrates with WooCommerce’s standard analytics interface, using the same date picker, filters, and export functionality.

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