Does Bead support a refund API for crypto, wallet, and BNPL payments?

Does Bead support a refund API for crypto, wallet, and BNPL payments?

No. Crypto, digital wallet, and BNPL payments settle like cash. When a payment completes, the funds are converted to USD and deposited into the merchant's bank account via ACH. There is no open transaction, wallet balance, or asset to reverse at the API level.

Why there is no refund API

Once a crypto payment completes, the digital asset the customer sent is converted to USD immediately. By the time a refund would be requested, the original asset no longer exists in returnable form. Sending crypto back to a customer would require sourcing new assets and initiating a new outbound transfer, which carries Bank Secrecy Act and FinCEN Funds Travel Rule obligations including identity verification, sanctions screening, and in some cases Suspicious Activity Report filing. That is not a simple reversal.

The same logic applies to digital wallet and BNPL tenders. PayPal, Venmo, and Klarna payments settle to the merchant as USD through Bead's infrastructure. There is no open wallet session or BNPL loan record available to reverse after settlement.

What merchants should do instead

Merchants should apply their standard cash return policy. Depending on that policy, the merchant may issue cash back, an ACH payment or check from their bank account, store credit or a gift card, or an exchange for another item or service. The refund method is the merchant's choice and is independent of the original payment tender.

Merchants should communicate their return policy to customers at the time of purchase, particularly for higher-value transactions.

What integrators should know

There is no refund endpoint. Do not build against one. The fullyRefunded and partiallyRefunded status codes visible in the API are reserved for future use and are not currently returned. Any refund events handled outside of Bead should be tracked in your own order management or point-of-sale system.

If you are looking for guidance on payments that failed before completing, such as underpaid or overpaid crypto transactions, that is a separate flow handled through Bead's reclaim process and is not the same as a merchant-initiated refund.

For the full explanation, see Refunds for Crypto and Wallet Payments.