How to refund a WooCommerce order from a Zendesk ticket

To refund a WooCommerce order without leaving Zendesk, install Basketwell for WooCommerce, open the customer's ticket, click the order in the sidebar and choose Refund. Enter the amount and reason, choose to send the money back through the order's payment gateway or Record the refund only, then confirm. WooCommerce creates the refund, and Basketwell adds an internal note and the basketwell_refund tag to the ticket.

Before you start

Refunds need a WooCommerce REST API key with Read/Write permission. A Read key shows orders but can't change them. If your key is Read only, edit it in WordPress under WooCommerce > Settings > Advanced > REST API and set Read/Write. In Basketwell's settings, Allow refunds must be on, and the agent must be allowed to take actions (see the table below).

Steps

1. Open the ticket. Basketwell lists the requester's orders, matched by every email address on their Zendesk profile, including guest orders billed to that address.
2. Click the order the customer is asking about. If it isn't listed, type the order number (1043 or #1043) or another email into the lookup box at the bottom of the sidebar.
3. Choose Refund. A panel opens inside the order and states exactly what will happen.
4. Enter the amount and a reason. The amount starts at what's left to refund on the order; keep it for a full refund, or type a smaller amount for a partial one. The reason is stored on the WooCommerce refund.
5. Pick how the money goes back.
   • Send the money back through the order's payment method (the option names it, for example your card gateway) asks that gateway to refund the original payment. If the payment method can't refund automatically, the option is greyed out and says so.
   • Record the refund only records it in WooCommerce for money you returned another way, such as store credit or a bank transfer.
6. Confirm. The button shows the amount, for example Refund $25.00. Nothing is sent until the agent clicks it.

What happens after you confirm

If the store doesn't answer in time, Basketwell never sends the refund a second time on its own. It reads the order again and tells the agent whether the refund is there, so the same order can't be refunded twice by accident.

Control who can refund, and how much

A common setup is admin, group:<your billing group id> with a limit of 100, so frontline agents can see everything and billing handles larger refunds.

What it costs

Basketwell is $15 a month per Zendesk account, for every agent, billed monthly by Zendesk. It has a 14-day free trial; Zendesk asks for a card at install. Full setup is in the Basketwell documentation.