After you initiate a refund, Stripe submits refund requests to your customer’s bank or card issuer. Your customer sees the refund as a credit approximately 5-10 business days later, depending upon the bank. A customer might contact you if they don’t see the refund. A refund might not be visible to the customer for several reasons:

• Refunds issued shortly after the original charge appear in the form of a reversal instead of a refund. In the case of a reversal, the original charge drops off the customer’s statement, and a separate credit isn’t issued.
• Refunds can fail if the customer’s bank or card issuer has been unable to process it correctly. The bank returns the refunded amount to us and we add it back to your Stripe account balance. This process can take up to 30 days from requesting the refund.

For these reasons, a customer might write in asking for the status of their refund. To do this, you can provide them with the Acquirer Reference Number (ARN), which allows them to work with their bank to trace the refund for all Visa and Mastercard charges. System Trace Audit Numbers (STANs) are sometimes required to track the status of a refund, though we recommend using ARNs whenever possible. You will never need to have both numbers in order to track your refund.

What is an Acquirer Reference Number (ARN)?

An Acquirer Reference Number (ARN) is a unique number assigned to a credit card transaction as it moves through the payment flow. It can be used by banks to help trace your refund if it appears to be missing. An ARN will be available for Visa and Mastercard charges.

Where to find ARNs in your account

The ARN can be found in within the refund under the Timeline section of the Payment Details window (pops up when you click on the status for a payment, e.g. “Refunded”)

What the different ARN statuses mean

• ARN is available: The ARN will display within the refund
• ARN is processing: The ARN will show as processing when the refund has been created, but the refund has not finished processing. This is the default status after a refund is created.
• ARN isn’t available for this refund: The ARN will be unavailable when it is not available or supported for the refund.
  • An example of when you might see this status is when the refund occurs before the actual charge has been settled with the bank. Rather than waiting for settlement and refunding, the authorization is reversed and the charge is dropped. This means the charge will disappear from the card statement for your customer. There is no corresponding refund and therefore no ARN in this situation.

What is a System Trace Audit Number (STAN)?

A System Trace Audit Number (STAN) is a number generated by the cardholder bank that can be used to identify a transaction. STAN is a trace ID number most commonly used internally at the cardholders bank. It’s always a six-digit code, and therefore is not truly unique as the code resets after 999,999.

When customers should use ARNs vs. STANs

In most cases, we recommend customers use an Acquirer Reference Number (ARN) instead of a STAN for several reasons:

• An ARN is a unique number assigned to a credit card transaction as it moves through the payment flow. Because STANs are six digit codes, they are not truly unique.
• ARNs can be found in your account. In order to get a STAN today, you need to contact Support.

What if an ARN is not available?

For non-Visa or Mastercard charges, you will need to provide the customer with a STAN. It is also recommended to provide the date and time of the transaction along with the STAN, as STANs are not unique. In order to get a STAN, contact Support.