Understanding Refund Rate Metrics

It is important to track Refund Rate metrics periodically and maintain good standing to be able to continue selling at Wish! This article will help you understand how these metrics are calculated and reviewed by Wish to ensure you remain in good standing with refund policies.

You may track and review this information on the Customer Service Performance page on the Merchant Dashboard.

Wish has a Merchant Two Tier High Refund Rate policy under which merchants are evaluated weekly.

We review how many orders have been refunded that were placed 0 to 30 calendar days before and 63 to 93 calendar days before the given week. If the merchant’s Refund Rate was high and is shown to have improved, the merchant will then be responsible for refunds as per Wish’s standard refund policies. Merchants with an extremely high Refund Rate are at a risk of suspension.

Wish uses two metrics, both in calendar days, to evaluate a merchant’s Refund Rate for Two Tier High Refund Rate policy:

1. Refund Ratio 30 Day
2. Refund Ratio 93 Day

Please note: Merchants must be in good standing for BOTH Refund Ratio 30 Day and Refund Ratio 93 Day.

A merchant may receive an infraction for a given week if their Refund Ratio 30 Day and/or Refund Ratio 93 Day fall below the acceptable limit.
 

Metric definitions

Orders 30 Day:
Number of orders received between 0 to 30 calendar days ago. 

Refunds 30 Day:
Number of eligible refunds for orders made 0 to 30 calendar days ago.

Refund Ratio 30 Day:
Number of orders refunded divided by the number of orders made 0 to 30 calendar days ago.

Orders 93 Day
Number of orders received between 63 to 93 calendar days ago.

Refunds 93 Day:
Number of eligible refunds for orders made 63 to 93 calendar days ago.

Refund Ratio 93 Day:
Number of orders refunded divided by the number of orders made 63 to 93 calendar days ago.

Now, let’s look at some examples for better clarity.

Example 1: Merchant A not in good standing
Keeping the above definitions in mind and reviewing the screenshot below for the time period May 15, 2017 - May 21, 2017:

• Refund Ratio 30 Day = 0.62% (this is acceptable).
• Count back 63 to 93 calendar days from 05/21 (we use the last day of the week to count back), orders were placed in the time period 02/17 - 03/19.
• Thus, Refund Ratio 93 Day = 10.30% (this is above the threshold, and thus Merchant A is under a risk of suspension).
• Merchant A has an acceptable Refund Ratio 30 Day.
• Merchant A has an extremely high Refund Ratio 93 Day.
• Therefore, the merchant received an infraction for the period 05/15 - 05/21.

Please note: The above dates are an estimated calculation and are counted in calendar days. We use the last day of the week to count back.

Example 2: Merchant B in good standing

Keeping the above definitions in mind and reviewing the screenshot below for the time period May 22, 2017 - May 28, 2017:

• Refund Ratio 30 Day = 0.52% (this is acceptable).
• Refund Ratio 93 Day = 0.62% (this is also acceptable).
• Merchant has a Refund Rate within acceptable terms and is not at a risk of suspension.

Please note: The above dates are an estimated calculation. We use the last day of the week to count back.

 

Example 3: Merchant C not in good standing

Reviewing the following information for the time period May 22, 2017 - May 28, 2017

• Orders 30 Day = 16,054 orders were placed between 04/22 - 05/28.
• Refunds 30 Day = 114 refunds were made between 04/22 - 05/28.
• Thus, Refund Ratio 30 Day = 0.71%.
• Orders 93 Day = 18,668 orders were received between 02/24 - 03/26.
• Refunds 93 Day = 1,898 refunds were made between 02/24 - 03/26.
• Thus, Refund Ratio 93 Day = 10.17% (higher than acceptable limit).
• Again, Merchant C has an acceptable Refund Ratio 30 Day.
• Merchant C has an extremely high Refund Ratio 93 Day.
• Therefore, the merchant received an infraction for the period 05/22 - 05/28.

Please note: The above dates are an estimated calculation. We use the last day of the week to count back.

 

FAQ

How is Refund Rate calculated on the Merchant Dashboard?

Refund Rate is calculated as the percentage of the total transactions that were refunded during a period of time.

For example: In the week of 05/01 - 05/07

• Merchant X received 100 orders.
• Merchant X has 4 refunds (not related to the above orders) - these are the refunds made in the specified time period.
• Thus, Refund Rate = 4/100 = 4% which is within acceptable limits.
• Merchant X will not be under a risk of suspension.

Why have I received an infraction for a given week? I have no orders in this week.

Infractions may occur if a merchant is not in good standing for either of the two metrics- Refund Ratio 30 Day and Refund Ratio 93 Day. If one of the metrics is higher than the acceptable percentage, a merchant will receive an infraction.

As mentioned in Example 1, if a merchant has received an infraction in the week of 05/15 - 05/21, then it is for the orders placed in 02/18 - 03/20 (need to count back 63 - 93 calendar days from the last day of the week i.e 05/21 in this example).

Where can I review my Refund Rate metric performance?

A merchant can review and track their Refund Rate metrics on the Customer Service Performance page on the Merchant Dashboard.