Refund a $120 sale and you are still out $3.78

When you refund a charge, Stripe sends the customer the full amount and keeps the processing fee. The refund itself is free, but nothing comes back.

A $120 charge costs $3.78 in fees ($120 × 2.9% + 30¢). Refund it and the customer gets $120, Stripe keeps $3.78, and you are $3.78 behind. A partial refund keeps the whole fee too: refund $60 of that $120 and the fee is still $3.78, not half.

Ten refunds a month at $120 is $37.80 a month, $453.60 a year, paid on sales you did not keep. A sales report never shows it, because the sale and the refund cancel out.

The refund also comes out of your next payout, not the one that carried the sale. See why a Stripe refund comes out of a later payout.