Solving Refund Challenges in Australian Payments

Refunds made simple — reducing manual effort and customer frustration with smarter, real-time payment solutions from Azupay.[/caption] 

For many large Australian enterprises and business owners, payments are treated as a well-oiled machine: funds in, funds out, automated reconciliation. But when things go wrong — especially when a refund is required — the process often breaks. And the impact is far-reaching, spilling over from finance and operations into customer experience, contact centre volumes, and even marketing, as refund frustrations show up in poor reviews. 

The refund experience is often treated as an afterthought — but for large businesses, it’s one a complex and costly part of the payment lifecycle. 

Let’s take a closer look at why refunds are so difficult in Australia, and how new capabilities in real-time account-to-account payments can solve the problem. 

Why Are Refunds So Painful? 

In an ideal world, a refund is issued by simply reversing the original transaction — returning the funds to the payment method the customer used in the first place. When this works, it’s secure, efficient, and easy to trace. 

Unfortunately, that’s not always possible. 

The most common scenarios that prevent a refund from going back to the original payment method involve credit cards, debit cards, gift cards and BPay: 

• Expired or cancelled credit/debit cards – If a customer’s credit card is lost, stolen, or no longer valid, the refund may bounce back or go to the wrong account. 
• Gift cards – These are often popular for promotions, but once spent or expired gift cards are discarded and no longer available for refund. 
• BPay – Widely used in Australia, especially for billing and invoice payments, BPay lacks a built-in refund mechanism. To return funds, the business must manually collect and verify customer bank account details. 

When you’re processing hundreds or thousands of refunds a week, these edge cases aren’t edge cases anymore — they’re major operational bottlenecks for operations in large enterprise and small business owners. 

The Cost of Manual Refunds 

When the original payment method can’t be used, refunds quickly become manual and a major problem. And that’s where the real cost kicks in. 

Businesses are forced to rely on human-led processes such as: 

• Asking customers to provide their bank account details via email or form. 
• Verifying government-issued ID to prove the refund is going to the right person. 
• Reviewing bank statements to confirm names and account ownership. 
• Entering payment details manually into systems and logging the interaction. 

Multiply this by thousands of refund requests a month, and you’re looking at significant investment in call centre staff, customer service teams, and finance operations just to process what should be a simple return of funds. For small businesses much lower numbers of refunds causes hassle for the small staff and often the business owner themselves. 

Poor customer refunds, repayments and return experiences will negatively impact customer satisfaction and reduce likelihood of future purchases. Retailers, especially in the ecommerce space have long realised the optimal full refunds processes in reasonable time are invaluable for customer satisfaction and returning customers – but all businesses must be aware of the damaging impact to their customers of poor customer refund experiences. 

Manual refund processes also create compliance risk. If the refund is sent to the wrong person — especially in cases of identity fraud — the business may breach the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) Act, and open itself up to financial and reputational harm. 

Real-Time Payments: A Smarter Path Forward 

Australia’s New Payments Platform (NPP) is helping to transform how businesses manage payments — not just at the point of receipt of payment, but also when issuing refunds. 

While NPP does not have chargeback mechanisms like credit cards might have when used for original payment from customers, it has the same consumer protections under Australian consumer law and enforced by agencies such as ASIC and ACCC so warranties apply, refund requests must be handled in the same timeframes and refund policies need to recognise the same consumer rights. But unlike other payment methods, your refund policy is easier to adhere to when NPP is used since your payment provider will know details of the bank account the original payment was sent from. 

In the unlikely event a customer needs refund sent to a different bank account, or much more commonly, other payment methods such as BPay or credit cards can no longer be used for the customer refunds then NPP supports real-time, account-to-account transfers with additional services like: 

• PayID – A simple way to send or receive money using a phone number, email address or ABN instead of a BSB/account number. 
• PayTo – A modern replacement for direct debit, allowing customers to authorise payment agreements through their banking app. 
• ConnectID – An identity verification tool that can reduce fraud and streamline customer onboarding. 
• Confirmation of Payee (CoP) – Launching in late 2025, CoP will help confirm that account details match the intended recipient before a payment is made. 

Used together, these tools can provide the infrastructure for secure, automated refunds, even when the original payment instrument can’t be used. 

How Specialist Providers Are Solving the Refund Problem 

Innovative payment providers are now building on NPP infrastructure to make these tools accessible and practical for enterprise use cases. 

For example, Azupay is developing a disbursement solution specifically designed to take the friction — and the risk — out of refunds. 

Here’s how it works: 

1. The customer (or recipient of a refund) enters their own bank account details through a secure digital experience.
2. The app encourages the use of PayID, which has much lower human error rates than entering card or BSB/Acct numbers, ConnectID, and other real-time services to validate the account and confirm the recipient’s identity — without needing manual intervention.
3. Once verified, the refund is pushed directly and instantly to the correct account, and a record is created in the business’s systems showing that the payment was safely returned to the right person. 

This approach removes the need for human-led ID checks or manual data entry, making it faster for customers, safer for businesses, reduces sharing of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and dramatically more scalable. 

The Business Case for Change 

Senior leaders and middle managers across finance, operations, digital, and CX teams should recognise refunds not just as a cost centre, but as a strategic lever for: 

• Reducing customer complaints and call centre volumes. 
• Improving compliance and reducing fraud risk. 
• Protecting brand reputation by ensuring refunds are fast and stress-free. 
• Freeing up internal resources to focus on higher-value tasks. 

In today’s landscape of rising customer expectations and operational efficiency targets, sticking with manual refund processes is no longer sustainable. 

Final Thoughts 

Refunds may not seem glamorous — but they matter. They impact customer trust, team efficiency, and compliance posture. Fortunately, Australia’s payment infrastructure has caught up, and solutions like PayID, PayTo and Azupay’s new disbursement tool are making it easier than ever to modernise refunds. 

For large enterprises, now is the time to shift from patchwork processes to smart, secure, automated systems that scale. 

Refunds don’t have to be painful — not for your business, and not for your customers. 

Find out more today. 

Be Safe. Azupay.