PayFast Refunds API

openapi: 3.1.0
info:
  title: PayFast Credit Card Transactions Refunds API
  description: 'South African payment gateway providing REST APIs for online payment processing, subscription billing, tokenized recurring card payments, onsite checkout, and merchant refunds. Trusted by 80,000+ South African businesses and certified PCI-DSS Level 1.

    '
  version: v1
  contact:
    name: PayFast Developer Support
    url: https://support.payfast.help
  license:
    name: Proprietary
    url: https://payfast.io
servers:
- url: https://api.payfast.co.za/v1
  description: Production API server
- url: https://sandbox.payfast.co.za/v1
  description: Sandbox / test server
security:
- merchantAuth: []
tags:
- name: Refunds
  description: Initiate and track refunds on completed transactions
paths:
  /refunds/{id}:
    get:
      operationId: fetchRefund
      summary: Fetch refund details
      description: Retrieve the details of a specific refund by its ID.
      tags:
      - Refunds
      parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/refundId'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Refund details returned successfully
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/RefundResponse'
        '400':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/BadRequest'
        '401':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
    post:
      operationId: createRefund
      summary: Create a refund
      description: 'Initiate a refund for a completed transaction. Specify the refund amount, reason, and account type. Refunds are not available in sandbox mode.

        '
      tags:
      - Refunds
      parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/refundId'
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              $ref: '#/components/schemas/RefundRequest'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Refund created successfully
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/RefundResponse'
        '400':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/BadRequest'
        '401':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
components:
  schemas:
    ErrorResponse:
      type: object
      properties:
        code:
          type: integer
          description: HTTP error code
          example: 400
        status:
          type: string
          description: Error status
          example: failed
        data:
          type: object
          properties:
            response:
              type: string
              description: Error message
              example: Required "token" parameter missing
    RefundResponse:
      type: object
      properties:
        code:
          type: integer
          example: 200
        status:
          type: string
          example: success
        data:
          type: object
          properties:
            response:
              type: object
              properties:
                id:
                  type: string
                  format: uuid
                  description: Refund ID
                  example: dc0521d3-55fe-269b-fa00-b647310d760f
                payment_id:
                  type: string
                  description: Original PayFast payment ID
                  example: '1124148'
                merchant_id:
                  type: string
                  description: Merchant ID
                  example: '10000100'
                refund_amount:
                  type: number
                  format: float
                  description: Refunded amount (ZAR)
                  example: 50.0
                status:
                  type: string
                  description: Refund status
                  example: COMPLETE
                created:
                  type: string
                  format: date-time
                  description: Refund creation timestamp
                  example: '2026-06-13T10:00:00Z'
    RefundRequest:
      type: object
      required:
      - amount
      properties:
        amount:
          type: integer
          description: Refund amount in cents (ZAR). Must not exceed original transaction amount.
          example: 5000
        reason:
          type: string
          description: Reason for the refund
          maxLength: 255
          example: Product returned by customer
        acc_type:
          type: string
          description: Account type for disbursement
          enum:
          - current
          - savings
          example: savings
        notify_buyer:
          type: integer
          description: Whether to notify the buyer (1=yes, 0=no). Defaults to 1.
          enum:
          - 0
          - 1
          default: 1
          example: 1
  responses:
    BadRequest:
      description: Bad request — missing or invalid parameters
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse'
    Unauthorized:
      description: Unauthorized — invalid or missing merchant authentication signature
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse'
  parameters:
    refundId:
      name: id
      in: path
      required: true
      description: Unique identifier of the transaction to refund
      schema:
        type: string
        format: uuid
      example: dc0521d3-55fe-269b-fa00-b647310d760f
  securitySchemes:
    merchantAuth:
      type: apiKey
      in: header
      name: merchant-id
      description: 'PayFast API authentication uses an MD5 signature derived from the merchant ID, passphrase, timestamp, and request data. Required headers include merchant-id, version, timestamp, and signature.

        '