Shopify refunding an order response: "Arbitrary refund not allowed"

Question

Issue summary

We are refunding an order but the item being refunded has return shipping cost (a variable we use on our side), so we are subtracting that from the amount. This is failing on a productive shop, but if we use test mode or bogus payment method the error wont appear and the refund will be created. In the tests environments the refund is created with an order_adjustment. In the other hand when we try refunding in productive shops neither the refund nor the order_adjustment are created.

Shopify shopify-api-ruby issue

EXAMPLE:

return_shipping_cost_cents = 1 USD
maximum_refundable = 20 USD
amount = 19 USD

• shopify_api version: 21.4.1
• Ruby version: 3.0.6p216
• Operating system: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)

Expected behavior

Shopify should create the adjustment to the order and refund the amount.

Actual behavior

The error message: {"errors"=>{"base"=>["Arbitrary refund not allowed"]}}

Steps to reproduce the problem

1. Get order_id and line_item_id from an order with a real payment (not a test mode payment)
2. Call to the /orders/#{order_id}/refunds/calculate endpoint (POST) Sample payload:

{
"refund_line_items"=>[
  {
    "line_item_id"=>"11922901111117",
    "quantity"=>1,
    "restock_type"=>"no_restock"
  }
],
"shipping"=>{
  "full_refund"=>false
}
}

3. Create a payload to be refunded with the amount (amount - return_shipping_cost_cents) Sample payload refunds endpoint:

return_shipping_cost_cents = 6,95
{
  "shipping": {
    "amount": "0.00",
    "tax": "0.00",
    "maximum_refundable": "0.00"
  },
  "duties": [],
  "total_duties_set": {
    "shop_money": {
      "amount": "0.00",
      "currency_code": "USD"
    },
    "presentment_money": {
      "amount": "0.00",
      "currency_code": "USD"
    }
  },
  "return": null,
  "refund_line_items":
  [
    {
      "quantity": 1,
      "line_item_id": 11922901111117,
      "location_id": null,
      "restock_type": "no_restock",
      "price": "62.97",
      "subtotal": "62.97",
      "total_tax": "4.25",
      "discounted_price": "62.97",
      "discounted_total_price": "62.97",
      "total_cart_discount_amount": "0.00"
    }
  ],
  "transactions": 
  [
    {
      "order_id": 4786111111837,
      "kind": "refund",
      "gateway": "shopify_payments",
      "parent_id": 6017111111269,
      "amount": 60.27,
      "currency": "USD",
      "maximum_refundable": "67.22"
    }
  ],
  "currency": "USD",
  "note": "33HxxxYvLq"
}

4. Call orders/#{order_id}/refunds:
5. Response: => {"errors"=>{"base"=>["Arbitrary refund not allowed"]}}

We are trying to refund an order charging the return_shipping, and we are expecting that Shopify creates the refund with an order_adjustment.

Answer 1

A potential thing that might be creating this error could be that the order has been payed out with a gateway that doesn't allow "partial refunds". Check the original gateway payment isn't one of:

• PayPal
• Facebook
• Instagram (kind of part Facebook)