--- title: "Capture and refund USA ePay payments" url: "https://kestrelwp.com/docs/capture-and-refund-usa-epay-payments/" description: "Capture, refund and cancel USA ePay payments from the WooCommerce order screen." published: "2026-10-06T20:23:12+00:00" modified: "2026-10-06T20:23:12+00:00" --- You manage USA ePay payments from the WooCommerce order screen, without logging in to USA ePay: capture payments you authorized at checkout, refund all or part of a payment, and cancel an authorization you no longer need. Each action adds an order note with the USA ePay transaction ID. ## When you’d use this - Hold a payment at checkout and take it when you ship. - Refund a whole order or part of it. - Cancel an order whose payment you never captured. - Check what happened when USA ePay blocked a payment or a checkout timed out. ## Charge or authorize at checkout **Transaction Type** on [Get started with USA ePay](/docs/get-started-with-usa-epay/#transaction-type) decides what happens when a customer pays: - **Charge**: USA ePay takes the payment straight away, and the order moves to **Processing** (or **Completed** for orders that need no processing). - **Authorization**: USA ePay holds the order total on the card. The order goes to **On hold** with the note "USA ePay Transaction Held for Review (Authorization only transaction)", and the customer sees "Your order has been received and is being reviewed. Thank you for your business." You then capture the payment. With **Authorization**, **Charge Virtual-Only Orders** can still charge orders that only hold virtual products. ## Capture an authorized payment ### 1. Open the order Go to **WooCommerce » Orders** and open the on hold order. ### 2. Capture it Click **Capture Charge** next to the order items. USA ePay captures the order’s current total, the note reads "USA ePay Capture of \[amount\] Approved", and the order moves on as a paid order. ![USA ePay: Capture it (edit order screen)](https://kestrelwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/usa-epay-ue-06-docs-01.png)To capture several orders at once, select them in **WooCommerce » Orders** and choose **Capture Charge** from the bulk actions. ### Capture automatically With **Capture Paid Orders** on, changing an authorized order to **Processing** or **Completed** captures it. ### When capture isn’t available The **Capture Charge** button is grayed out with a tip explaining why: - "This charge has been fully captured." - "This charge can no longer be captured." The order screen stops offering capture 30 days after the authorization. Card issuers can release a hold sooner, so capture when you fulfill the order. - "This charge cannot be captured." Check the order notes and the transaction in your USA ePay console. The button doesn’t show at all on cancelled, refunded or failed orders. If USA ePay rejects a capture, the order note reads "USA ePay Capture Failed:" followed by USA ePay’s reason. ## Refund a payment 1. Open the order and click **Refund**. 2. Enter the amount, either per line item or in **Refund amount**, and an optional reason. 3. Click the refund button that names your USA ePay payment method (for example, **Refund $25.00 via Credit Card**). You can refund all of a payment or part of it, and refund one order more than once up to its total. Each refund adds the note "USA ePay Refund in the amount of \[amount\] approved." When the whole order total has been refunded, the order moves to **Refunded** with the note "USA ePay Order completely refunded." ![USA ePay: Refund a payment (edit order screen)](https://kestrelwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/usa-epay-ue-07-docs-01.png)The **Manual refund** button records a refund in WooCommerce without sending anything to USA ePay. If USA ePay rejects a refund, WooCommerce shows the error and the order note reads "USA ePay Refund Failed:" followed by USA ePay’s reason. ## Cancel an authorization There’s no separate void button. To cancel a payment you authorized but haven’t captured, refund the full order total from the order screen, as above. USA ePay for WooCommerce sends it to USA ePay as a void, so no money moves, and the order moves to **Cancelled** with the note "USA ePay Void in the amount of \[amount\] approved." A void has to be for the whole amount. Refunding part of an uncaptured authorization fails with "Oops, you cannot partially void this order. Please use the full order amount." To keep part of the payment, capture it first, then refund the part you don’t want. ## When USA ePay blocks a payment for address verification The **AVS Response** fraud module in your USA ePay console (**Fraud Manager » Fraud Modules**) declines a payment when the billing address doesn’t match the card, and the order is marked **Failed**. On the classic checkout, the customer sees "An error occurred, please try again or try an alternate form of payment." On the checkout block, they see the error message USA ePay returns. What happens on the customer’s card depends on the module’s **Pre-Check** option: - **Pre-Check on (recommended):** USA ePay checks the address before it asks the bank to authorize the payment. Nothing is charged or held. - **Pre-Check off:** the bank authorizes the payment first, and then USA ePay rejects it, leaving an authorization on the card. USA ePay for WooCommerce voids that authorization straight away and adds the order note "USA ePay returned an AVS fraud-filter block on transaction \[reference\]. The capture was automatically voided to prevent an orphan charge." If the automatic void fails, the order note reads "USA ePay returned an AVS fraud-filter block on transaction \[reference\], but the automatic void failed: \[reason\]. Check the USA ePay dashboard and void manually if the charge is still present." Find the transaction in your USA ePay console and void it if it’s still open. ## When a payment times out If the payment request gets no response from USA ePay, WooCommerce marks the order failed, although USA ePay may have approved the charge. Before you ask the customer to pay again, search your USA ePay console for the order number and refund any duplicate. With **Timeout recovery** on, the plugin checks with USA ePay first; the order notes show the result. ## Find a WooCommerce order in USA ePay Each USA ePay transaction carries the WooCommerce order number (up to 30 characters), so you can search for it in your USA ePay console. The order notes in WooCommerce show the USA ePay transaction ID for every charge, capture, refund and void. ## Common issues ### The Capture Charge button is grayed out or missing On an order paid with **Transaction Type** set to **Charge**, the button is grayed out with "This charge has been fully captured.", because USA ePay took the payment at checkout. The button doesn’t show at all on cancelled, refunded or failed orders, or on orders that weren’t paid with USA ePay. ### "Oops, you cannot partially void this order. Please use the full order amount." You entered a partial refund on an order whose payment is authorized but not captured. Refund the full amount to cancel the authorization, or capture the order first and then refund part of it. ### A refund says it failed Read the "USA ePay Refund Failed" order note for USA ePay’s reason. Check that the order was paid in the environment you’re in now (a sandbox payment can’t be refunded once you switch to **Production**), and that the payment hasn’t already been refunded or voided in the USA ePay console. ## Keep learning - [Get started with USA ePay](/docs/get-started-with-usa-epay/) (every setting, including Transaction Type and Timeout recovery) - [Saved cards and subscriptions with USA ePay](/docs/usa-epay-saved-cards-and-subscriptions/)