How partial refunds are handled

When TikTok issues a partial refund (e.g., £5 off a £25 order), their API provides less detail than on full refunds. Foregrade uses a conservative calculation to avoid overstating your profit.

Full refund vs partial refund (how we handle each)

Full refund:

• Order revenue → £0
• TikTok reverses: referral fee, transaction fee, affiliate commission, campaign fee (if any)
• COGS is counted as a loss (you can't unsell inventory)
• Return cost includes: lost COGS + refund admin fee + your shipping (if any)

Partial refund:

• Order revenue → reduced by refund amount
• TikTok fees → not reduced (TikTok doesn't provide reliable partial-fee data)
• COGS → still counted (unit was shipped)
• Return cost reflects the refund amount only

Why fees aren't reduced on partial refunds

TikTok's UK API doesn't reliably report what portion of fees (if any) was reversed on a partial refund — the documented field bounds are still being verified against sandbox data. Rather than guess and get it wrong, Foregrade treats fees as kept in full on partial refunds. This slightly understates your profit, but avoids inflating it — better to surprise you with higher profit than lower.

We re-evaluate this assumption whenever TikTok publishes new partial-refund schema; check the changelog for updates.

How to check partial refund handling

Click any order in the Returns page that shows "Partial refund" — the detail view shows exactly how the calculation was made.