Refund Data Import lets you send Ecommerce refund hit data directly into Analytics. For Google Developers, this provides an alternative to using the tracking code, Collection API, the Mobile SDKs, or the Measurement Protocol. Imported hits are added to your Analytics account prior to any processing; therefore, your imported data may be affected by processing-time actions, such as filters.
In this article:How Refund Data import works
To use this feature, your property must be using the Enhanced Ecommerce plugin.
Refund Data Import works by importing new hits to the selected property. Refund Data Import relies on the Transaction ID (ga:transactionId) to reverse Ecommerce hits in your data. You can refund the full amount of the transaction or issue partial refunds. Your upload file will contain one or more rows containing the transactions you wish to refund.
Full refunds
To issue a full refund, you only need to upload Transaction ID. When a row in your upload file contains only ga:transactionId, the entire transaction, including all products, will be refunded using the originally reported product quantities, prices, and transaction revenue.
Partial refunds
To issue a partial refund, provide ga:productSku and ga:quantityRefunded, using a new row for each sku being returned. Provide ga:productPrice to override the original reported product price where necessary. Refunded transaction revenue will be determined automatically based on the product price and quantity. ga:transactionRevenue can be specified when you would like to process a partial refund and report refunded transaction revenue, but are not sending individual product SKUs.
Data Set schema
The Data Set is the container that will hold your imported data. Expand the section below to see the Data Set details.
Data Set detailsLegend:
- Scope—the scope determines which hits will be associated with the import dimension values. There are four levels of scope: hit, session, user and product. Learn more about scope.
- Schema—lists the dimensions and metrics that make up the structure of your imported data. Your upload file headers must match the schema you define for that Data Set.
| Scope | Hit |
|---|---|
| Schema |
The following dimension is required:
Any or all of the following dimensions/metrics may be provided:
|
| Notes |
You cannot delete or modify refund data once it has been uploaded to your Google Analytics account. You bear sole responsibility for validating the accuracy of your refund data prior to sending it or uploading it to Google Analytics. |
Limits of Refund Data Import
Refund Data Import is subject to the following limits, in addition to the general limitations of Data Import.
- 6 month "look-back" window: you cannot issue refunds for transactions older than 6 months.
- Don't mix full and partial refunds: you cannot mix full refunds and partial refunds in the same upload file. Use different upload files for each refund type.
- Source/Medium may change: the Source and Medium dimensions of the refund data will reflect the campaign attribution and date used in the customer's last session. These may be different than the original transaction data.
- Example: you have a transaction attributed to
google/cpcfrom customer A on date 1. That customer then has a later session on date 2, attributed togoogle/organic. If you refund the original transaction, the refund data will be attributed to the most recent Source/Medium which would begoogle/organic, and the date will be set to the day the refund is uploaded.
- Example: you have a transaction attributed to
- You should wait 24 - 48 hours before importing the refund data to make sure the original transaction is present in the account.
- When you export transaction data to Google Ads, the related refund data is not exported.
