Refunds & cancellations — how the escrow flow works

Every paid order creates a payment hold in Restora 360. The customer's card is charged immediately and the funds sit in Stripe escrow until either (a) the order is delivered + the payout-delay window elapses, or (b) the order is cancelled and refunded.

By default the customer can cancel within 5 minutes of placing the order, before the restaurant has marked it Accepted. Within this grace window the customer gets a full refund automatically.

After acceptance, the customer can no longer self-cancel. If they want to cancel, they have to contact the restaurant.

You can change the grace period under Admin → Escrow & Risk → Policy (super-admin only).

Open the order in the Orders board and click Cancel order. Pick a reason — out of stock, kitchen closed, customer request, fraud. The refund is processed automatically:

• Pre-acceptance → full refund
• Post-acceptance → full refund (you eat any prep cost)
• Post-ready → partial refund possible at admin discretion

Refunds are issued via Stripe directly to the original payment method. Card refunds typically appear within 5–10 business days; Apple Pay / Google Pay are usually faster (1–3 days). The customer gets an automatic email when the refund is initiated.

If the customer disputes the charge with their card issuer, Stripe handles the dispute flow. Restora 360's ledger is automatically updated when a chargeback wins (negative entries against your sales). For the dispute itself, open your Stripe dashboard → Disputes and provide evidence (delivery confirmation, customer signature, etc.).