A returned payout is money we have sent to an outlet's bank account that the bank has refused and sent back to us. The funds leave the Outlet Balance, sit in transit, then come back. We mark the payout as Paid when the money is sent and only update it to Failed once the return reaches us, which can take up to five working days.
Nothing has been charged to the outlet. A returned payout is not a fee, a deduction or a chargeback. The money is theirs and it comes back to their Outlet Balance.
How to spot one
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The outlet reports money arriving and then vanishing, usually on the same day.
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Their bank statement shows a credit followed by a debit for the identical amount. The credit normally appears under the marketplace's Paybox descriptor, though some banks show it as Stripe Payments UK instead.
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In Management → Outlet → Payments, open the payout. A genuine return eventually shows as Failed, along with a reason if the bank has passed one back. Until the return lands the payout still shows as Paid, so a payout showing Paid does not rule this out.
Rule these out first
Three checks before you treat it as a return.
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A wider banking incident. If several outlets report the same thing on the same day and they bank with the same institution, the funds are delayed rather than returned. Do not reissue payouts in this situation.
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A negative balance. If refunds or disputes have taken the Outlet Balance below zero, we can debit the bank account by Direct Debit to cover it. That shows as a mandate on the statement rather than a payment out, and it is a different problem.
Why banks return payouts
|
Cause |
What it means |
Who resolves it |
|---|---|---|
|
Technical fault at the bank |
The receiving bank could not process the credit, often during an outage or a maintenance window. |
The bank. The payout usually succeeds on the next attempt with no changes needed. |
|
Account name mismatch |
The account name held in Redbox does not match the name on the bank account. Confirmation of Payee checks can reject on this alone. |
The outlet. Get the exact registered account name from their bank, then correct it in Redbox. |
|
Account restriction |
The account is frozen, dormant, closed, or has a block on incoming payments. |
The outlet, with their bank. We cannot see or lift a restriction. |
|
Account cannot accept the payment type |
Some savings accounts, building society accounts and certain business accounts do not accept Bacs credits or Faster Payments. |
The outlet. They may need to give us a different account. |
|
Wrong sort code or account number |
The details are incorrect or point at a closed account. |
The outlet. Update the payout details in Redbox. |
What we can and cannot do
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We cannot recall, resend or trace a payout while it is in transit. Until the money is back in the Outlet Balance there is nothing to act on.
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We cannot see the bank's return reason code. The outlet's bank can, and they should be the ones to ask.
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Once the funds return they go back into the Outlet Balance and out again on the next scheduled payout.
If the underlying cause has not been fixed, the next payout fails the same way. Always get the account details confirmed before the next payout run rather than waiting for a second complaint.
Timescales
A return can take up to five working days to reach us. If the payout record shows a date to wait until, use that date with the outlet. Otherwise count five working days from the payout date. Do not promise anything sooner.
Reply template
Adjust the name and the date. If you are replying to a marketplace owner about one of their outlets rather than to the outlet directly, switch to the third person and make clear that "at the bank's end" refers to the bank, not the marketplace.
Hi [name],
The money left us and was sent to your bank as normal, but your bank
has sent it back. Nothing has been charged to you and no fee has been
taken, the payment simply wasn't accepted at their end.
Banks return payments for a few reasons: a technical fault, the account
name not matching the details we hold, a restriction on the account, or
the account not being able to accept that type of payment. Your bank
will be able to tell you which of those applies. They can see the
return reason, we can't.
Returned funds can take up to five working days to reach us. As soon as
they land they'll go back into your Outlet Balance and out to you on
the next payout. Until we can actually see the money there's nothing we
can do at this end, so I'd hold off until [date] before we treat it as
lost.
In the meantime it's worth double checking the account name, sort code
and account number you've given us, in case something doesn't match
what your bank has on file.
When to raise a support request
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The payout has not returned within five working days.
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The same account has failed twice after the outlet confirmed their details are correct.
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The outlet's account has been restricted and they cannot tell you why.
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More than a handful of outlets are affected at once, which points at an incident rather than individual accounts.