Refund rate
Refunded orders (or refunded value) divided by paid orders (or paid value) in the same period.
FormulaRefund rate = refunded orders ÷ paid orders (same period)
How we work it through
- 1
Count orders or money, and say which.
- 2
Wait until refunds can arrive, or report the pending ones separately.
- 3
Reconcile with finance: one order can have several refund rows.
On the practice dataset
The query we run on Meridian, Atterna’s practice marketplace, and what it returns.
SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT order_id)
FROM meridian.refunds
WHERE status = 'completed';Result208 refunded orders of 9,071 paid (2.3%) — and 115 more still pending
The common trap
Reporting it too early: refunds arrive days or weeks after the order.
ExampleMeridian: 208 completed refunds on 9,071 paid orders (2.3%), with 115 more still pending.
When an AI answers
“Only 2.3% of orders are refunded, so returns are not a problem.”
- What it didn’t know
- It did not know refunds for the latest orders have not arrived yet.
- Ask back
- “How many refunds are still pending, and how old are the orders you divided by?”
Read next
Examples use Meridian, Atterna’s fictional practice marketplace.