SME Refund Settlement
Refund Settlement is a system introduced in September 2022 through which new merchants can receive a retroactive settlement of the fee differential they were unable to benefit from—before being designated as a small or medium-sized merchant—after they are eventually selected for SME preferential fee rates.
Unlike the differential settlement that occurs on a regular basis, this settlement is conducted semi-annually (twice a year). New merchants initially receive the "general (4)" fee rate until their sales basis is confirmed. Once the Credit Finance Association selects the eligible merchants for refund on a semi-annual basis, Hecto Financial requests fee refunds from each card issuer based on previously transmitted sales records.
Based on the final refund results confirmed by the card issuers, Hecto Financial then pays the corresponding differential amount to the merchant. For example, if a business opened in February is confirmed as a "micro" tier merchant in August, the fee differential from February to August approved by the card issuer is refunded retroactively.
This document explains the file integration method and important notes for integration.
Notes
NOTE
SFTP File Transfer Method
This specification uses SFTP file transmission, not HTTP API. The file format is a fixed-length (500 bytes) format. SFTP connection information will be provided separately after the merchant ID is issued.
Communication Specification
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Data transmission method | SFTP file transmission |
| Access account | SFTP account created and provided separately upon firewall allowance request after merchant ID issuance |
| MAIN SFTP Server | 61.252.169.33 (port: 5210) |
| DR SFTP Server | 14.34.14.26 (port: 5210) |
| TEST/REAL distinction | Distinguished by access account or folder |
| Character encoding | UTF-8 |
File Structure
HEADER RECORD
DATA RECORD
...
DATA RECORD
TRAILER RECORD
Field Types
| Type | Description | Alignment | Padding |
|---|---|---|---|
| N | Numeric field | Right | '0' |
| A | Character field | Left | SPACE |
Refund Settlement Policy
Refund Settlement
- First implemented in September 2022
- New merchants initially classified as general (4) merchants receive fee refund settlement for sales that did not benefit from SME preferential fee rates during the half-year period
- List of eligible merchants for refund is received from the Credit Finance Association
- Example: For a business opened in February, if SME preferential fee is applied in August, the fee differential (general - micro) from February to August is refunded
Refund Settlement Method
- Merchants (2nd-tier PG) do not transmit a separate refund settlement request file to Hecto Financial
- Refund settlement is requested from card companies based on previously transmitted general-tier differential settlement sales data
- Refund settlement is not possible for returned differential settlement records, so management of returned differential settlement records is essential
Process Flow
- Proceed with differential settlement
- Semi-annually, request refund settlement from card companies for sales of general-tier merchants among the differential settlement submissions from the previous half-year period that are eligible for refund (Hecto Financial → Card Companies)
- Pay refund settlement and upload refund settlement result file for merchants
Refund Settlement Result File Transmission Schedule
| File | Schedule |
|---|---|
| Refund settlement result file | Uploaded at 09:00 on April 3 and October 3 each year |
Refund Settlement Result (PG Company → Merchant (2nd-tier PG))
File Spec
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| File name | REF_RST_AccessAccountID_FileCreationDate (FileCreationDate: YYYYMMDD) |
| 1 Record | 500 bytes |
| Production file path | /ref_rsp |
| Test file path | /ref_rsp/test |
HEADER RECORD
| Field | Position | Length | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record type | 1 | 2 | AN | "01" |
| File creation date | 3 | 8 | N | YYYYMMDD |
| Business number | 11 | 10 | AN | 2nd-tier PG business number |
| PG company identifier | 21 | 10 | AN | "HECTO" |
| FILLER | 31 | 470 | AN | Space |
DATA RECORD
| Field | Position | Length | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record type | 1 | 2 | AN | "11" |
| Approval/cancellation flag | 3 | 1 | AN | 0: Approval / 1: Cancellation |
| Merchant ID | 4 | 10 | AN | Merchant ID issued by Hecto Financial |
| Transaction date (approval/cancellation) | 14 | 8 | N | Transaction date (YYYYMMDD). Approval or cancellation date |
| Intermediate sub-merchant number | 22 | 10 | AN | 2nd-tier PG business number (10 digits) |
| Final sub-merchant number | 32 | 10 | AN | Sub-merchant business registration number (10 digits) |
| PG transaction number | 42 | 40 | AN | PG transaction number (approval or cancellation PG transaction number) |
| Partial cancellation sequence | 82 | 2 | N | Approval: 0, 1st partial or full cancellation: 1, Nth cancellation: N |
| Merchant order number | 84 | 100 | AN | Unique order number generated by the merchant |
| Sub-merchant sales amount | 184 | 15 | N | Omit [-] sign for cancellations |
| Total transaction amount | 199 | 15 | N | Omit [-] sign for cancellations |
| Original PG transaction number | 214 | 40 | AN | Original approval PG transaction number |
| Original transaction date (approval) | 254 | 8 | AN | Original approval transaction date (YYYYMMDD) |
| Sub-merchant tier | 262 | 1 | AN | 0: Micro / 1: Small1 / 2: Small2 / 3: Small3 / 4: General. Card company response sub-merchant tier; if null value received, responds as 4 (General) |
| Refund supply value | 263 | 15 | N | Omit [-] sign for cancellations |
| Refund VAT | 278 | 15 | N | Omit [-] sign for cancellations |
| Refund settlement amount | 293 | 15 | N | Omit [-] sign for cancellations |
| Refund settlement date | 308 | 8 | N | YYYYMMDD |
| Card company result code | 316 | 2 | AN | Card issuer response code (refer to card issuer code table) |
| FILLER | 318 | 183 | AN | Space |
TRAILER RECORD
| Field | Position | Length | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record type | 1 | 2 | AN | "12" |
| Total record count | 3 | 7 | N | Number of records in DATA (approval + cancellation count) |
| Total sales amount | 10 | 18 | AN | Sub-merchant sales amount in DATA (approval - cancellation amount). [-] sign can be shown |
| Supply value total | 28 | 15 | AN | [-] sign can be shown |
| VAT total | 43 | 15 | AN | [-] sign can be shown |
| Settlement amount total | 58 | 15 | AN | [-] sign can be shown |
| FILLER | 73 | 428 | AN | Space |
Code Tables
Card Issuer Result Codes
| Error Code | Error Message |
|---|---|
| 00 | Normal |
| 01 | Card issuer classification value error (does not exist or mismatch) |
| 02 | Sales amount error (mismatch between original sales amount and sum of sub-merchant sales amounts) |
| 03 | Duplicate submission (transmitting already processed records) |
| 04 | Original acquiring returned (original sales does not exist or sales amount error, etc.) |
| 05 | Acquiring cancellation type error (normal/cancellation mismatch between original and sub-merchant sales) |
| 06 | Acquiring transmission date error |
| 07 | Approval date error |
| 08 | Approval number error (no sales corresponding to original approval number) |
| 09 | Merchant number error 1 (merchant number is SPACE or unregistered merchant) |
| 10 | Merchant number error 2 (not a differential settlement merchant number) |
| 11 | Card number error |
| 12 | Intermediate sub-merchant error (non-qualifying electronic financial business, etc.) |
| 13 | Differential settlement delayed submission |
| 14 | Card issuer classification value normal record returned. In a cart transaction consisting of A, B, C, if C's classification value is in error, C is returned with code 01. However, since A and B have correct classification values but are returned due to C, they are distinguished with code 14 |
| 15 | Returned when differential settlement is submitted after full sales cancellation. Additional return condition reason: to prevent delayed submission of differential settlement cancellation |
| 16 | Transaction type error |
| 17 | Not a target date for refund settlement |
| 18 | 2nd-tier sub-merchant new merchant not eligible for refund settlement |
| 19 | Original sales not processed normally |
| 99 | Other |
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Code Samples
HectoFinancial GitHub