# Refund transactions stuck in PENDING status in Sandbox since yesterday

**URL:** <https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/refund-transactions-stuck-in-pending-status-in-sandbox-since-yesterday/27975>\
**Category:** Questions\
**Tags:** sandbox, refunds-api\
**Created:** [September 24, 2026, 2:26pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/refund-transactions-stuck-in-pending-status-in-sandbox-since-yesterday/27975 "2026-09-24T14:26:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![asouare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e99b99/32.png) [@asouare](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/asouare)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 2:26pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/refund-transactions-stuck-in-pending-status-in-sandbox-since-yesterday/27975/1 "2026-09-24T14:26:55Z")

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Hi everyone,

Since yesterday, I’ve noticed that refunds created in my Square **Sandbox** environment stay stuck in `PENDING` status and never transition to `COMPLETED` (or `FAILED`), which was not the case before.

**Details:**

- Environment: Sandbox
- Endpoint used: Refunds API (`/v2/refunds`)
- Behavior observed: refund is created successfully (`PENDING` status returned), but it never updates to a final status afterward — even after polling or waiting several hours.
- A few affected refund IDs (redacted app-specific prefix): `TnphSEvfmd9JRWnzT9bWHWOcLkXZY_...`
- This started roughly 24h ago; the same flow worked as expected before that.

**Questions:**

1. Is there a known issue or recent change affecting refund processing in Sandbox?
2. Is `PENDING` expected to auto-resolve after some delay in Sandbox, or does it require a manual trigger/webhook simulation?
3. Any recommended way to check the current status of Sandbox refund processing?

Any insight would be appreciated — trying to determine if this is expected sandbox behavior, a temporary sandbox issue, or something on my end.

Thanks!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jseok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@jseok](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/jseok)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 6:54pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/refund-transactions-stuck-in-pending-status-in-sandbox-since-yesterday/27975/4 "2026-09-24T18:54:48Z")

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Thanks for reporting! There seems to be an issue with the sandbox refund mechanism, and the team is looking into a fix now. We recommend testing refund flows in a separate free production account using `CASH` or `EXTERNAL` tender types. Production accounts are free and unlimited, and refund lifecycle transitions work correctly there.