A duplicate charge claim has two possible outcomes: either there really are two paid transactions — and one should be refunded — or the buyer is seeing a temporary hold alongside the real charge, which is released on its own. Getting it right keeps you from refunding money you never collected.

Confirm whether there are two transactions

En Panel Conekta: Payments → Transactions

  • Search by the buyer's email or the amount, and include all statuses.
  • Two transactions with paid status: it's a real duplicate — this usually happens when the buyer retries the payment after a connection error.
  • One paid and one declined or pending: you only charged once; the other movement the buyer sees is the hold from the failed attempt.
  • A single transaction: what the buyer sees is the temporary authorization plus the final charge for the same payment; their bank releases it within a few business days.

If the duplicate is real

Fully refund one of the two transactions — keep the one that matches the order you're actually going to deliver. Do it from the details of the duplicate transaction and share the refund receipt with the buyer. Acting quickly also reduces the risk of the buyer filing a chargeback over the repeated charge.

If it's a temporary hold

Explain to the buyer that the extra movement is a hold placed by their bank for an incomplete attempt and that it's released automatically, usually within 1 to 5 business days. If it persists after that period, they should resolve it directly with their bank.

Next step

To process the refund step by step, see How to issue a refund from the Conekta Panel.