As we said at the beginning, there are also some updates to managing refunds. Since the launch of refund notifications, Apple has been closely monitoring its performance and developer feedback.

Having received many requests calling for the ability to let developers have a more active role in refund decisions, Apple announced a new feature. It is the new Consumption API that is meant to improve and inform the refund process. With it, you can share information about a customer’s in-app purchase with the App Store.

Specifically, when a customer requests a refund for a consumable in-app purchase, the App Store will send your server a new CONSUMPTION_REQUEST notification. Then, you’ll respond back with the consumption data.

Most of the time, customers begin consuming content pretty soon after purchasing it. This is important to note in the refund decision process. Hence, you should make sure to send consumption information to the App Store within 12 hours of receiving the CONSUMPTION_REQUEST. That way, it’ll be used to inform the refund decision.

The consumption payload includes the following fields:

For refund requests, there are three related App Store server notifications:

• CONSUMPTION_REQUEST – notifies you when a refund request has been initiated for a consumable in-app purchase.

• REFUND – notifies you when a refund is issued to a customer.

• REFUND_DECLINED – notifies you when a refund was declined for a request that was initiated through the Store Kit API.

The consumption and refund flow will now be as follows:

1. The customer requests a refund

2. The App Store server sends your server a consumption request notification

3. Your server responds back within 12 hours with the consumption data

4. In case of approval, the App Store sends the REFUND notification

5. Your server responds with an HTTP OK response

6. You take the appropriate action for that refund

To finish up, you’ll be happy to know that the consumption API is now available for testing in both — production and sandbox.

As you can imagine, the new consumption API helps increase transparency and improve the refund process. Naturally, this leads to better overall outcomes for customers. Moreover, the new REFUND notification provides you with much more opportunities to reach your customer, thus leading to an improvement in communication efforts.