MS-170/Refunds via gift card and voucher, customer notifications, and stock return monitoring
Context
This merge request brings several major improvements to the refund module, focused on customer experience and operational flexibility.
What changes for the customer
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Customers can now be refunded directly to their gift card or voucher when these were used as a payment method on their order. The balance is automatically credited back upon refund validation.
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If the gift card or voucher expires in less than 7 days, its validity is automatically extended by one month, ensuring the customer can use it without any time constraint.
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Regardless of the refund method used, the customer now receives a personalised confirmation email detailing the refunded amount, the items concerned, and the estimated processing time.
What changes for managers
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A new flag allows managers to choose, at the time of the refund, whether stock should be restocked or not. This covers cases where the product is physically returned (stock reinstated) and cases where the refund is granted without a product return (stock unchanged).
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The refund order is now enforced: the gift card must be fully refunded before the voucher, and the voucher before any other payment method, ensuring accounting consistency across mixed refunds.