Use case: Shopify — refund not processed
Pain: the customer says no refund arrived, the merchant says the bank is delayed, and the reviewer sees promise emails with no clear trail showing whether the refund actually left the merchant environment.
3-step fix (receiver-aware review rail)
- Intake contract: require the warehouse return-receipt event or the internal return-accepted checkpoint.
- Join layer: connect that return checkpoint to the refund approval event and any acquiring/reference trace available from the payment flow.
- Decision-ready rail: export one bundle that shows return accepted → refund released → reference trace, so the reviewer can identify where the delay likely sits.
Why it matters: if the trace/reference exists, the discussion shifts from “did the merchant refund?” to “where is the refund stalled?”. That shortens the review path.
Reality Audit
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