Google Play setup

Google setup is fully managed: RefundHalt provisions the entire notification pipeline (a dedicated Pub/Sub topic in our cloud project, publisher grants, push delivery) the moment you add the app. You never open Google Cloud, never create a topic, never download a key file.

1. Give RefundHalt access in Play Console

1. Open Play Console → Users and permissions → Invite new users.
2. Paste the service account email shown in your dashboard (play-access@refundhalt.iam.gserviceaccount.com) into Email address. Leave "Set access expiry date" unchecked.
3. Switch to the Account permissions tab and tick exactly three:
   • View app information and download bulk reports (read-only) — Play Console auto-selects "View app quality information" with it.
   • View financial data, orders, and cancellation survey responses — unlocks the Purchases API we use to match refunds to purchases.
   • Manage orders and subscriptions — lets us answer chargeback reviews for you.
4. Click Invite user → Send invite. Service accounts accept instantly — there's no inbox and nothing to wait for.

Prefer your own Google Cloud project? You can upload your own service-account JSON instead — it takes precedence over the managed account.

2. Enable Real-time developer notifications

1. Open Play Console → Monetize → Monetization setup → Real-time developer notifications.
2. Enable them, paste the topic name from your dashboard (rtdn-… — we already created it and wired its plumbing), and choose all notifications.
3. Save, then click Send test message.

Need the raw RTDN events somewhere else too? Add forward URLs under Notification forwarding.

3. Verify

Click Verify setup in the dashboard — it confirms the Play Console grant and the notification pipeline end to end.

What we answer for you on Google

Regular user refunds on Google are not contestable; what is contestable is the chargeback review (pendingRefundReviewNotification), which gives you 24 hours and honors the first response. RefundHalt answers it automatically from your refund policy. As a safety net we also reconcile against the Voided Purchases API every six hours, and we can auto-acknowledge purchases so Google doesn't refund unacknowledged ones after three days.