You still some cash from a level 1 cap if you scuttle it, but you get zero cash for scuttling a new starbase.

So you haven't answered the question, whiskey.

I don't know if it's intentional either. I believe at least Vasari should be able to get some money back from starbases themselves. It is because, unlike TEC and Advent, their SBs are mostly offensively deployed and most combat-oriented. Once your starbase is no longer in the frontline, it becomes a useless brick,, unlike all other SBs.

Terraziel guessed correctly that it was an unintentional side effect of the starbase being created by an ability. The deployment cost will be properly included in its refund value in the next patch.