Learn how to refund full or partial payments, including how to refund credit card, POS, and gift certificate payments, send e-mail refund notifications, and show notes of the Customer invoice.
New to the Booking Invoice? Read the first article in this series for an introduction to the Booking Invoice.
Which plans include this feature?
Legacy: Soho, Pro, Plus, Enterprise, Flex
New: Starter, Growth, Managed | Learn more about our new plans or how to change your plan.
Where can I find this feature using the top menu?
Reports > Booking Index > Booking Details > Invoice > Transactions > Refund
What more do I need to use this feature?
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Admin or restricted permissions to Bookings and Payments.
Which Checkfront version supports this feature - classic, new, or both?
- The Booking Invoice feature is available to both those using items (Inventory > Items), a key feature of our classic version of Checkfront, and those using products (Inventory > Products), a key feature of our newest version of Checkfront.
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New to Checkfront - Products ✨ With our newest version of Checkfront, we have added Products (Inventory > Products) as the successor to items (Inventory > Items). Are you interested in migrating to our newest version? Please reach out to our Technical Support team for more information. |
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For simple, step-by-step instructions on processing a refund, see the following article: For a more detailed look at refunds, please take a look at the following article. |
Accessing refund payments
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Click the red Refund button beside the transaction to start the refund process.
The Refund modal opens with the full amount of the invoice pre-populated in the refund amount field.
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How do I refund a partial payment?
You must adjust the Refund Amount by typing the partial amount into the field provided to refund partial payment. To also cancel the booking, you need to change the status manually. Can I process a refund to another card other than the one used for payment?
No, a refund to a different card is not possible. Instead, you must contact your payment provider to process a refund to another card. Once completed, you can apply a POS refund to the booking to reconcile the external refund. Is it possible to edit/modify a refund after it has been made?
No, not at this time. |
The following steps in the refund process depend on the original payment type of the transaction. You can learn more below.
Refunding a credit card payment
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When refunding a credit card payment, you are given the option to refund back to that card.
You can also choose from a list of POS types (e.g. POS - Cash, POS - Visa, POS - Debit) and other non-credit card types (Check/Cheque, Bank Transfer, Gift Certificate). We look at the option to refund to gift certificates in the Checkfront system below.
The type dropdown menu lists the POS types that you can refund. These types have been added in the Ecommerce Settings area (Manage > Ecommerce Setup > Settings).
These other types allow you to make a credit note for accounting and other reference purposes, but the payment is handled outside the Checkfront system.
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Refund Periods Payment providers limit the period you can process a refund transaction, for example, up to one year after the original transaction date. Please reach out to your payment provider to determine the refund window. They can also instruct you to process a refund through your merchant account if you miss the window. Alternatively, you can refund the Customer using a more traditional method, such as cash or check/cheque. If you process the refund outside of Checkfront, you can enter a POS-type refund through Checkfront to have a record of the refund. Most Operators have a refund policy which states the refund window, e.g. 90 days. This sets expectations for the Customer. |
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How do I process refunds for past payments if I change my Payment Provider? Payments processed through a previously active Payment Provider cannot be refunded within Checkfront. You can process the refund directly from the Payment Provider's dashboard and then enter the refund as a POS type in Checkfront to have a record of the refund. |
Refunding a POS payment
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When refunding a POS payment, you have the option to refund to the same POS payment type, or you can choose from a list of other POS payment types (e.g. POS - Cash, POS - Visa, POS - Debit...) or other payment types (Cheque/Check, Bank Transfer). We look at the option to refund to gift certificates in the Checkfront system below.
The type dropdown menu lists the POS types that you can refund. These types have been added in the Ecommerce Settings area (Manage > Ecommerce Setup > Settings).
These types allow you to make a credit note for accounting and other reference purposes, but the payment is handled outside the Checkfront system.
Refunding to gift certificates
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For those on plans that support our Gift Certificates feature (Pro, Plus, Enterprise, and Flex) and that have the Gift Certificate feature enabled (Manage > Integrations > Sales), you have the option to provide a refund in the form of a gift certificate that is tracked within your account.
To do this, select Gift Certificate from the Payment Type option at the top of the refund window.
Does the Customer already have a gift certificate with your business? Then, you can automatically input the gift certificate code in the field provided to Search for the gift certificate. The gift certificate then loads into the form provided. You can leave the GCN Code field blank to generate a new gift certificate.
The Balance displays the current amount on the gift certificate before the refund. The New Balance is the Refund Amount added to the Balance.
Include the name of the gift certificate recipient (To) and who it is From, if not already populated.
The Recipient Email address is required. You can send an email notification to this address if you choose to do so using the Send e-mail notifications option.
If entered, the custom Gift Certificate Message is displayed within the PDF gift certificate attached to the notification email.
Edit the Valid From and Expires Date as needed. You have the option to have the gift certificate Never expire.
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I have refunded to a Gift Certificate, but the Customer would prefer a refund to their credit card. What do I do? Once a refund has been applied against a booking payment, there isn't an option to refund that value again or to change the refund type from within Checkfront. You must first Void the gift certificate and then refund directly through your payment provider. To void a gift certificate...
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For simple, step-by-step instructions on processing a refund to a gift card, see the following article: |
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To learn more about gift certificates, check out the following series of articles: |
Sending e-mail notifications with refunds
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When you refund the payment, you can send an e-mail notification. The type of notification sent is based on the booking status after the refund.
- Processing a full refund? The invoice status changes to Cancelled, and a Cancellation notification is sent to the Customer, including a copy of the invoice with the full refund applied.
- Processing a partial refund? The invoice status changes to Deposit. A Deposit Received notification is sent to the Customer, including a copy of the invoice showing the partial refund applied.
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How do I fully refund the Customer but not cancel the booking?
Staff can choose not to send the email notification when refunding the payment so that the Customer does not get the Cancelled notification. The Staff member can then change the booking status to the desired status after the refund is processed, for example, back to Paid or custom status. When making the final status change, the Staff member can again choose to notify the Customer by email or not. How do I partially refund a Customer and cancel the booking?
Staff can choose not to send the email notification when partially refunding the payment so that the Customer does not get the Deposit notification. The Staff member can then change the booking status to Cancelled after processing the refund. When making the final status change, the Staff member can again choose to notify the Customer by email or not. |
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To learn more about email notifications, check out the following series of articles: |
Showing notes on Customer invoices
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Click the option to Show note on Customer invoice if you have entered a note under the Refund Notes section and would like these to display to the Customer.
When ready, click the blue Refund button at the bottom to complete the refund transaction!
The following article in this series looks at cancelling or voiding bookings via the Booking Invoice.
< Adding payments to booking invoices | Cancelling or voiding bookings via booking invoices >