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.
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Reports > Booking Index > Booking Details > Invoice > Transactions > Refund
What more do I need to use this feature?
- Admin permissions 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 ✨ Products (Inventory > Products) is the successor feature to (Inventory > Items) and is available in our newest version of Checkfront. Not yet on our newest version and interested in upgrading? Please get in touch with our Technical Support team for more information. Discover more product-related help articles here: Products (New). |
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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, see the following article. |
Accessing refund payments
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To start the refund process, click the red Refund button beside the transaction.
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?
To refund a partial payment, you need to adjust the Refund Amount by typing the partial amount into the field provided. To also cancel the booking, you need to manually change the status. 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 need to contact your payment provider to process a refund on a different 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 next steps in the refund process depend on the original payment type of the transaction. Learn more below.
Refunding a credit card payment
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When refunding a credit card payment, you are presented with the option to refund back to that same 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 to. 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 on how to process a refund through your merchant account if you have missed 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 then enter a POS-type refund through Checkfront so that you 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 from 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 to. 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 input the gift certificate code in the field provided to automatically 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. An email notification is sent to this address if you choose to do so using the Send e-mail notifications option.
The custom Gift Certificate Message, if entered, 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 a 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 the refund has been processed. 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 on 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!
In the next article in this series, we look at cancelling or voiding bookings via the Booking Invoice.
< Adding payments to booking invoices | Cancelling or voiding bookings via booking invoices >