Billing refund model reference
This page describes how refunds work in MapleGather, including the void matrix, the default refund window, and what happens after a refund is issued.
To process a refund, see Process a refund. To request a refund as a member, see Request a refund as a member.
Refund types
Section titled “Refund types”| Refund type | What it does |
|---|---|
| Full refund | Refunds the payment’s whole remaining refundable amount, back to the original payment method. The payment’s status changes to Refunded; the invoice does not move. MapleGather doesn’t email the member a refund receipt for a payment refund. |
| Partial refund | Not available yet. The payment detail page offers only Full refund; its dialog has no amount or line-item choice. |
Refund destination
Section titled “Refund destination”The refund dialog doesn’t ask where the money goes: a refund is always a real refund through the processor that took the payment. For a card payment the confirmation names the card; for a PayPal payment it names the member’s PayPal account — MapleGather does not show a PayPal account identifier.
Two related cases:
- Past the processor’s refund window. Stripe will not refund a payment older than 90 days and PayPal will not refund one older than 180 days. When a refund is refused for that reason, the dialog offers Re-issue via new charge (Stripe) or Re-issue as account-balance credit (PayPal) instead, which makes the member whole without calling the processor.
- It is not the same thing as the insufficient-balance case. That one is settled outside MapleGather — see Refund failed — insufficient processor balance.
The 4-way void matrix
Section titled “The 4-way void matrix”The void matrix is a summary of the separate actions available for a payment linked to an event registration or an invoice; no single screen offers it as a picker. ⚠ It no longer includes a combined void-and-refund option — that one was withdrawn on 2026-09-28 (see the struck row below), so the matrix is now three separate actions rather than a way to fold several into one.
| Option | Invoice | Payment | Registration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
⛔ THIS OPTION NO LONGER EXISTS AND NO SCREEN RENDERS IT. It was withdrawn by the user’s 2026-09-28 option-A ruling (“Remove the combined refundIfPaid branch from the contract now; accept that the one-click combination may never be built. Keep invoices_void as the existing unpaid-invoice void under its current permission. Use the existing dedicated refund operation, with its money-out permission, for paid refunds.”), and admin-payment-detail.md 1.5 removed the CTA at nine sites plus its controls: entry. A second, independent reason it could never have worked: its first effect was to void an invoice with a collected payment behind it, and InvoiceService.void refuses status in ("void", "paid") outright (…/billingpayments/InvoiceService.kt:325), so no operation — and no pair of operations — performs the combination. What to do instead for a paid registration: Refund only, below, which is the lane that moves the money; then cancel the registration separately, and void nothing. (Row struck rather than deleted so the retired claim stays greppable. Prior text, retired: “Opens the Void & refund dialog on the payment detail page. What this action is guaranteed to do is void the linked invoice and refund the collected payment, in one step. Use as the default for paid event registrations. ⚠ It does not itself cancel the registration and it does not fire a combined receipt — those two effects are not part of the operation the dialog calls, so cancel the registration separately if you need it cancelled. (Corrected 2026-09-27. Prior text, retired: Registration “Cancelled” / Notes “Combined refund receipt fires. Use as the default for paid event registrations.”)”) |
||||
| Refund only (keep registration) | Not voided | Refunded | Stays active | Full refund on the payment detail page. Use when refunding a deposit but the member keeps their seat. |
| Cancel without refund | Not voided | Not refunded | Cancelled | Not available yet: MapleGather has no admin control that cancels a registration. |
| Void unpaid | Voided | N/A (no payment) | Cancelled if linked | Void on the unpaid invoice’s detail page. Use to cancel an invoice that has not been paid. |
Refund window
Section titled “Refund window”By default, members can request a refund within 30 days of the payment date. Your org can configure this to 0, 10, 30, 60, 90 days, or no limit. After the window closes, the member-facing Request refund button is disabled with a message to contact the org. Admins can still issue refunds outside the window from the payment detail page.
What happens to the subscription after a refund
Section titled “What happens to the subscription after a refund”If the refunded payment is linked to an active subscription, MapleGather asks “Cancel the linked subscription?” right after the refund. Select Yes, cancel to cancel it at the end of the current period — this prevents “ghost” subscriptions where the member has been refunded but their subscription continues to charge — or Keep subscription to leave it running.
Undoing a refund
Section titled “Undoing a refund”MapleGather has no control to reverse a refund. Stripe cannot “un-refund” a payment; if the member owes the money again, charge their stored card — see Charge a member’s stored card.
Refund receipt
Section titled “Refund receipt”MapleGather doesn’t email the member a refund receipt for a payment refund, so the refund dialog has no receipt option to turn off.