Process a refund

This guide shows you how to refund a member’s payment — fully, partially, or using the 4-way void matrix for event registrations and combined scenarios.

Who can do this: Admins with the payments:write permission (covers issuing refunds). Approving member-submitted refund requests additionally requires refund_requests:write-admin. The Finance sub-role typically owns refunds at professional associations.

Important: refunds are processed immediately against Stripe and cannot be reversed after 48 hours. You’ll be shown the exact amount before you confirm.

Before you start

• Open the payment you want to refund. Go to Billing & payments > Transactions, find the payment, and select it to open the payment detail.
• If a member has submitted a refund request, you can also find it in the refund queue and approve it from there.

Process a full refund

1. On the payment detail page, select Full refund.
2. In the refund dialog, review the confirmation: “This will refund $[amount] to the card ending in [last 4 digits].”
3. Select a reason from the Reason dropdown (required).
4. Add optional notes in the Additional notes field.
5. If you don’t want to send the member a refund receipt (for example, for a fraud-related reversal), uncheck Email a refund receipt to the member.
6. Select Refund $[amount]. The exact amount is shown on the button.
7. If the member has an active subscription linked to this payment, a second confirmation appears: “Cancel the linked subscription too?” The default is yes, cancel. Confirm or change as appropriate.

Process a partial refund

1. On the payment detail page, select Partial refund.
2. Choose By line item or Custom amount:
   • By line item — select the line items to refund. MapleGather calculates the refund amount from your selection.
   • Custom amount — enter the amount to refund. You cannot refund more than the remaining refundable balance. Select Use max to refund the full refundable amount.
3. Select a reason and confirm the refund.

Use the 4-way void matrix (for event registrations and combined refunds)

Use this when you need to combine voiding an invoice, refunding a payment, and cancelling a registration in one action.

1. On the payment detail page, select Void & Refund (the 4-way matrix option).
2. Choose one of the four options:
   • Void & Refund — voids the invoice, refunds the payment, and cancels the registration. A combined receipt fires to the member. Use this as the default for paid registrations.
   • Refund only (keep registration) — refunds the payment but keeps the seat. Use for deposit refunds where the member stays registered.
   • Cancel without refund — cancels the registration; the org keeps the payment per your cancellation policy.
   • Void unpaid — voids an unpaid invoice. No refund step needed.
3. Confirm the action.

Approve a member-submitted refund request

When a member requests a refund through the portal, you’ll see it in the admin notifications and in the refund queue (Billing & payments > Refunds).

1. Select the refund request.
2. Select Approve to process the full refund per the steps above, or Deny to decline the request. If you deny, include a note — the member receives an email with a link to contact support.

Verify

You’ll know the refund went through when:

• The payment detail shows Refunded status.
• The invoice status updates to Refunded (full refund) or Partially refunded (partial refund).
• A refund receipt fires to the member (unless you unchecked that option).

If something goes wrong

• “Insufficient balance” — see Refund failed — insufficient processor balance.
• “Refunded invoices cannot be voided” — a refunded invoice cannot be voided separately; the refund is the financial reversal.
• Over-refund blocked — the refund amount you entered exceeds the refundable balance. Select Use max to fill in the correct maximum amount.
• Need to reverse a refund — use the Unified Undo panel within 48 hours. You’ll be shown the exact re-charge amount and the member’s card before you confirm. The member sees the charge labeled “Re-charge — reversal of accidental refund” in their billing history.

Related

• Billing refund model reference
• Request a refund as a member
• Refund failed — insufficient processor balance