Refunds

You can give money back on a store order, on event add-ons, or on a paid event registration, in full or in part, without opening Stripe. The money goes back to the card it came from, out of your church’s own Stripe balance.

How to refund a store order or event add-ons

1. In the staff dashboard, open Store, then Orders, and open the order. Add-ons chosen with an event are an order of their own here, marked “Add-ons for” the event.
2. Choose Refund….
3. Amount to refund starts at everything not yet refunded. Leave it for a full refund, or type a smaller amount.
4. If you like, add a Reason. It is kept with the refund in Stripe.
5. Choose Refund $25.00 (the button shows the amount), or Keep the payment to stop.

How to refund an event registration

1. Open Events, open the event, and choose the date.
2. Under Who is coming, open the menu beside the person (the three dots) and choose Refund….
3. Fill in the amount and reason as above, and choose Refund.

A registration’s place and its add-ons are refunded separately, even when they were paid together in one checkout: the place from the roster, the add-ons from Store → Orders.

What happens

• In Stripe: the refund is made on your church’s Stripe account against the original payment. It comes out of your church’s Stripe balance, never DCX Logic’s. It usually reaches the member’s card within five to ten days.
• Stripe’s processing fee is not returned to your church.
• In HoW: the order shows Refunded, or the amount refunded for a part refund. A registration reads “Paid, $10.00 refunded” for a part, or Refunded for all of it. The member’s record gets “Refunded 25.00 for order 1003” (or the event’s name) in its History, and the member sees the refund on their order or “(refunded)” on the event in the portal.
• Part refunds add up. You can refund again later, up to what was paid. Shipping and sales tax are part of what can be refunded.
• Refunds made in your Stripe dashboard are picked up by HoW too, and show on the order or registration.

What a refund does not do

• It does not put items back into stock. If the item came back and you want to sell it again, raise the stock in Store → Products.
• It does not undo a pickup or a shipment. An order picked up stays picked up.
• It does not cancel a registration. Whether the person still comes is a separate choice on the same roster menu.
• Cancelling never refunds. Only an unpaid order can be cancelled; a paid one is refunded.

Good to know

• One refund at a time. While a refund is on its way in Stripe, another cannot be started on the same payment. Two people refunding the same order at the same moment cannot both go through: the second is told a refund is already on its way, so together they can never give back more than was paid.
• If Stripe is slow to answer, HoW closes the window and finishes the refund within a few minutes; the amount shows on the order or registration once Stripe confirms it. If Stripe refuses it, nothing is refunded and you can try again.
• If a refund fails, HoW records “A refund could not be made” in the member’s History, and the amount counts as not refunded, so you can try again.
• Who can do it. The church’s owner and store managers. Administrators cannot refund. On the event roster, Refund… appears for people who can both refund and manage events, so in practice the owner.
• Members cannot refund themselves. A member who wants money back asks the church.
• Every refund is recorded in your church’s audit log, with who made it and when.

If something isn’t right

• You do not see Refund…. Your role cannot refund, the order is not paid, or everything is already refunded.
• A refund is still being processed (“a refund is already on its way”): Stripe has not finished the last refund. Wait a few minutes and open the order again.
• Everything paid has already been refunded (“this order is already refunded” or “nothing left to refund”): everything paid has gone back.
• Nothing was paid (“this order was not paid” or “this registration was not paid”): there is no payment to refund.
• Your church’s payments aren’t set up (“this church has no Stripe account”): your church’s payments are not set up. See Connecting Stripe.
• Stripe can’t find the payment (“Stripe has no payment on record for this registration”): Stripe cannot find the payment. Check it in your Stripe dashboard, and ask DCX Logic support.

What DCX Logic support can do

Support can check whether a refund reached Stripe and why one failed. Support makes a refund for you only inside a read and write support session your church’s owner approves under Support access and that names refunds. Questions about money moving in your Stripe account, such as disputes and payouts, are for Stripe’s own support, since the account is your church’s.

Coming from Planning Center

In Planning Center Registrations you refund from the registration, in full or in part, up to the amount paid; the money comes out of your pending balance, and in most cases Stripe’s fee on the original payment is not returned. HoW works the same way and keeps the same rule on fees. Two differences: in Planning Center a refund leaves a balance due unless you first cancel the registration or remove add-ons, while in HoW a refund never changes what was bought or whether the person is coming; and HoW refunds store orders as well, since Planning Center has no store.