This guide is for System Admins who need to give a customer money back, either the whole payment or part of it. A refund on its own does not cancel the booking: the order and its registrations keep their status. To cancel the booking and refund in one step, use Cancel a Booking or Part of an Order instead.
Every refund in Cademy is recorded against a credit note, the document that records a reduction to the customer’s invoice. For card and PayPal payments, Cademy asks Stripe or PayPal to return the money to the original payment. Check your agreed cancellation terms before choosing the amount.
Give a Full or Partial Refund on an Order Payment (Refund…)
Use this to refund one payment, in full or in part, while the booking stays as it is. There is no separate partial refund button: for a partial refund, enter the amount you want to return in Amount.
In the Admin Dashboard, open Orders, select the order and find Invoices & Payments.
On the successful payment you want to refund, open the three-dot menu and select Refund….
Enter the amount in Amount, no higher than the displayed maximum. Check Refund to. This route is limited to the amount still refundable on that payment.
Enter the required Reason. Check the refund amount on the final button, then select Refund with that amount.
After Refund recorded, check the refund entry and the updated invoice and credit note. For a Stripe or PayPal refund, check its processing status in that provider account; for a manual refund, arrange the actual transfer outside Cademy.
This payment refund uses available credit from existing credit notes first. If more credit is needed, it creates a credit note for the difference.
A refund does not cancel the order or registrations, even when you refund the full amount. The order stays active, so its places still count as booked on the course date, and its discounted spaces still count towards the discount’s usage. To free the place as well, cancel the order or remove the participant or space; see Cancel a Booking or Part of an Order.
Refund the Person After You Cancelled Their Booking
Cancelling a booking refunds the customer only if you chose a refund in Cancel this order?. Cancelling only a registration never refunds anything. When a customer cancels online under your cancellation policy, only eligible Stripe card payments are refunded automatically; for other payment methods, refund any agreed amount yourself. To refund afterwards:
In the Admin Dashboard, open Orders. If the cancelled order is not listed, choose All Orders in the view menu above the table and search for the customer or order reference.
If you chose Hold as credit when cancelling, refund that credit from its credit note. See Refund Credit Already Held on a Credit Note below.
If you chose Keep the money, or cancelled only the registration, refund the payment with Refund… as described above. If the order still holds the place, also remove the space so it no longer counts as booked; see Cancel a Booking or Part of an Order.
Give a Partial Refund as Account Credit Instead of Money
Refund… always returns the money, or records a return you make yourself; it has no option to keep the amount as credit. To keep an amount for the customer to use on a future booking (account credit), choose Hold [amount] as credit when you cancel the order or remove a participant, course or space. See Cancel a Booking or Part of an Order. When you lower the price of a paid order instead, the confirmation can also offer to hold the reduction as credit; see Change an Existing Order.
Held credit belongs to the billed customer and can be used on their next invoice. See Manage Credit Notes and Customer Credit.
Refund Across Several Payments on One Invoice
The Payments page starts an invoice-level refund, not the single-payment route above. Use it when you need to review all the refund destinations on the invoice.
In the Admin Dashboard, open Orders > Payments. Find a successful payment linked to the invoice, open its ⋯ menu and select Refund….
Check Amount and the displayed maximum. The chosen payment is preselected, but Refund to can include other payments on the invoice. Check the amount against each destination.
Enter the required Reason, then check and select the button showing Refund and the amount.
Check the new credit note, refund entries and provider status. This route issues a new goodwill credit note, which records this reduction to the customer’s invoice.
To start the same invoice-level refund from the invoice itself, open Orders > Invoices, select the invoice and select Refund…. It requires an issued invoice with paid value and remaining value that can be credited.
Refund Credit Already Held on a Credit Note
To refund credit that is already held for a customer, for example after you chose Hold as credit, follow Manage Credit Notes and Customer Credit. That route uses the existing credit; it does not issue another credit note.
Check Where a Refund Went and Whether It Worked
Stripe or PayPal: Cademy requests a provider refund. Check the original payment and refund in that provider account. A pending or failed provider refund is not money received by the customer. PayPal’s published refund window is 180 days from payment; an available Cademy action does not override the provider’s limits.
Gift card: the original gift card is credited when a gift card destination is available. This is not a bank transfer. If the gift card cannot be identified, do not assume a manual destination will restore it.
Recorded manually or Xero: Cademy records the amount only; you move this money yourself. You remain responsible for returning it outside Cademy and checking the transfer. Do not select Recorded manually merely to bypass a failed provider lookup. For a Xero payment, check the outside payment and accounting records first, so the same refund is not duplicated.
When a credit-note email is sent, it is addressed to the Order Contact, with a copy to the billing email used for the invoice when one is recorded. Quiet order cancellation and the Email the customer choice in supported removal actions can suppress that credit-note email. Standalone refund actions have their own communications. Refunding existing credit uses a separate notification addressed to the Order Contact, without that billing-email copy. A payment refund that uses existing credit and creates more credit can involve both emails. These automatic emails are blocked if email sending is disabled for the provider account. An email is not proof that the customer has received the money.
If only part of a refund to several destinations succeeds, that completed part is not undone by the error. Check the recorded amounts and each provider before retrying. Contact Cademy Support if you cannot identify the remaining amount.
If You Refunded Directly in Stripe or PayPal
Start refunds in Cademy when its refund route is available. If you already refunded in Stripe or PayPal, do not issue the same refund again in Cademy.
For a payment in the current Orders system, Cademy records a refund made in the provider automatically only when the payment is linked to an issued invoice with enough remaining paid value and enough value not already covered by credit notes. A direct provider refund can need investigation even when the payment is linked to an invoice.
Check the refund’s status and reference in the provider account. Use the provider’s current Stripe refund guidance or PayPal refund guidance for its controls.
In Cademy, open Orders, select the order and check Invoices & Payments for the refund and credit note.
If the provider confirms the refund but Cademy does not show it, contact Cademy Support with the order, invoice, provider payment and refund references. Do not create another refund while the difference is being investigated.
How Long a Refund Takes and Whether Fees Are Returned
Stripe gives approximately 5 to 10 business days for a card refund to appear after submission to the customer’s bank. This is an estimate, not a guaranteed arrival date. Pending refunds and failed refunds need separate attention. See Stripe’s refund status and tracing guidance.
PayPal timing depends on how the customer paid: balance refunds can arrive the same day, while bank and debit-card refunds generally take up to 5 working days and can take up to 30 days. Credit-card refunds can take one or two billing cycles. Check the actual status and PayPal’s refund timing guidance.
Returning the payment does not guarantee that processing fees are returned to you. Stripe states that original processing fees are not returned. PayPal’s UK commercial-payment terms also retain the original receiving fee. Check your provider’s account terms and PayPal’s merchant fees before calculating your costs.
Why a Refund Isn’t Working or Refund… Is Missing
On the Payments list, Refund… is offered for successful, invoice-linked Stripe, PayPal, gift-card and manually recorded payments. It is not offered for Xero payments, pending or failed payments, or refund rows. A payment for a membership is not linked to an invoice, so Refund… is not offered for it; to refund a membership payment, contact Cademy Support.
Individual payment and invoice screens also check whether an amount remains refundable. If a refund stops with This payment can’t be refunded or This payment has already been fully refunded, check the invoice, its credit notes and earlier refunds: the money may already have been refunded or credited. If you see Refund failed, read the reason shown, check the provider account and the order before retrying, and contact Cademy Support with the order reference and the message if the cause is unclear.
Frequently asked questions
Can I make a partial refund without removing the participant?
Yes. Use Refund… on the payment and enter the amount to return. The order and registration keep their existing status. Cancelling or removing a participant is a separate action.
Does a refund email the customer?
A refund that issues a credit note sends the credit-note email, and refunding existing credit sends a refund notice, unless email sending is disabled for your account. Stripe or PayPal can also send their own receipt. See Check Where a Refund Went and Whether It Worked above.