💸Issuing Refunds
This guide will walk you through the process of issuing refunds from various screens within the CrowdWork platform.
How to Issue Refunds
CrowdWork provides multiple options for issuing refunds to your patrons. In general, refunds can be initiated throughout your account by:
Clicking the three dots "•••" to the right of any order
Selecting "Issue Refund"
Read below for details on initiating refunds from specific screens:
Initiating Refunds from the Orders Screen
Navigate to the "Orders" screen from your Dashboard menu.
Locate the order you wish to refund and click the "View" link on the far right.
On the order details screen, click the "Issue Refund" button in the top right.
Initiating Refunds from Other Screens
In addition to the Orders screen, here are the most common ways to locate an order you wish to refund...
Customer or Student Details Screens: Click the "View" link to the right of the customer/student to see their orders. Click the three dots "•••" next to the order you wish to refund. Select
then complete the "Refund Confirmation" form.
Tickets and Registrations Screens and Details Screen of a Specific Show or Class: In the list of tickets/registrations, click the three dots "•••" to the right of the order you wish to refund. Select
then complete the "Refund Confirmation" form.
Finalizing a Refund
The "Refund Confirmation" dialog opens showing the order, the patron, and a Total Un-Refunded figure — the money still left on the order. That figure is what a full refund returns, so on an order you have already partly refunded it is smaller than the original total.
There is a single blue button at the bottom of the dialog, and it does whichever kind of refund your entries describe.
To issue a complete refund: leave the partial amounts empty and press the blue Issue Full Refund button
.To issue a partial refund: expand Issue Partial Refund
and enter an amount against each payment you are refunding. An order paid more than one way — a card plus a gift card, say — shows a field per payment, each labelled with that payment's own un-refunded balance, and you cannot refund more than was charged to it. As you type, the same blue button relabels itself to Issue Partial Refund of $25.00 
so you can check the total before you commit.
Clicking the button raises a confirmation naming the exact amount — "Issue a FULL refund of $50.00? This cannot be undone.", or for a partial, "Issue a partial refund of $25.00? ($50.00 is currently un-refunded on this order.) This cannot be undone." Confirm and the refund is submitted for processing immediately. Cancel and nothing is sent; your entries stay as you left them.
Additional Refund Options
The "Refund Confirmation" dialog offers three extra options alongside the amount. Each is a checkbox you set before issuing the refund, and each appears only when it applies to that particular order. Two of them are off unless you tick them — the third, Cancel remaining payment plan installments, is on by default.
Refund to a Gift Card
Rather than sending money back to the patron's original payment method, you can issue the refund as a new gift card. In the "Refund Confirmation" dialog, check "Create and refund to a new gift card instead of the original payment method."
CrowdWork creates a new gift card carrying the refunded amount, and no money is returned to the original card. The patron redeems it by entering the code in the Gift card code field at checkout and clicking Apply. Any balance they don't spend stays on the card for a future purchase.
Cancel Remaining Payment Plan Installments
When the order was bought on a payment plan and still has payments scheduled, the dialog offers "Cancel [number] remaining payment plan installments." It marks those upcoming (and paused) installments as Canceled, so the patron won't be charged again.
It also looks after itself as you work: enter a partial amount and it unticks, since a partial refund usually isn't meant to stop the plan; clear the partial amounts and it ticks again. Once you set it by hand it stops following along and stays where you put it. Closing and reopening the dialog resets it to ticked.
Installments the patron has already paid aren't affected by this checkbox — refund those using the refund amount itself. For help reading a patron's payment plan statuses or handling a failed payment, see Helping Your Patrons.
Email the Patron Their Refund Details
To let the patron know the refund went through, check "Email refund details automatically." CrowdWork sends them a summary with the subject "Your refund for Order #[number]" showing what was refunded and where it went.
The email adapts to the choices above: if you refunded to a gift card it includes the code and how to use it, and if you canceled remaining installments it tells them so.
Recognizing Refunded Orders
Partial refunds, including the amount, are only noted on the details screen of an order.
Full refunds will be reflected throughout your account wherever the order is displayed, including the following places:
On the Details Screen of an Order, full refunds will be marked as "Refunded" and will include the amount refunded.
On the Orders overview screen, full refunds will be marked as "Refunded" in the Status column.
On the Tickets or Registrations screens, and on the details screen of a specific Show or Class, the list of orders will display "Refunded" below the customer's name.
Notes on Refund Processing
Issuing refunds in CrowdWork is a straightforward process that can be done from multiple places within our application. You can process refunds for your patrons quickly and easily. And as always, if you need help, our support team is here for you.
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