Refunding and Cancelling Orders
Hi.Events supports full and partial refunds on paid orders, and cancelling orders — whether due to event changes, customer requests, or duplicate purchases.
How the refund works depends on how the order was paid:
- Stripe orders — the money is returned to the buyer’s original payment method via Stripe. It comes out of your Stripe balance, and the Hi.Events fee and Stripe’s processing fee on the order aren’t returned.
- Offline orders that have been marked as paid, and attendees you added manually with an amount paid — you can record a refund, which updates your reporting and statistics, but you’ll need to return the money to the customer yourself outside Hi.Events.
Free orders and offline orders still awaiting payment can be cancelled, but there is no refund to process or record for them.
Refunding needs the Can issue refunds permission. Without it you won’t see Refund order, and the cancel dialog has no Also refund this order option. Cancelling needs edit access, so Viewers can’t cancel orders either. See Managing Your Team.
How to Refund an Order
- Open your event and go to Orders
- Open the ⋮ menu on the order you want to refund
- Click Refund order
Refund Options
The refund dialog shows:
- Order Total — the original order amount
- Already Refunded — any previous refunds on this order (only shown if there are some)
- Available to Refund — the remaining amount that can be refunded
The Refund amount starts at the full available balance. Lower it to issue a partial refund (e.g. the price of one ticket from a multi-ticket order).
Additional Options
Both of these start unticked:
- Send refund notification email — the customer receives an email confirming the refund. Only shown if the order has an email address
- Also cancel this order — cancels all products in the order and releases them back to the pool. This option is hidden if the order is already cancelled.
Stripe Refunds Take a Moment to Complete
When you submit a refund on a Stripe order, Hi.Events sends the request to Stripe and immediately marks the order as Refund pending — you’ll see “Your refund is processing.”
The final state (Refunded, Partially refunded or Refund failed) is only recorded once Stripe confirms the refund, which can take a short while. Until then you can’t start another refund on the same order.
Offline refunds are different: since no money moves through Hi.Events, the refund is recorded instantly and the order goes straight to Refunded or Partially refunded. The dialog’s confirm button reads Record Refund for offline orders, and a note reminds you that you’ll need to return the payment to the customer yourself.
Cancelling an Order
Open the ⋮ menu on the order and choose Cancel order. If the order is refundable and you have Can issue refunds, the dialog includes an Also refund this order checkbox which is ticked by default — leaving it ticked refunds whatever hasn’t already been refunded at the same time as the cancellation, and emails the buyer about the refund. Untick it if you want to cancel without refunding.
Cancelling an order does more than change its status. It also:
- Cancels every attendee on the order and voids their tickets
- Returns the tickets to the available pool, restoring sold quantities and any shared capacity usage
- Reverts related waitlist offers
- Sends an order-cancelled email to the buyer, if the order has an email address. This is sent whether or not you ticked Send refund notification email
- Triggers an order-cancelled webhook, if you have one set up
Important Notes
- Stripe refunds return to the buyer’s original payment method. Offline refunds only update your reporting — returning the money is up to you.
- A refund on its own doesn’t cancel anything. If you don’t tick Also cancel this order, the order stays active and all of its tickets are still valid.
- A cancelled order cannot be reactivated — if the buyer wants to return, they’ll need to place a new order, or you can add them again from the Attendees page. Activate on the Attendees page only restores tickets you cancelled one at a time on an order that’s still active.
- Free orders can be cancelled but there is no monetary refund to process.
Common Questions
Can I refund just one ticket from an order?
Yes. Enter any amount up to Available to Refund for a partial refund. The refund doesn’t void a ticket by itself: to void the refunded ticket, cancel that attendee with Cancel ticket on the Attendees page. Every other ticket on the order stays valid.
How long does a Stripe refund take?
The order shows Refund pending until Stripe confirms the refund, which can take a short while. The money goes back to the buyer’s original payment method.
Does cancelling an order refund the buyer?
Only if you leave Also refund this order ticked. It’s ticked by default on refundable orders and refunds the remaining balance; untick it to cancel without refunding. If you don’t have Can issue refunds, the option isn’t there and cancelling never refunds.
Can I reactivate a cancelled order?
No. The buyer needs to place a new order, or you can add them again from the Attendees page. Activate doesn’t help here: it’s for tickets you cancelled one at a time, and attendees on a cancelled order can’t be checked in.
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