To refund a customer, open the Paid invoice and use whichever button shows in its header. Stortech always shows exactly one of the two, never both, depending on how the invoice was paid:

Refund: the invoice has a real Stripe payment (card, pre-authorized debit, or paid via the customer's credit balance). This button triggers a real Stripe refund, automatically sent back to the original payment method.

Mark as refunded: the invoice was paid entirely offline (cash, cheque, Interac, transfer). There's no Stripe payment to reverse, so this button only corrects the record in Stortech; it doesn't send any money.

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Refunding an invoice requires the Owner or Manager role. If the buttons described below are missing or greyed out, ask an Owner on your team.

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This path applies to any Paid invoice settled by card, pre-authorized debit (ACSS/PAD), or the customer's credit balance.

Step 1. Open the invoice (Invoices page → click the invoice).

Step 2. Click Refund in the header.

Step 3. In Amount to refund, the full paid amount is pre-filled. Lower it for a partial refund — a refund can never exceed what was actually paid.

Step 4. Choose a Reason for refund: Customer request, Duplicate, Fraudulent transaction, or Other (which then requires a written note).

Step 5. Click Issue refund to confirm.

The refund is a real Stripe action, not a draft: as soon as you confirm, the money goes back to the customer. Confirm the amount with them first if you have any doubt.

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If the invoice was settled automatically from a credit balance (for example as part of an annual prepayment), the Refund form shows a warning: "This invoice was paid via the customer's credit balance. The refund will be issued against the original booking payment." In other words, the money doesn't go back to the credit balance — it goes straight back to the card or debit that funded that balance in the first place.

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This path applies to invoices paid entirely offline — Stortech has no Stripe payment to reverse in that case.

Step 1. Open the invoice.

Step 2. Click Mark as refunded in the header.

Step 3. Confirm by clicking Confirm refund in the dialog.

This button does not send any money to the customer. It only keeps your Stortech record accurate once you've already returned the money to the customer yourself (cash in hand, cheque, Interac transfer). If you click it without having handed the money back, the invoice will show "Refunded" even though the customer received nothing.

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A full refund moves the invoice's displayed status to Refunded. A partial refund leaves the invoice Paid, with the refund logged in its Recent activity and deducted from the amount actually collected.

Stortech does not send a refund confirmation email to the customer — that notification doesn't exist in the product today. If you want the customer to know, tell them yourself. (Stripe may send its own native refund receipt depending on your connected account's settings, independently of Stortech.)

A refund doesn't affect gate access: unlike a failed payment, it doesn't suspend or re-enable anything on the rental.

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The refund always goes to the original method. There's no option to refund to a different card, a cheque, or the customer's balance — Stripe only refunds the payment method that was used for the original charge.

The Stripe Connect account balance must be sufficient. A refund pulls funds from your connected account's available balance, not the customer's. If the balance is insufficient, the refund fails and you need to replenish the account before retrying — see Payment refused or failed.

A disputed transaction can't be refunded through this button. If the customer opened a dispute with their bank, Stripe handles that case directly; Stortech shows a message pointing you to Stripe instead of processing the refund normally.

Always check the line items and taxes before refunding. If an invoice's amount looks wrong, confirm the billing lines and applied taxes first — fix it at the source rather than compensating with a refund, to avoid creating a double payment.

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No refund button appears on the invoice.

What to check: is the invoice actually in Paid status? Does your role allow refunds? An already-refunded invoice shows neither button anymore.

What to do: if the invoice isn't Paid yet, no refund is possible until it is. If your role is Employee, ask an Owner or Manager.

The refund fails with a Stripe error.

What to check: does the Stripe Connect account have funds available? Has the invoice already been refunded? Does the requested amount exceed the original charge?

What to do: check the balance in the Stripe dashboard and retry once replenished. See Payment refused or failed.

I clicked "Mark as refunded" but the customer says they received nothing.

What to check: did you actually hand the money back outside Stortech before clicking?

What to do: this button only corrects the record — it never moves money. Return the money to the customer through the agreed method (cash, cheque, transfer); the "Refunded" status doesn't do that manual step for you.

I need to refund an invoice paid via the customer's credit balance.

What to check: is the Refund button visible? These invoices have a real underlying Stripe payment, so it should be.

What to do: follow the normal Stripe refund steps; read the warning shown in the form — the money goes back to the original payment, not to the credit balance.

I need to refund a security deposit, not an invoice.

Refunding a deposit follows a different path — see Deposit settlement.

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Can I cancel a refund once it's confirmed? No, a Stripe refund is irreversible from Stortech. If the amount was wrong, talk to the customer and offset it with an adjustment (a credit or a new invoice) if needed.

How long does it take the customer to receive the money? It depends on their bank and the original payment method, usually 5 to 10 business days for a card, a bit longer for a pre-authorized debit.

Can I issue several partial refunds on the same invoice? Yes, as long as the total refunded never exceeds what was actually paid; each partial refund is added to the invoice's Recent activity.

Does a refund affect revenue reports? Yes, a refund reduces the net amount collected for that invoice in analytics reports; see the Refund summary report.

Does a refunded invoice stay visible in the invoices list? Yes, with a Refunded status (or still Paid for a partial refund) — it's never deleted or hidden.