Refunds
Answer a refund request
What happens when a member asks for a refund: what they see, the email you get, and how to approve, partly approve or reject it.
When a member cancels a paid booking, registration or course and wants their money back, they send you a refund request. You decide: approve it in full, approve part of it, or reject it.
When to use this
- You got an email titled, for example, "Session refund request" or "Event refund request".
- Business → Refund Requests shows something new.
- You tried to refund a payment and Soul told you a request is pending.
What the member does
- They cancel their session booking, event registration or course enrollment.
- On the cancelled booking page or event ticket page they click Request a refund. It only appears for paid ones, and only if your refund policy allows refunds for that offering.
- In the Request Refund dialog they see your policy text if you've written one, and must fill in "Reason for refund request". They send it with Request Refund.
- The dialog tells them their request will be reviewed, they'll get an email confirmation within 24 hours, refunds typically take 3–5 business days, and the money goes back to their original payment method.
- Afterwards the Request a refund link goes away. On a session booking page they see "Your refund request has been sent."
A member can have one pending request per payment.
What you get
An email with the tagline "Refund request received", naming the offering, who asked, the amount, the reason, and an Open transaction details button. The request also appears in Business → Refund Requests.
Each request in the list shows the amount, its status, the kind of offering, Customer request or Creator request, the reason and the date.
Approve or reject
Open the request
Go to Business → Refund Requests and click it. You'll see the amount, "Portal-liable refund request", and the details: Requester, Transaction (View transaction), Product type, Reason and when it was Created.
Check the payment (optional)
Click View transaction to see what they paid, any promo code, and whether part has already been refunded.
Decide
Under "This customer is asking for a refund." click Approve or Reject.
To approve
In "Approve this refund request?", the refund amount starts at what they asked for. Lower it to approve a partial refund (it can't be more than they asked for, or $0). Add an optional note, then click Approve & refund. You'll see "Refund approved and processed".
To reject
In "Reject this refund request?" add an optional note explaining why, then click Reject request. You'll see "Refund request rejected".
Both choices are final. Approving "immediately refunds the customer and reverses the related payout". Rejecting tells the member their refund won't be processed.
What the member hears back
| You | They get |
|---|---|
| Approve & refund | An email, "Your refund has been processed", with the amount. Their booking or ticket shows Refunded. The money returns to their card. |
| Reject request | An email, "Refund request update", saying no refund has been issued. Your note is included as the Review note. |
Write your note as if you're writing to the member. A kind sentence about why, and what you can offer instead (a reschedule, a credit toward the next event), goes a long way.
Request statuses
| Status | Means |
|---|---|
| Refund requested | Waiting for a decision |
| Refund approved | Approved and refunded |
| Refund declined | Rejected |
| Refund failed | The refund couldn't be completed |
| Refund cancelled | Withdrawn |
Requests reviewed by Soul
Some requests are about a problem on Soul's side. These are "Platform-liable": the Soul team reviews them and you'll see "Platform-liable refunds are reviewed by the Soul team and can't be approved here." If you opened one yourself, you can withdraw it while it's pending with Cancel request.
Good to know
- While a request is pending, you can't refund that payment directly. The Refund transaction dialog shows "A refund request is pending for this transaction" and a button to open it.
- If approving fails because your Stripe balance is too low, you'll be asked to top up first. The request stays open, so you can approve again after. See Refund errors and top-ups.
- Approving is limited by your refund policy like any refund. If the amount is above what your policy allows, lower it or change the policy.
- Members can't request refunds for your membership from their account. If a member asks by email, refund the payment yourself from Payouts & Transactions.