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  3. Using products and related features
  4. Using gift card products
  5. Managing your issued gift cards

How to refund to a gift card

Updated

You can refund a customer's booking payment to a gift card to retain their business and revenue in the event of cancellation.

Read further to learn how to refund to a gift card or find answers to frequently asked questions.

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Learn more about gift card products here:

 

Refunding to a gift card

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Follow these steps to refund a booking payment to a gift card:

  1. Go to the active booking invoice you want to refund, e.g., Booking Index > Booking Invoice.
  2. Select the Transactions tab to see associated payments.

    Gift cards invoice screen with transactions tab selected, displaying booking invoice and payment record for March 4, 2025.
     
  3. Select the Refund button next to the payment you want to refund, then open the Refund modal.

    Gift cards invoice transaction screen with refund button highlighted in red for a $200 payment.
     

  4. Specify the Refund Amount. You can enter a partial amount here to process a partial refund.

    Refund screen in gift cards invoice showing refund amount field highlighted with $200 entered.

    Callout icon of a triangle with an exclamation mark, indicating an alert or warning. Refunding a payment in full cancels the booking automatically.

      

  5. Select Gift Card for the Payment Type.

    Refund screen in gift cards invoice with payment type gift card tab highlighted.
     
  6. Enter the gift card Code to search for an existing gift certificate automatically. Leave the code field blank to generate a new gift card.

    Refund dialog in gift cards invoice showing code entry field highlighted to create or search gift card.

    Refunding to existing gift cards
    If you load an existing gift card, the applicable Balance, New Balance, To, From, Recipient Email, Valid From, and Expires fields populate with information from the existing gift card.

    The New Balance field reflects the gift card balance plus the refunded amount, e.g., $100.00 (Balance) + $30.00 (Refund) = $130.00 (New Balance).

    Refunding to new gift cards
    If you refund a new gift card, you can adjust the pre-filled To, From, Recipient Email, Valid From, and Expires fields as needed.

     

  7. Enter text in the Gift Certificate Message field to display within the PDF gift card.

    Refund dialog in gift cards invoice showing gift certificate message field highlighted.

     

  8. Enter any Refund Notes you need to associate with the transaction. These notes only display to customers if you choose to Show note on customer invoice.

    Refund dialog in gift cards invoice showing refund notes field highlighted.
     

  9. Select Send e-mail notifications if you want to notify the customer by email of the refund.

    The system sends a Deposit notification for a partial refund or a Cancelled notification for a full refund.

    Callout icon of an open book, indicating additional learning resources.

    This setting does not determine whether the system sends the Gift Card notification.

    Learn more about gift card notification settings here:

      

    Refund dialog in gift cards invoice showing email notification checkbox highlighted.
     

  10. Select Refund to begin the refund process.

    Refund dialog in gift cards invoice with refund button highlighted to finalize $200 refund.


    As long as you have the Gift Card notification turned on, the customer receives an email with an attached PDF of the gift card within minutes.

    Gift card notification email in Gmail inbox showing recipient Ronnie Kunze, $10 value, and attached PDF gift card. 

    Callout icon of an open book outline, indicating a note.

    Note that if you refund to a new gift card, the recipient receives a gift card email notification with a PDF attachment of the new gift card.

    If you refund to an existing gift card, the recipient receives a gift card email notification with a PDF attachment of the updated gift card with the new balance.
    Callout icon of an open book, indicating additional learning resources.

    Learn more about editing the default gift card email notification here:


    The booking's Transactions log is updated to reflect the refund to the gift card.

    Gift cards invoice screen showing transactions log tab with refund and payment details highlighted for February 25, 2025.

    The booking status changes to either Cancelled if the booking is 100% refunded or Deposit if the booking is partially refunded. Email notifications also reflect this status change.

    Gift cards invoice for February 25, 2025 showing cancelled booking and $200 refund issued to gift certificate.

 

Frequently asked questions

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Where can I quickly find this feature using the menu?

  • Booking > Booking Index

What permissions do I need to use this feature?

  • Admin permissions or restricted permissions to Process refunds.

Can we modify a gift card refund after it has been processed?

  • No, not at this time.

How do I fully refund the customer without canceling the booking?

  • Staff can choose not to send the email notification when refunding a payment, so the customer does not receive the Cancelled notification.
    After the staff member processes the refund, they can change the booking status to tin full |he desired status, such as back to Paid or a custom status. When making the final status change, they can again choose to notify the customer by email.

How do I partially refund a customer and cancel the booking?

  • Staff can choose not to send the email notification when partially refunding the payment, so the customer does not get the Deposit notification. After processing the refund, 
    The staff member can change the booking status to Cancelled. When making the final status change, the staff member can again choose to notify the customer by email.