Refunds

Process refunds for payments and manage refund workflows

Refunds

Refunds return money to customers for payments they’ve made. Alguna supports full and partial refunds through the dashboard.

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Refund Types

Type	Description
Full Refund	Return entire payment amount
Partial Refund	Return portion of payment

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Creating a Refund

1. Navigate to Invoices in the sidebar
2. Find and open the invoice
3. Go to the Payments tab
4. Find the payment to refund
5. Click Refund
6. Enter amount (or select full refund)
7. Add reason for the refund
8. Click Process Refund

The refund is processed through your payment provider (e.g., Stripe). Processing time depends on the payment method—typically 5-10 business days for card refunds.

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Refund Status

Status	Description
Pending	Refund initiated, processing
Processing	Being processed by payment provider
Succeeded	Refund completed
Failed	Refund failed

Status Flow

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Partial Refunds

You can issue multiple partial refunds up to the original payment amount.

Example:

Action	Amount	Remaining Refundable
Original payment	$300.00	$300.00
First refund	$100.00	$200.00
Second refund	$75.00	$125.00
Third refund	$125.00	$0.00

To issue a partial refund:

1. Navigate to the payment
2. Click Refund
3. Enter the partial amount
4. Add reason
5. Process

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Refund via Credit Note

For proper accounting documentation, create a credit note along with the refund:

1. Navigate to Invoices → Select invoice
2. Click Create Credit Note
3. Enter the amount to credit
4. Add reason
5. Check Process Refund to return funds
6. Click Create

This creates both a credit note for your records and processes the refund.

See Credit Notes for more details.

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Handling Failed Refunds

If a refund fails:

1. Navigate to Invoices → Payments
2. Find the failed refund
3. Check the failure reason:

Reason	Description	Resolution
Card expired	Original card has expired	Issue credit instead
Account closed	Bank account closed	Issue credit instead
Processing error	Temporary error	Retry later

4. Click Retry or choose to issue a credit to the customer’s account instead

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Accounting Impact

When a refund is processed:

1. Revenue reversal - Revenue is reduced for the period
2. Credit note created - Documentation for the refund
3. Payment status updated - Payment marked as refunded/partially refunded
4. Invoice status may change - If fully refunded

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Webhooks

Event	When Sent
refund.updated	Refund status changes (created, succeeded, failed)

Configure webhooks in Settings → Webhooks.

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Viewing Refund History

For a Specific Invoice

1. Navigate to Invoices → Select invoice
2. Go to Payments tab
3. View all payments and refunds

Across All Customers

1. Navigate to Reports → Refunds (if available)
2. Filter by date range, customer, or reason
3. Export data as needed

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Best Practices

Document Reasons

Always include a clear reason and reference any support tickets.

Use Credit Notes

Create credit notes for proper accounting trails.

Consider Credits

For service issues, offer account credits instead of cash refunds.

Monitor Patterns

Track refund reasons to identify product or billing issues.

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Common Scenarios

Subscription Cancellation

Customer cancels mid-period and requests refund for unused time:

1. Calculate the unused portion
2. Navigate to the invoice
3. Create a credit note for the unused amount
4. Process the refund

Service Issue Compensation

Customer experienced service issues:

1. Navigate to the customer’s profile
2. Choose between:
   • Refund: Return money via original payment method
   • Credit: Add credit to their account for future invoices
3. Document the incident reference

Billing Error

You accidentally overcharged a customer:

1. Navigate to the invoice
2. Create a credit note explaining the billing error
3. Process the full refund for the overcharge amount

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Next Steps

Credit Notes

Learn about credit notes.

Invoices

Return to invoicing configuration.