Refunding an invoice

A paid invoice can be refunded from the invoice page. Admins only, and always the full amount.

Card payments

On an invoice paid by card through Stripe, Billow tells Stripe to refund the card. The invoice stays Paid until Stripe confirms, then changes to Refunded. Refunding from your Stripe dashboard has the same result.

Bank transfers and manual payments

An invoice paid by bank transfer, or marked paid by hand changes to Refunded as soon as you confirm. Billow does not move the money. Transfer it yourself.

Card disputes

Your client’s bank can force a refund through a card dispute, with no action from you. Billow logs the dispute on the invoice’s activity feed, then its outcome. A lost dispute sets the invoice to Refunded, exactly as an issued refund does. A won dispute leaves the invoice untouched.

After a refund

Refunded is a final status. There is no way back to Paid. A second payment needs a new invoice.

Refunded invoices drop out of the revenue figures on your dashboard.

Refunding a deposit

Refunding a deposit invoice releases the project’s deposit slot. A new invoice on the project then offers the Regular / Deposit choice again.

Deleting refunded invoices

An invoice paid through Stripe can never be deleted, refunded or not.

A manually-refunded invoice can be deleted by an admin.

What your client gets

Billow sends your client nothing. Stripe emails its own refund receipt for card payments if you have that enabled. Billow sends nothing for a bank transfer refund.

Partial refunds

Partial refunds can only be issued from your Stripe dashboard, and are not recommended at the moment. The invoice stays Paid and Billow records the partial refund in its activity feed. Billow never starts a partial refund itself.