This article will cover everything you need to know about how to refund your clients, and how long it will take for them to receive it. The method for initiating a refund varies based on your payment method.
Refunds can generally be actioned within 45 days of the date that a client makes a payment. To check to see if they are eligible for a refund, take a look at our article on Assessing refund eligibility for client invoice payments.
Refunding through Stripe or Bonsai Payments
All refunds for payments made through Stripe or Bonsai payments can be actioned directly on Bonsai’s platform. Use the following steps to issue a refund to your client.
Important: Do not action any refunds through your Stripe Dashboard directly.
If you do action a refund directly on Stripe's interface, only the net payment amount will be refunded (the payment amount less any processing fees).
Navigate to the Invoices tab and open the invoice you'd like to refund.
Select 'More Options' on the upper left of the screen.
From the dropdown menu, select the 'Refund Payment' option.
Select if you'd like to issue a Full or Partial Refund and enter the refund amount.
Note: A refund can take up to 10 business days to be fully processed. This is due to security reasons and may also vary depending on your client's financial institution.
If you were paid via credit card using Stripe or Bonsai Payments, click on the invoice you'd like to refund then click 'More Options' and select 'Refund Payment' from the dropdown.
Refunding on PayPal
To refund an invoice payment made through PayPal, please proceed to your PayPal dashboard.
Refunding an ACH Payment
As an ACH bank transfer is not an integrated payment method, it's not possible to complete a refund electronically. For context, a bank transfer is similar to your client writing you a check. To issue a refund in this case, you will need to transfer funds back to the client from your bank account.
Refunding payments made by alternate methods
This is handled similarly to an ACH transfer. If your client paid for their invoice outside of Bonsai, the refund will need to be issued directly from your bank account electronically, by cash or by an alternate payment platform.
The following payment methods are considered external to Bonsai.
Wire transfer
Mailed check
Cash
Other payment platforms
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the refund I issued reflect as processing?
Refunds can typically take up to 10 business days for your client to receive. If the refund remains in this status after this period, please contact us.
Can my collaborators action refunds?
Only account owners can view invoices, therefore they are the only account type that can issue a refund to a client. For an overview of each role, head over to our Help Center article on User roles and Permissions in Bonsai.
For additional assistance with actioning refunds, get in touch with Bonsai's Support Team at support@hellobonsai.com.