Refunds

Refunds return money to a client's original payment method. Stripe processes refunds and they typically appear on the client's statement within 5–10 business days.

Issue a refund

Go to Customers → Clients and open the client's profile
Click the Payments tab
Find the payment you want to refund
Click into the payment → Refund Payment
Enter:
- Amount — full or partial amount - Reason — for your records (not shown to client) - Notes — any internal notes about why you're refunding
Click Refund Payment

You can also access payments from the check-in screen roster using the actions menu.

Full vs. partial refunds

You can refund any amount up to the original payment amount. For a partial refund, enter the specific dollar amount to return.

When you issue a refund, Stripe's processing fee (typically 2.9% + 30¢) is not returned to you — that fee is non-refundable. The client receives the full purchase amount, but the processing fee comes out of your balance.

Refunds and class credits

What happens when a booking is cancelled depends on how the client paid:

Paid (monetary) pricing — drop-ins:

The client paid dollars at booking
Cancellation refunds the dollar amount back to the client's credit card
Stripe processes the refund (5–10 business days)

Credit-based pricing — packages and subscriptions:

The client used a credit from a package (1-pack, 5-pack, 10-pack, etc.) or membership
Cancellation returns the credit to the client's account balance — no money goes back to their card
The client can use that credit to book a different class

This is the key difference between paid and credit-based pricing: paid bookings refund dollars to the card, while package/subscription bookings refund credits to the account.

If a client paid with a package but you want to give a cash refund instead, issue the refund from the payment record and manually adjust or deduct from their package.

Refund timing

Card refunds: 5–10 business days to appear on client's statement
The transaction shows as "Refunded" in your Arketa reports immediately

Refund limits

You can only refund up to the original payment amount. You can't refund more than what was charged.