Refunds

Refund an order in full or in part from LicenseDock admin, through Stripe, PayPal or Mollie. Refunds you make in a gateway's own dashboard are picked up by the webhook and recorded the same way.

Refunding an order

1. Go to Components → LicenseDock → Orders.
2. Open the actions menu on the order's row and choose Refund.
3. Check the figures in the dialog: order total, anything already refunded, any refund still pending at the gateway, and the Remaining balance.
4. Enter the Refund Amount. Leave it at the remaining balance for a full refund, or enter less for a partial refund.
5. Optionally enter a Reason. It's stored with the refund record and never shown to the customer. On Stripe it is also sent as refund metadata.
6. Click Confirm Refund.

Only orders with the status Completed or Partially Refunded can be refunded. Refunding needs the Delete permission on LicenseDock.

The refundable balance covers everything paid on the order: the first payment, subscription renewals and any plan-change top-ups. When an order has several payments, LicenseDock refunds them largest first until the amount is covered.

Full and partial refunds

	Partial refund	Full refund
Order status	Partially Refunded	Refunded
Licenses	Stay active	Revoked
Subscriptions	Keep running	Cancelled in LicenseDock and at the gateway, immediately
Credit note	Issued for the refunded amount	Issued for the refunded amount
Customer email	Partial Refund Issued	Refund Issued, plus the subscription cancellation email
Admin email	Refund Issued	Refund Issued

A partial refund that brings the total refunded up to the full amount paid is treated as a full refund.

Revoked licenses fail activation and validation through the License API.

Credit notes

Every refund gets a credit note: a document in its own numbering series (for example CN-0001) that points at the invoice it credits. When the order has several invoices (renewals, plan-change top-ups), the credit note goes against the invoice for the payment that was refunded.

The credit note PDF is attached to the customer's refund email, and it appears alongside invoices in admin and in the customer's account. Test orders use a separate numbering series. See Invoices.

A lost chargeback doesn't create a credit note. See Disputes.

Pending refunds (PayPal)

PayPal sometimes accepts a refund and settles it a little later. LicenseDock then shows "Refund queued. Status updates in 1–2 minutes." and records the refund as pending. Nothing else changes until PayPal confirms it with PAYMENT.CAPTURE.REFUNDED or PAYMENT.SALE.REFUNDED. Then the order status, credit note, emails and (for a full refund) license and subscription changes are applied.

While a refund is pending, the refund dialog shows it under Pending Settlement and leaves it out of the remaining balance, so the same money can't be refunded twice.

Refunds made in the gateway dashboard

A refund made directly in Stripe, PayPal or Mollie reaches LicenseDock through the webhook:

Gateway	Event
Stripe	charge.refunded
PayPal	PAYMENT.CAPTURE.REFUNDED, PAYMENT.SALE.REFUNDED
Mollie	Payment notification with a refund in status refunded

It is recorded like a refund from admin: status change, credit note, emails, and license and subscription changes for a full refund. Each gateway refund ID is recorded once, however often the webhook repeats it.

Mark as Refunded

Mark as Refunded, next to Refund in the actions menu, records a refund without contacting any gateway. Use it for money returned outside the gateways, or for a gateway whose webhook isn't set up.

It records the amount, issues the credit note and sends the emails in the same way. A full refund marked this way revokes licenses and cancels the subscription in LicenseDock, but doesn't cancel the subscription at the gateway. Cancel it in the gateway dashboard yourself, or the customer keeps being charged.

Don't record a gateway refund twice

When the webhook is working, a refund made in the gateway dashboard is recorded automatically. Marking it as refunded as well records a partial refund twice.

When a refund fails

Message	What to do
Gateway refund failed: ...	The gateway's own error. Nothing was recorded
Refunded X of Y	Part of the amount went through. The gateway's last error is shown. Refund the rest again or from the gateway dashboard
No payment transaction found for this order	The order has no gateway payment on record (a manual order, for example). Use Mark as Refunded
No Stripe charge with a refundable balance was found for this subscription	Refund it from the Stripe Dashboard. The webhook records it

Plan-change downgrades

Downgrades are always scheduled for the next renewal, so a plan change never refunds money. See Plan changes.