How to Refund or Cancel an Invoice

With a Timely account, you can easily refund or cancel an invoice related to event tickets, RSVPs or Event Promote fees. It is a simple process that automatically updates your attendee list and ticket inventory, as well as notifies your customers regarding the refund or cancellation. Learn all the steps in this article.

1. Introduction

For invoices related to event tickets and event promote fees, you should use the Refund feature when you want to refund the customer for the ticket purchased or the fee paid. If, for any reason, you do not want to return the money to the customer, you should use the Cancel feature instead.

For invoices related to RSVPs, you will only use the Cancel feature. Usually, RSVPs are used to confirm attendance to free events, thus there is no fee involved. Thus, if the attendee decides not to go to the event, there is no amount to refund. The only action required from you is to cancel the RSVP invoice.

Please note that an invoice can contain one or more tickets, RSVPs or Event Promote fees. When you refund an invoice, the system automatically refund all the tickets and fees linked to the invoice. If you want to refund or cancel an individual ticket or RSVP, please check How to Refund or Cancel Event Tickets and RSVPs.

2. Locating Invoices

The first step to refund or cancel an invoice is to locate it on your Timely dashboard. In the Ticketing menu of your Timely dashboard, go to the Invoices tab.

print screen of the Ticketing menu, with the Invoices submenu marked as selected

You will see a list of all invoices, individually. The list starts from the most recent invoice issued.

To facilitate the search, you can use the filters. The filtering options are: purchase date range, event title, purchaser's name, order id, order type and order status.

print screen of the Invoices tab with the filter options to find a specific invoice

In the Invoices tab you can view all the purchases from a ticket holder in a single invoice. If a customer buys one or more tickets in the same transaction, the system will generate an invoice that will show up in the Invoices tab.

3. Refunding an Invoice

After locating the invoice you want to refund, click over it and find the Refund option.

print screen of a ticket with the refund option selected in the Tickets/RSVPs Tab of the Timely dashboard

You will see a popup message on your screen. Click "Yes" for the system to process the refund. Please note that if you refund an invoice, you will not be able to cancel it later.

print screen of the popup message asking for confirmation before refunding an invoice

4. Cancelling Invoices

After locating the invoice you want to cancel, click over it and find the Cancel option.

print screen of a ticket with the cancel option selected in the Tickets/RSVPs Tab of the Timely dashboard

A popup message will appear on your screen, asking you to confirm. If you click "Yes", the system will process the cancellation. Note that if you cancel an invoice, you will not be able to refund it later.

5. Invoice Refund and Cancellation Automations

With Timely event ticketing plan or add-on, the whole refund and cancellation process is performed automatically. Once you confirm the refund or cancellation action, the system will:

Cancel the invoice;
Refund the customer, if you chose the Refund option;
Notify the customer regarding the refund or cancellation;
Remove the cancelled attendee from the attendees' list, so he/she cannot use the cancelled ticket or RSVP to check in at your event; and
Put the cancelled ticket or RSVP back in your ticket inventory, so it becomes available to other potential buyers.

Since no additional manual process is required from you, this feature saves you time and increase your productivity!

For more user guidance, please go to our Help Center. If you have any questions or need additional assistance, do not hesitate to contact us. Alternatively, you can open a support ticket from your Timely account’s dashboard.