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Buyers can request a refund through Manage Your Order when requests are enabled for their order. Your team chooses whether to approve the request and how much to refund.
A request is not an automatic refund or a promise of a particular amount. Refund requests use manual review.

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Enable Refund Requests

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Site Default

  1. Go to Settings → Customer Self-Service in Manager Portal.
  2. Set Allow Refund Requests.
  3. Click Save.
This supplies the default for new events and applies directly to non-event orders. Events without saved Self-Service settings also follow this site setting. Once you save an event’s Self-Service page, that event uses its own settings. Review the events you want to enable before changing the site setting.

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Event Settings

  1. Open Events → your event → Self-Service.
  2. Expand Refund Requests and turn on Enable Refund Requests.
  3. Review these options, then click Save:
There is no automatic request deadline. Buyers may request after an event; apply your refund policy when reviewing the request. The time-change cutoff is a separate setting.

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How Buyers Submit a Request

From Manage Your Order, the buyer opens the refund option, selects eligible tickets or quantities, enters a reason and an optional note (required for Other), and submits. They can return to check status or cancel a pending request. An existing open request is shown instead of creating a duplicate. Share the buyer instructions if someone needs help.

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Find and Review Requests

  1. Click Orders in the top rail, then open the Refund Requests tab. For one event’s requests, open Refund Requests in that event’s left-hand menu.
  2. Open a request and check the order, requested tickets, reason, buyer note, and order activity.
  3. Use view order to check earlier refunds in Transaction Details, and check whether the tickets have been scanned before deciding.
The list shows Pending requests by default and remembers your last filter. Use its search and status filter to find other requests, including approved or declined decisions.

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Approve a Refund

  1. Select the tickets to refund and review each amount.
  2. Set Include Service Fees as intended.
  3. Review Remove ticket from order (void & release seat), which is on by default. Turn it off only if the buyer should keep the ticket after the refund.
  4. Choose an available refund destination. Eligible Square orders may offer Square Gift Card as an alternative to the original payment method.
  5. Check the total, then submit the refund.
For requests whose order has not changed since submission, the list shows an approve icon. It refunds the requested tickets at the suggested amount after confirmation. Open the request instead to change the tickets, amount, fees, or destination. Mixed-payment orders require full-ticket refunds; partial ticket amounts are not supported. Follow the ticket selections available for the order. Square Gift Card refunds are not available for cash, mixed-payment, or gift-card-paid orders.
An approved refund moves money and cannot be undone. Check the amount, destination, and ticket removal setting before submitting. Returning service fees to a buyer does not guarantee that processing fees are returned to you.
The buyer receives an approval email. Replies to refund-decision emails go to the Contact Organizer email. Keep that address monitored. Check the order’s transaction history to confirm the outcome; the buyer’s bank or payment provider controls when the credit appears.

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Decline a Request

  1. Open the request and select Decline request.
  2. Enter a reason and, if helpful, a Note for customer. Write both as customer-facing text.
  3. Leave Silent decline (do not email customer) off to send a decision email, or turn it on if you intentionally do not want an email sent.
  4. Click Confirm Decline.
Declining does not issue a refund. With silent decline, the buyer’s status does not disclose your decline reason or note. The decision remains in the order history.

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Offer a Time Change

If the review panel offers Suggest a time change instead, you can send the buyer a message and a direct time-change link. The offer does not refund the order or reserve a new session. The request changes to Time Change Offered (shown as Offer Sent in the list). If the buyer changes their time, it closes as Changed Time Instead. You can resend the offer. While an offer is outstanding, the buyer cannot cancel the request and the standard approve/decline actions are unavailable. If the buyer wants a refund instead, contact Support with the order number for help.

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Troubleshooting

  • The buyer has no refund option: Check the event’s Self-Service settings, whether the order is paid and eligible, and whether it already has a request or refund decision. A free-order cancellation is a different action.
  • Amounts or tickets changed since the request: Reopen the order and review the current state before deciding. A previous refund or cancellation may reduce what remains refundable.
  • Approval shows an error or processing is unclear: Check Transaction Details before retrying or issuing a separate manual refund. Contact Support with the request and order numbers if you cannot confirm the outcome.
For organizer-initiated refunds without a buyer request, use the single-order refund wizard or Bulk Refunds.