Refunding vs. Reversing vs. Deleting Payments

Refunding a payment returns money back to the customer. This is typically used when the customer has overpaid, or has cancelled their enrollment/registration.

Reversing a payment does NOT return money back to the customer. The reversed payment is no longer calculated towards the family's account balance, but will still be processed by your payment gateway. Admins may still access the original payment details via the family's profile, and may also un-reverse the transaction later if needed. Financial reports will reflect both the original payment plus the reversal. Common scenarios include a checking account payment that was returned unsuccessful or a payment that you credited to another year.

Deleting a payment also does NOT return money back to the customer. The reversed payment is permanently removed from the family's profile page, but will still be processed by your payment gateway. There is no record of deleted payments on the family's Financial (like with reversals), nor on financial reports (except for the Deleted Transactions report). Deleting payments is not a common scenario, but could be used to remove a check payment that was recorded on the wrong family, for example.

Overall, reversing the payment is typically a better option if you wish to retain a record of the original payment details.

When you void a transaction, your payment gateway will cancel the transaction before settling it through the associated credit card/checking account.

Camps using Constellation Payments for their payment gateway can void same-day transactions using CampSite's "Void" feature within the transaction details for the payment/refund. To learn more, please click here.

If your camp is not using Constellation Payments, you must contact your payment gateway directly to request a void. After voiding the transaction, reverse it from the relevant profile page.