INTRODUCTION
Feature Summary: Configure settings to auto-issue refunds and, optionally, establish thresholds to require manual approval.
Use Cases: Automated refunds allows your organization to establish rules and process refunds automatically. Automating refunds can save time for both your organization and your customers.
This article shows system users how to configure the platform to auto-issue refunds.
There are other ways to issue refunds:
Manually issue refunds from the admin scheduler.
Manually issue refunds caused by a closure (court or event).
Manually issue refunds from a member's user page.
Manually issue refunds from the TRANSACTIONS > REFUNDS page.
To protect against refunding unsettled e-check payments, CourtReserve prevents refunds to account credit or cash until the e-check has fully settled. Refunds are only allowed back to the original e-check payment method during this period. This applies to both manual and automatic refunds. If a refund to account credit or cash is attempted on a payment originally made by e-check before it has settled, an info notice will appear and the refund will remain in a pending state.
SETUP REQUIREMENTS
Log in to the admin dashboard.
Go to the side menu and click SETTINGS.
Scroll down the page to the BILLING SETTINGS heading and click the Auto-Refund icon.
Automated Refund Acceptance
There are five types of possible automated refunds. Check a box to enable auto-approval for one more refund types. If a refund type is not checked, a system user must manually review these requests.
Refund Acceptance Options
When a system user enables automated refunds for Court Reservations, Lessons, Drop-ins, or Full Events, two additional configuration fields become available.
Auto-approve refund if cancellation is requested more than X hours in advance:
Enter a value to define a cut-off window for automatic refund approval. Refund requests submitted before this window begins are automatically approved, provided they meet eligibility requirements. Requests submitted after the cut-off period begins are routed to the Refunds page for manual review.
If this field is left blank, eligible refunds are automatically approved up until the start time of the reservation or event.
Note: Events canceled due to not meeting minimum participant requirements will automatically trigger refunds, even if the organization’s auto-refund window has already passed.
Do not auto-approve amounts greater than:
Enter a dollar amount to set a maximum refund threshold for automatic approval.
Refund requests at or below this amount are auto-approved (as long as they are submitted before the cut-off period).
Refund requests above this amount are sent to the refunds page for manual approval.
These settings allow organizations to automate routine refunds while maintaining control over timing and higher-value transactions.
Refund Destination
Decide which payment types to auto-approve (based on the rules created above). Set the refund destination and then click Save.
If a player paid for a booking with a credit card, CourtReserve automatically directs the approved refund to the credit card.
It is not necessary to enable every payment type for auto-approval. Refund requests that involve a disabled payment type are sent to the refund page for manual approval.
Accepted Refunds
When a player cancels a paid booking within the permitted time period, CourtReserve creates an internal request to process a refund. The player does not need to submit a refund request.
The Auto-Refund tool does not issue the refund immediately after a player cancels a paid booking, but it will process the refund automatically. The processor updates approximately every 30 seconds and displays these refunds in the Accepted tab of the Refund list (TRANSACTIONS > REFUNDS > Accepted Refunds tab).
ADMIN PERSPECTIVE
Auto-Approval
After processing, CourtReserve displays the refund in the Approved Refunds table. This means the refund was processed, and funds were moved to the destination set in the rules (see above). If the Processed By column is blank, this indicates it was auto-refunded.
If a refund is skipped during the auto-refunding process, system users will see an info icon with a brief description explaining why this refund was skipped in the Pending Refunds tab.
Refunds can be skipped during the auto-refunding process if:
The refund exceeds the maximum dollar amount for automatic refunding
The refund was made after the allowable period set for automatic refunded
Payment has not settled with payment provider
Original payment method unavailable or expired
Manual Approval
CourtReserve displays refund requests that require manual review in the Pending Refunds table. Each has the option to Accept, Refuse or Reschedule. Click here to learn more.
USER PERSPECTIVE
Players can check the status of their accounts and refunds. On the member portal, they click their name and then select Billing > Transactions.
On the Transactions page, click the ALL tab. This table shows payments and refunds.
