Refunds happen — a player drops out, a registration gets corrected, or you decide to make a goodwill gesture. In Pickleball Tournaments (PT), you can issue refunds from the Attendees tab, and PT sends the request to Stripe on your behalf and records it alongside the player's registration. This guide walks you through the full refund flow step by step, including what the service fee covers and why you should never refund a player directly through your Stripe dashboard. Watch the short video below or follow the instructions for full detail.
Once logged into your tournament, head to the Attendees tab.
Opening the Attendees tab in the tournament menu.
2. Find the player
Scroll or search to locate the player you want to refund. To see all players currently listed as being owed funds, run a search filtered to that status.
Searching for players who are owed funds.
3. Open the Give Refund option
Click the Menu button to the left of the player's name and select Give Refund from the list.
Selecting Give Refund from the player's menu.
4. Click the Refund button
Scroll to the right using the slider bar at the bottom of the page, then click the Refund button to process a refund through Stripe.
Refund button at the right side of the registration row.
5. Enter the refund amount
The box that appears lets you refund any amount you choose.
Refund amount entry box.Warning
The service fee shown on the registration is NOT refundable by Stripe. If you choose to refund the service fee portion to the player, that amount comes out of your own collected funds. Decide in advance how you want to handle the service fee in your refund policy so players know what to expect.
6. Submit the refund
Click Give Refund. PT sends the request to Stripe to process the refund and records it on the player's registration.
Why Stripe might say the funds aren't available
If a refund fails or your available balance looks lower than expected, check your Stripe payout schedule before contacting support. If your Stripe account is set to Daily payouts, funds are transferred out to your bank automatically — in most cases, the balance you see in Stripe is actually marked as Future Payout, meaning it's already scheduled to be sent to your bank and is no longer available to refund, even though it still shows as a balance.
There's a second, separate reason a refund can fail for insufficient funds: our platform used to float a connected account's balance while incoming registration funds were still pending or in transit, covering refunds until those funds settled. That floating no longer happens. So even if your payout schedule isn't the issue, a refund can still be denied if funds from a recent registration haven't fully settled yet. If this happens, wait for those funds to clear before retrying, or contact support@pickleball.com for help.
For more detail, see Stripe's own guides on adding funds to your Stripe balance and how payouts to connected accounts work. To change your payout schedule, go to Settings > Business settings > Bank accounts and currencies > Payout schedule in your Stripe Dashboard, where you can choose daily, weekly, monthly, or manual payouts. Switching to manual turns off automatic payouts entirely — you'll then initiate payouts yourself from the Dashboard's Payouts section or via the API.
Warning
A balance shown in your Stripe dashboard is not the same as funds available for refund. This is a setting on your Stripe account, not a limitation of Pickleball.com or PT. To avoid running into this, consider switching your Stripe payout schedule to weekly or manual, or keep a buffer in your account to cover expected refunds.
Never refund a player directly through Stripe
Always issue refunds using the Give Refund steps above, from your tournament's Attendees tab — never from your Stripe dashboard directly. Because of how Pickleball.com's checkout processes payments, a refund issued directly in Stripe does not reach the player. The funds return to Pickleball.com instead of the customer's card, and our team then has to manually forward them to the player, which adds delay.
Warning
If you've already issued a refund directly through Stripe, don't try to fix it yourself. Email support@pickleball.com right away with the player's name and transaction details so our team can get the funds forwarded to them.
Frequently Asked Questions
I have a balance in Stripe, but my refund failed — why?
This can happen for two reasons. Most often, your Stripe account is set to Daily payouts, and the funds are already marked as Future Payout — already committed to your bank and no longer available to refund. Switching to weekly or manual payouts, or keeping a buffer on hand, can help you avoid this. It can also happen if funds from a recent registration are still pending or in transit and haven't fully settled yet — our platform no longer floats that gap the way it used to, so the refund gets denied until those funds clear.
Will the player be notified when I issue a refund?
Stripe sends the refund directly to the card the player used at registration. Some banks email or push-notify the cardholder when a refund posts; others only show it on the next statement. It's a good practice to send the player a quick note (email or text from the Attendees screen) letting them know the refund was issued and roughly when to expect it.
How long does it take for the refund to appear on the player's card?
Stripe typically processes refunds in 5-10 business days, depending on the player's bank or card issuer. Refunds can occasionally take longer for international cards. If a player asks about a refund that's been pending for more than 10 business days, ask them to check with their bank first — the refund is almost always on the bank's side at that point.
Can I issue a partial refund?
Yes. The refund amount field accepts any value up to the original registration total. This is useful if you're refunding for a withdrawn event but keeping the player in others, or if your refund policy returns a percentage rather than the full amount.
Why isn't the service fee refundable?
The service fee covers the cost of processing the original registration and is collected separately at checkout. Stripe does not return that portion when a refund is issued, which is why refunding the service fee to a player means absorbing it out of your tournament's collected funds. Make sure your refund policy is clear with players up front so there are no surprises.
Can I refund a player after the tournament has ended?
Yes, refunds can be issued after the tournament ends as long as the original Stripe charge is still within Stripe's refund window (typically 180 days from the original transaction). If you're past that window, contact support@pickleball.com and we'll help you work out an alternative.
I accidentally refunded a player directly through Stripe — what do I do?
Email support@pickleball.com with the player's name and transaction details, and our team will get the funds forwarded to them. Going forward, always use the Give Refund option on the Attendees tab so refunds reach players automatically.
