Applicable to: Association and Club Administrators

Application(s): Admin Portal > Participants > [Participant name] > Invoices > View

Applicable Sports: Rugby Canada

This article will cover the following:

1. Overview
2. Understanding the updated Invoices list
3. Viewing an Invoice Detail page
4. Issuing an ad-hoc refund against a line item
5. Cancelling a registration or expiring memberships as part of a refund

Related articles:

• Reviewing and actioning participant refund requests
• Request a Refund

Overview

Ad-hoc admin refunds allow organisation administrators to issue a refund directly against a participant's invoice without waiting for the participant to submit a refund request. Admins can refund any line item they own — in full or in part — at any time, with a mandatory reason recorded against each refund for audit purposes.

This feature is available for a wide range of payment types: competition registrations, program registrations, standalone memberships, products and merchandise, and one-off payment requests. 

When an admin submits a refund, it is auto-approved immediately — there is no inter-organisation approval chain. PlayHQ processes the refund back to the participant's original payment method, and the participant receives an email confirmation.

Tip: Know which refund flow to use. Ad-hoc admin refunds are best for resolving disputes, correcting billing errors, or proactively refunding in cases where no participant request exists. If a participant has already submitted a refund request, use the Admin Approval Flow instead.

Viewing an Invoice Detail page

The Invoice Detail page gives you a full breakdown of a single invoice. To access it:

1. Navigate to the participant's Invoices tab

   From the Participants section of the Admin Portal, open the participant's profile and select the Invoices tab.

2. Open the invoice

   Click View on the invoice you want to inspect. This opens the Invoice Detail page for that order.

3. Review the invoice header

   The page header shows the Order ID, payment method (last 4 digits of the card), payment type (Upfront or Instalments), total amount, total refunded, and balance owing.

   [Screenshot: Invoice Detail page header with order summary information]

4. Review the line items table

   Each line item shows the item name, organisation, item price, previously refunded amount, and Refund Available (the maximum amount that can be refunded for that item, accounting for all previous refunds including any currently processing).

   

Tip: View items from other organisations. By default, only line items owned by your organisation are shown. Toggle View other items to see all items on the invoice in read-only mode. This is useful for understanding the full invoice context.

Issuing a refund against a line item

Follow these steps to issue a refund:

1. Navigate to the Invoice Detail page

   Follow the steps in the Viewing an Invoice Detail page section above to open the relevant invoice.

2. Expand the line item row

   Click the row for the line item you want to refund. The row expands to show the previous refund history for that item and a new refund input section.

   

3. Enter a refund amount

   In the New Refund field, enter the amount to refund. The amount must be greater than zero and cannot exceed the Refund Available value shown for that item.

   Tip: Partial refunds are supported. You do not need to refund the full line item value. Enter any amount up to the refund available to issue a partial refund.

4. Enter a mandatory reason

   Complete the Reason field. This is required and forms part of the audit trail visible to any admin who views this invoice in future.

5. Apply optional side effects (if applicable)

   Depending on your organisation tier, you may see one or both of the following toggles. See the next section for details on when each applies.

   • Cancel Registration — available for Club administrators.
   • Expire Memberships — available for Rugby Canada and Provincial Union administrators (where enabled by your sport).

6. Submit the refund

   Click Update & Save to submit. PlayHQ processes the refund immediately — no further approval is needed. Once submitted:

   • The line item's Refund Available amount updates to reflect the new refund.
   • The invoice Payment Status updates (e.g. from Paid to Partial Refund).
   • The participant receives an email confirming the refund amount, line item, and reason.
   • The refund appears in the line item's previous refund history, attributed to your name.

Important: Service fees cannot be refunded. Service fees applied to an invoice are excluded from the refund available amount and cannot be returned to the participant via this flow.

Cancelling a registration or expiring memberships as part of a refund

When issuing a refund, you may also want to cancel the participant's registration or expire their membership. These actions can be performed in the same step as the refund rather than as separate operations.

Cancel Registration (Clubs only)

Toggle Cancel Registration to ON to cancel the participant's registration on this order at the same time as the refund. The toggle is only available if the participant's registration is currently active. If the registration has already been cancelled, the toggle will be disabled.

Expire Memberships (Rugby Canada and Provincial Unions)

Toggle Expire Memberships to ON to expire the participant's membership(s) associated with this order at the same time as the refund. This toggle is only available if enabled by your sport and if the participant's membership is currently active.

Tip: Check the Registration and Membership Status field. The Invoice Detail page shows the participant's current registration and membership status. Review this before enabling either toggle to confirm the action is appropriate.

Frequently asked questions

Who can issue ad-hoc refunds? Association and Club Administrators with access to the Admin Portal can issue refunds against line items owned by their organisation. Admins can only refund items their own organisation owns; items belonging to other organisations on a shared invoice are visible in read-only mode.

Can I refund a partial amount rather than the full line item? Yes. Enter any amount greater than zero and up to the Refund Available value for the line item. Partial refunds are fully supported and reflected accurately in the Refund Available balance for any subsequent refunds.

How long does the refund take to reach the participant? PlayHQ processes the refund immediately upon submission. The time for the funds to appear in the participant's account depends on their bank or card provider, typically 3–10 business days.

Can I undo a refund once it has been submitted? No. Refunds are processed immediately and cannot be reversed once submitted. Make sure the amount and reason are correct before clicking Update & Save.

What happens if I accidentally submit the wrong amount? Once a refund is processed it cannot be undone. If the amount was too low, you can issue a second partial refund up to the remaining refund available amount. If the amount was too high, contact PlayHQ Support.

Why can't I see a refund option on an instalment invoice? Ad-hoc refunds are not available for invoices being paid via instalments. Contact PlayHQ Support to process a refund for an instalment-paid invoice.

Can I refund service fees? No. Service fees are excluded from the refund available amount and cannot be refunded via this flow.

Will the participant be notified? Yes. The participant receives an email when an ad-hoc refund is processed, including the amount, line item, and reason provided.

How do I know if someone else has already issued a refund on this line item? Expand the line item row to see the previous refund history, including the date, amount, reason, and the name of the admin who processed it. The Refund Available amount already accounts for all previous and in-progress refunds, so you cannot accidentally over-refund.

What if the feature is not available to me? Ad-hoc admin refunds are being rolled out progressively per sport and organisation. If you cannot see the View action on invoices or the refund input fields on the Invoice Detail page, the feature may not yet be enabled for your organisation. Contact your sport's support team for more information.ample markdown.