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Cancel an Event Registration
Cancel an Event Registration

Learn how to cancel an event registration with a full refund, a cancelation fee, or no refund at all.

Pete Zimek, CAE avatar
Written by Pete Zimek, CAE
Updated this week

Before canceling an attendee's registration, we highly recommend reading through the information below.

It's important to know what the system will do automatically and whether or not admins will have any additional steps to take beyond clicking Cancel.

Article Sections:


Refund Types

The default Refund Type when cancelling registrations is set to Full Refund, but can be changed to Partial Refund or No Refund.

Review the Refund Types below before proceeding to cancel registrations to determine which type is the best fit for the cancellation. Understanding the distinction between a payment and a sales receipt is important when reviewing refund types.

Full Refund

If not charging a cancellation fee, this option will either issue a full refund or a credit memo, depending on the original transaction.

  • If the original transaction was an invoice, a credit memo will be created in QuickBooks Online for the full refund amount. This will offset an unpaid invoice; for paid invoices, the payment will remain on the customer’s record as a credit.

  • If the original transaction was a sales receipt, a refund receipt will be created in QuickBooks Online and the customer’s payment method will be refunded for the full amount.

Partial Refund

To charge a cancellation fee or have any other reason to return only part of the money, this option allows you to issue a partial refund to the customer. *See the note below regarding the accounting item and class.

  • If the original transaction was an invoice, a credit memo will be created in QuickBooks Online for the partial refund amount. This will offset an unpaid invoice; for paid invoices, the payment will remain on the customer’s record as a credit.

  • If the original transaction was a sales receipt, a refund receipt will be created in QuickBooks Online and the customer’s payment method will be refunded for the partial amount.

No Refund

If no money should be returned to the customer, this option will not touch the financials.

  • Whether it was an invoice or a sales receipt, the original transaction will remain as-is and there will not be a new transaction created.


Cancel One Event Registration

This will handle the registration in Novi and issue a refund, if applicable.

Step 1

  • On the backend, navigate to the Attendees tab of the event.

Step 2

  • Use the Search field and/or Filter to find the Attendee to be cancelled.

Step 3

  • Scroll to the Action column on the right, click the caret, and select Cancel from the drop-down.

Step 4

  • In the "Cancel Registration" modal, determine if there will be a refund. The default Refund Type is set to Full Refund and can be changed to Partial Refund or No Refund.

Please note:

  • If the registration has already been canceled in Novi without entering a cancelation fee and a refund has been issued to the credit card, QuickBooks Online will not allow a refund to be canceled once it is generated in Novi.

  • If a refund was manually issued in QuickBooks Online first and now an admin needs to cancel the registration in Novi, select No Refund as the Refund Type.

Example of a Partial Refund:

Step 5

  • Once the refund settings are dialed in, click the Save & Close button.


Cancel Event Registrations in Bulk

Novi's "Batch Actions" can be used to cancel multiple event attendees from the same registration. This will handle the registrations in Novi and issue a refund if applicable.

This workflow is limited to: Cancelling multiple attendees from the same registration that occurred in the same transaction.

  • The only exception multi-seat tickets. Those attendees will be canceled all at the same time and a single cancellation for one person on a multi-seat ticket cannot occur. The entire multi-seat ticket registration will be cancelled if cancellation is processed.

To cancel a single registration, refer to Cancel One Event Registration.


1. Identify the attendee records that need to be canceled

For a little extra help finding records in a long list, consider using the Filter to search for a specific ticket(s) under Registration Type and Registration Status Active. Further filter options include Payment Status or Attendance Status.

2. Select the attendee registrations to be canceled

Ensure that only selected attendees that were registered at the same time in the same registration.

3. Under "Batch Actions," select "Cancel & Refund Selected"

Click the batch action to open the Cancel Registration modal where you will be able to determine the Refund Type in the next step.

4. Determine if a Refund will be issued

In the "Cancel Registration" modal, determine if there will be a refund and/or cancellation fee.

Please note:

  • If a registration has already been canceled in Novi without entering a cancelation fee and a refund has been issued to the credit card, QuickBooks Online will not allow a refund to be canceled once it is generated in Novi.

  • If a refund was already manually issued in QuickBooks and now an admin needs to cancel the registration in Novi, select No Refund as the Refund Type.

5. Save & Close

Once the appropriate refund type is selected, click the Save & Close button to finish the process.


Item & Class

No matter which Refund Type selected, please note the following regarding the accounting item (i.e. product & service) and class (if applicable):

  • Default mapping:

    • If a cancellation fee needs to be charged, that would be a partial (or zero) refund. This will default to the QuickBooks Online Item the ticket was originally mapped to.

    • If all ticket types are mapped to the same Class, they will also default the refund to it.

  • Changes to the mapping:

    • For partial refunds: Within the modal, admins can choose to re-map the cancellation fee to a different QuickBooks Online Item (Product & Service). Same for the Class, if applicable.

    • If no refund is issued: To re-map the cancellation fee to a different Item (Product and Service) or Class than the default, an admin/bookkeeper will need to edit the transaction in QuickBooks Online.


Process for Issuing Refunds via Check

If a registration was paid for with a credit card and the refund needs processed as a check, follow the workflow below.

1. Cancel the registration in Novi.

  • Find the attendee on the Attendees tab and click the Cancel link under the Action column dropdown (far right). This will bring up the "Cancel Registration" modal.

  • In the pop-up modal, select No Refund for the Refund Type. There will be a message that no refund will be issued - this is correct.

  • Click the Save & Close button.

2. In QuickBooks Online, issue the check as you normally would.

Please Note:

If a registration has already been cancelled in Novi without entering a cancelation fee (in the steps above) and a refund has been issued to the credit card, QuickBooks Online will not allow a refund to be canceled once it is generated in Novi.


Important Notes

  • The billable party is not always the same as the purchaser of the registration. Perhaps John Smith is the purchaser but his company, ABC Company, is the billable party. The invoice and credit memo would be connected to ABC Company's record.

  • If credit memos are automatically being applied to open invoices and you would rather issue a refund (or vice versa), refer to this QuickBooks Online help article for steps to edit the settings.

  • If a refund was already manually issued first in QuickBooks Online and now an admin needs to cancel the registration in Novi, follow the steps below for No Refund.

  • It is very possible that QuickBooks Payments or Stripe may "flag" an association for doing too many credit card refunds at one time for security purposes. If this occurs, the admin will receive an error in Novi and will need to contact the credit card processor directly for further information.

  • If the payment type is credit card or ACH, the refund will be issued through the payment provider.


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