How to process a full or partial refund in the Auction Manager

This guide shows you how to issue a full or partial refund yourself from a bidder’s invoice, without contacting Handbid Support. It’s for organizations that have been enabled for manager-processed refunds.

Prerequisites

Manager-processed refunds enabled for your organization.
Your organization connected to its own Stripe account.
The refund permission granted to your user on the Staff tab (see below).

Who can issue refunds

Refund access is granted per staff member, and only the organization owner can grant it. If you’re the owner:

Go to your Organization Settings.
Open the Staff tab.
Find the staff member and check the refund permission checkbox for that user.
Save.

If you’re not the owner, ask your organization owner to enable it for you. The checkbox is not editable by anyone else, including other admins.

How to issue a refund

1. Open the invoice

In the Auction Manager, go to the auction’s Invoices (or Receipts) and open the bidder’s invoice.

Select the three-dot menu on the invoice.

3. Choose the refund type

Refund — returns the full amount.
Partial refund — returns an amount you specify.

4. Enter the details and confirm

For a partial refund, enter the amount to return. Review it, then confirm.

The refund is processed through your organization’s Stripe account, so the money comes back out of your own balance — not Handbid’s.

Verify it worked

The invoice’s Amount column shows that the transaction was refunded, along with who processed it — the name of the logged-in manager who issued the refund. That’s your audit trail; it stays on the record.

You can also confirm the refund in your Stripe dashboard.

Common issues

You don’t see Refund or Partial refund in the three-dot menu — either the feature isn’t enabled for your organization, or the refund permission hasn’t been granted to your user on the Staff tab.
The refund permission checkbox is greyed out — only the organization owner can change it.
Your organization isn’t eligible — organizations that process payments on Handbid’s merchant account can’t issue their own refunds. Contact your CSM about connecting your own Stripe account.