Overview
Refunds in ShopView and the Customer Portal are closely tied to Stripe, the payment processor.
When a customer pays an invoice or Part Sale through the Customer Portal (Payments by ShopView / ShopPay, powered by Stripe), refunds and credits for that payment must be handled through the portal — not from the Issue Credit or Reverse options inside the Part Sale or Work Order.
If you open the invoice in ShopView and try Issue Credit or Reverse, you will see a message like:
"This invoice was paid through the customer portal. Credits and refunds must be handled through the portal."
Why you may see "Available balance for refunds: $0.00"
When you click Refund on a portal-paid invoice and see "Available balance for refunds: $0.00" (in USD, CAD, or your currency), it means your Stripe balance does not currently hold enough funds to cover the refund.
This is normal Stripe behavior — a refund is drawn from your available Stripe balance, and you cannot refund money that is not currently in that balance (for example, if recent payments have already been paid out to your bank). The fix is to top up your Stripe balance first, then issue the refund.
You must add funds to a holding account in Stripe in order to refund through ShopView. This acts similar to an escrow account holding funds for you inside Stripe in the event you need to process a refund via the Customer Portal. This is Stripe protocol, and is not managed by ShopView. Funds can take up to 10 days to become available.
For details on what to do once your inside Stripe follow please review this article:
Step 1 — Top up your Stripe balance
In ShopView, go to Payments by ShopView → Settings: Payments.
Open the Stripe Account section to access your Stripe dashboard.
On the Stripe Home page, find your balance in the top-right and click See details.
Click Add to balance and add enough funds to cover the refund amount.
Step 2 — Issue the refund from the Customer Portal
Once your balance reflects the added funds, return to the invoice in the Customer Portal.
Click Refund on the invoice and choose a full or partial amount.
The refund will now process successfully.
What happens in ShopView
When the portal refund is issued, ShopView automatically creates a matching credit memo tied to the original invoice, so your records stay in sync. You do not need to create a separate credit manually for portal-paid invoices. Additionally, this credit memo is automatically synced to QuickBooks Online, ensuring that your Accounts Receivable balance is reduced and the customer's credit balance is updated in QBO.
Important notes
This portal refund flow applies only to payments made through the Customer Portal (ShopPay / Stripe).
For payments recorded manually in ShopView (cash, check, or an externally processed card), use the standard Create Credit / Reverse Invoice flow inside ShopView instead.
The Stripe balance and refund are part of your own Stripe account that powers Payments by ShopView.
Refunds processed through ShopPay (via Stripe) do not return the original processing fee to you. The customer receives their full refund, but the processing fee charged during the initial transaction is retained by Stripe.
This rule applies even if the refund is issued on the same day the payment was received.