Indiegogo strongly recommends you set a clear refund/return policy and include it in your campaign story. If you offer refunds to your backers, you can use your Reserved Funds to issue those refunds. If your Reserved Funds are fully utilized or disbursed, you can refund backers via other online payment methods.
- How to Issue a Refund to a Backer on Indiegogo
- Contribution States and Refunds
- How to Handle Refunds for Contributions that are Not Eligible for a Refund on Indiegogo
How to Refund a Backer on Indiegogo
1. Open your campaign dashboard and click on the Perks Claimed & Donations tab. This will bring up a list of contributions to your campaign.
2. Click on the link for the contribution or donation you would like to refund. This will bring you to the Contribution Details page. The contribution must have a status of Placed, not Locked or Fulfilled in order for you to see the option to refund it
3. Click the Refund Contribution button on that page to process the refund, and confirm. The Backer will be notified by email that their contribution has been refunded. If you see a Mark as Refunded button, this means you should contact the backer about refunding them off-platform.
Please note: It may take ~3-5 business days for the Backer to see the amount as a credit on their credit card statement.
Contribution States and Refunds
It's very important to keep your Contribution States up to date, on Indiegogo. You must use the Contribution Management Tools to ensure that backers do not automatically initiate a refund for perks that have been shipped.
If you have shipped perks to a backer, you should mark the contribution as Fulfilled. The Fulfilled state prevents a backer from automatically initiating a refund.
Bottom Line: Keeping accurate contribution states will ensure that backers are only able to process refunds for perks that have not been delivered.
How to Handle Refunds for Contributions that are Not Eligible for a Refund on Indiegogo
Once your Reserved Funds have been fully utilized or disbursed to you, contributions cannot be refunded electronically via Indiegogo. Instead, you'll need to work with the backer to issue a refund off of the Indiegogo platform.
Options for off-platform refunds may include peer-to-peer money services, checks, or other services to remit funds.
In all cases, we recommend reaching out to your backer when issuing refunds. You'll need to work with them on the best method for you to send and for them to receive their refund off our platform. Indiegogo does not manage off-platform refunds and is not liable for any issues involving off-platform refunds.
In cases where you need to refund a group of backers, or all backers, you will need to ensure you clearly notify all affected backers (both through an update posted to your campaign and through a direct email to backers) of the refunds. Ensure you are transparent about the reason for the refund, the method and timeline that the backer can expect to receive the refund, and a point of contact where the backers can reach you with any questions.
In the event that you have refunded a backer off-platform, we recommend you mark that contribution as Refunded on your dashboard.