When refunding a payment through the 1CONNECT portal, you may encounter the following error message:
"Refund failed. Your building's account doesn’t have sufficient funds to process the refund."
Understanding Fees and Refunds in 1VALET
When a resident makes a payment through 1VALET, fees are deducted before depositing the remainder into your building’s Stripe account:
1VALET service fee – deducted by 1VALET.
Stripe transaction fee – deducted by Stripe.
The net amount after these fees is what is deposited into your building’s Stripe account.
Important: In the event of a refund:
1VALET always returns the 1VALET service fee to the building after the refund is successfully processed.
Stripe does not refund its transaction fee.
Understanding this is essential, because your building’s Stripe balance must be sufficient to cover the full refund to the resident.
Why Refunds Sometimes Fail in 1VALET
Refunds can fail if your building’s Stripe balance does not have enough funds to cover the full refund amount.
This can happen for several reasons:
Fees deducted from the original payment – after 1VALET service fees and Stripe transaction fees are taken, the net deposit may be less than the refund amount.
Recent payouts – if funds were recently paid out to your business bank account, the Stripe balance may be lower than the refund amount.
No recent transactions – if few or no new resident payments have been processed, the balance may not have grown enough to cover a refund
Example: Resident Payment and Refund
Let’s walk through a typical scenario to see how a refund works in 1VALET.
1. Initial Payment:
A resident books an amenity and pays $100.00 through 1VALET. Before depositing into the building’s Stripe account, fees are deducted:
1VALET service fee: 1% of transaction with a minimum of $2.00 ($2 in this example)
Stripe transaction fee: 2.99% ($2.99 in this example)
The net amount deposited to the building’s Stripe account is $100 − $2 − $2.99 = $95.01.
2. Booking Cancellation:
Later, the resident cancels the booking, and a refund of $100.00 needs to be issued.
3. Refund Pre-Check and Decision to Allow Refund:
Before processing the refund, 1VALET checks whether the building’s Stripe balance is sufficient to cover the full refund to the resident:
If the balance is greater than or equal to $100.00 → refund is processed, and the 1VALET service fee is returned afterward.
If the balance less than $100.00 → refund is blocked, and an error message is displayed.
Example: Building balance $95.01 is less than $100→ refund cannot be processed.
How to Refund the Resident
Option 1: Wait for another transaction
You will need to wait until another resident payment is processed and adds enough funds to your Stripe balance.
For example, if another resident makes a $100 payment, $95.01 (after fees) would be added to your building’s Stripe balance, bringing the total to $190.02. This would be enough to process the $100 refund that is required. Depending on how frequently transactions occur in your building, it may take a few days for a new payment to arrive. In rare cases where no further transactions are expected from your building via 1VALET, please contact 1VALET Support for assistance.
Option 2: Add funds to your Stripe account's "refunds and disputes balance". For more information on this process, view this help article
Option 3: Refund outside the 1VALET platform (Not recommended)
If waiting for additional funds is not feasible, you can issue the refund directly outside the 1VALET platform. However, this is not recommended, as our system will not automatically track the refund, and there is a risk of accidentally refunding the resident twice. If you do refund outside of 1VALET, be sure to record a note on the original transaction, booking, or store purchase so it can be referenced later.
How to Prevent Failed Refunds
While you can resolve a failed refund after it occurs, the best approach is to avoid the issue entirely. The strategies below help ensure your building’s Stripe balance is sufficient to process refunds whenever they are needed.
If your building does not process multiple transactions daily or every few days, you can adjust your payout schedule. Less frequent payouts allow your Stripe account to maintain a balance, reducing the risk of insufficient funds for refunds.
Contact 1VALET Support to set a minimum balance that will stay in your Stripe account to be held for refunds and disputed charges (rare). Choose a minimum balance that best reflects the size of an average transaction in your building, the transaction volume you typically do on a daily basis, and how many refunds you typically process.
1VALET recommends that all customers have a minimum balance set up to avoid failed refunds during regular operations.
If you have any questions or need further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Support Team at support@1valet.com.