Canceling and refunding Zoom Sessions events

Zoom Sessions hosts can cancel their live event from the Across Hubs Events page, resulting in their event ending immediately and the canceled event being removed from the Zoom Events directory. The host can cancel orders for their Zoom Sessions events—single-session or recurring sessions events.

Additionally, attendees will see a message that the event was canceled followed by an email notification that informs them the event has been canceled. They will receive a full refund if the canceled event was a paid event.

This article covers:

Prerequisites for canceling and refunding a Zoom Sessions event

Note: For access to the latest Zoom Events and Webinar features, we strongly recommend hosts to update to the latest version of the Zoom desktop client/mobile application.

How to understand ticket cancellation and refund policies

Note: Only if the host accepts cancellations for the event, an option for attendees to cancel a ticket will appear. If the host has not implemented a ticket cancellation policy for the event or if the ticket cancellation occurs outside of the applicable cancellation period, the host makes the final decision to accept or deny a cancellation request. The host is not obligated to approve a cancellation request.

If the host cancels the paid events, which already have ticket sales, the attendee will get a full refund.

An attendee can also get a full refund if the host approves the cancellation request, which can happen within 1 hour of the start of the event up to 14 days after the event ends. Refunds outside of the cancellation policy are at the sole discretion of the host. Once 14 days have passed since an event has ended, refunds for the event may not be requested or initiated, as further discussed in the Zoom Events Terms of Use.

An attendee can request a refund from the host outside of the cancellation policy period. Refunds outside of the cancellation policy are at the sole discretion of the host. Once 14 days have passed since an event ended, refunds for the event may not be requested or initiated.

Understand ticket purchase refunds

If an attendee paid for an event in the same currency that their credit or debit card was issued in and made a refund request, they will receive a refund for the same value regardless of the currency the Host charges for tickets if their refund is accepted.

If the host cancels a paid order, the cost of the ticket will go back to the purchaser and the ticket will be voided. Any incurred processing fees associated with this ticket will not be refunded back to the host. Processing fees are charged at the time of purchase and are set by the payment provider (Stripe or PayPal) that processed the transaction. This action cannot be undone. Additionally, the host and attendee will receive an order cancellation email.

How to set a cancellation policy

In the cancellation policy section of your hub, you can set the default cancellation policy for your Zoom Sessions event.

Learn more about setting a cancellation policy.

How to cancel a Zoom Sessions event

  1. Sign in to Zoom Events.
  2. In the left navigation menu, click the top dropdown arrow  and select Across Hubs.
  3. In the left navigation menu, click Events.
  4. Click the Upcoming tab.
  5. Next to the event you want to cancel, click the ellipsis .
  6. Click Cancel.
    A confirmation window will appear.
  7. In the confirmation window, click Cancel Event to confirm.
    Note: Once you cancel this event, it will be removed from the Zoom Events directory.

How to cancel an order for an event

Hosts can initiate the cancellation of registrants’ orders for free or paid events.

  1. Sign in to Zoom Events.
  2. In the left navigation menu, click the top dropdown arrow  and select Across Hubs.
  3. In the left navigation menu, click Events.
  4. Click the Upcoming tab.
  5. To the right of the event you want to manage, click the pencil icon .
  6. In the Zoom Sessions event setup menu, access the Manage Registrants tab.
  7. Click the Orders tab.
  8. Find the order you want to cancel.
  9. Under their registration Status, click Cancel Order.
    A verification window will appear.
  10. In the verification window under Message to your registrant, enter a message to the attendee to complete the order cancellation.
  11. Click Cancel Order.

The registrant's entire order will be canceled, and an email notification will be sent to the registrant. For paid events, the full refund will be processed.

How to manage an attendee’s refund

Accept a refund

  1. In the Zoom Sessions event setup menu, access the Manage Registration tab.
  2. Click the Refunds tab.
  3. Find the registrant that you want to refund, then click the right arrow  to expand their ticket details.
    Note: Registrants that request a refund will have the Refund Requested status.
  4. In the expanded view, choose from the following actions:
  5. In the verification dialog box, view the attendee's request message and event and refund request details.
  6. Click Approve Refund to confirm.

You will receive an email confirmation or in-app notification if your refund to attendees is processed successfully. Additionally, the attendee's refund status will change to Refund in Progress on the Refunds page.

Reject a refund

  1. In the Zoom Sessions event setup menu, access the Manage Registration tab.
  2. Click the Refunds tab.
  3. Find the registrant that you want to refund, then click the right arrow  to expand their ticket details.
    Note: Registrants that request a refund will have the Refund Requested status.
  4. In the expanded view, click Reject Refund.
    A verification dialog box will appear.
  5. In the verification dialog box, click Reject Refund to confirm.

How to refund tickets sold in a foreign currency

If an attendee paid for a ticket sold in a foreign currency, the attendee's refund may be more or less than the original amount that they paid depending on the exchange rate at the time of the purchase and refund.

Learn more about how Zoom Events refunds tickets sold in a foreign currency.

How to provide cancellation and refunds for recurring sessions events

When a host cancels a session that has at least 1 paid ticket in a recurring sessions event, they can provide cancellation and refunds to attendees in the following ways:

Delete sessions in a recurring sessions event

When you delete sessions that have registered users, your registrant will lose access to those sessions and will be notified that those sessions have been canceled. If all sessions in a registrant's order are canceled, their entire order will be refunded, and you will be responsible for paying any fees incurred. Deleting a session cannot be undone.

How to use the partial refund policy

In addition to implementing a full refund policy, a partial refund policy can also be implemented to provide a refund option for additional scenarios. The host can configure a partial refund policy at the hub and event levels. The host can initiate a 50% refund based on the cases.

Registrants can cancel some tickets of the entire order for a single event.

Partial refunds can be enabled to give you the option to provide partial refunds for:

When you cancel one or more occurrences in an event series, the cost of the tickets being refunded will automatically be credited to the user.