How are cancellations and no-shows handled?

Question

How are cancellations and no-shows handled?

Topic: Agenda Mass Actions

Accepted Answer

How are cancellations and no-shows handled?

Brief answer — Cancellations: follow the SCAR/CAR process (Set up fees → Cancel → Apply cancellation fee → Refund). Always ensure the registrant shows a negative Balance Due (Credit Due) before issuing a refund. No-shows: not described in the provided support pages below; see note and next steps after the cancellation details.

How cancellations are handled (key points)

Policy setup
Define cancellation fees on Attendee Types (Plan > Event Setup > Attendee Types) and/or on Agenda items (Event Setup > Agenda). If you want the ability to fully refund, create a cancellation fee of $0.
Required order of operations (SCAR / CAR)
S / C: Set up cancellation fees (S) and Cancel the registration/agenda/session (C).
A: Apply the appropriate cancellation fee so the registrant’s List of Charges is updated.
R: Refund the payment (only after the Balance Due is negative / Credit Due).
How to cancel and refund a single registration
Open the registrant record → Registrations > Profile → choose the Cancellation Fee and set Status to Cancelled → Save.
Go to Registrations > Financial to confirm the Balance Due (system applies the cancellation fee and adjusts charges).
Click Refund, choose Payment/Refund Type (select the original CC if applicable), and Submit. The refund record (RF) appears in Discounts & Refunds and Transaction History.
Cancelling an agenda item or session
Registrations > Agenda → open the item → set Quantity to 0 and Status to Cancelled → choose cancellation fee if applicable → Save.
Then refund from the Financials page (select the credit card to refund to if the original was CC-processed; Process Payment Online is checked by default).
Cancelling an additional/guest registrant
Cancel the guest’s record, then open the primary registrant’s Overview → Payment sub-tab to view charges and process the refund for the guest from the primary registrant’s financials.
Important operational notes
A registration must be marked Complete for cancellation fees to apply. Incomplete registrations do NOT get cancellation fees assigned — mark the registrant’s Complete property before changing Status to Cancelled.
Always ensure Balance Due is negative (Credit Due) before applying a refund.
For non-CC payments you may create a new refund record (Add New) and select the appropriate payment/refund type.

No-shows

The provided Certain support articles do not describe a specific "no-show" workflow or automatic treatment of no-shows.
If you want to treat no-shows as cancellations, or track them separately, check your event’s attendance/session tracking settings or your internal policy (and mark attendees or sessions accordingly) — or contact Certain Support for guidance tailored to your event configuration.

Sources

Question for you: Are you configuring cancellation/no-show policies for a fee-based event (where refunds will be issued) or for free/attendance-only events?