Have you ever donated or gifted subs on Twitch and then had second thoughts and wanted to get a refund for your donations? In this article I will go over Twitch’s refund policy and what you can do to get your money back.

Are Twitch Donations Refundable?

Twitch donations such as subs, gifted subs or Twitch bits are NOT refundable on Twitch; however, if you donated to a streamer using your credit card or PayPal then you may be able to work with those companies to receive a chargeback for your donation.

As stated in their Terms of Sale under “Refund Policy”:

“Accordingly, except as detailed in these Terms of Sale, to the extent permitted by applicable law, cancellations are not permitted after a purchase, and we do not offer any refunds or credits, including, without limitation, fees for Subscription Services.

Twitch reserves the right to modify this refund policy as set forth below at any time.”

As you can see Twitch is pretty clear as to what their refund policy is. Once you buy something that’s it. There’s no going back.

This may seem harsh, but what was happening was viewers were donating to streamers just to see their reactions and to get recognized on the stream, and then going back and requesting refunds after the stream was over.

This would literally be the equivalent of buying a pie at the store, eating the entire pie, and then returning the the store and requesting a refund for the pie that you ate.

You already consumed the product and so what would you be returning at that point.

As you know many streamers have cool and unique ways of thanking viewers for their contributions and so it wasn’t fair to streamers to these viewers to receive the reward without having to pay anything.

For this reason Twitch decided to come out with such a strict refund policy. I know it seems harsh, but if you really think about it it does make sense.

It’s not fair that someone donates to a streamer, the streamer then goes out and spends that money and then weeks later the user requests a refund for the money that has already been spent.

This could really put a streamer in a bad financial position, especially if they are not well off.

Luckily a streamer who receives subs, Twitch bits and gifted subs will not have to worry about these kind of refunds. The refund policy is clear and it is there to protect streamers.

Now like I mentioned earlier if someone donates to a streamer using either PayPal or a credit card they may be able to get their money back by requesting a chargeback.

A chargeback is a payment that is returned to a buyer who is able to successfully dispute a claim. In most cases this is done when a buyer did not receive the product they had purchased from the seller.

When a chargeback is requested, the payment system (in this case your credit card or PayPal) will typically return the money to the buyer and then go after the seller for the product or money that they did not provide.

So what some people will do is donate to a stream, then go back days, weeks or even months later and request a chargeback from the payment processing comapny.

They are returned the money and then the streamer is left scrambling trying to come up with the donated money that they had already spent.

For this reason many streamers turn off the option for their viewers to donate to the stream using a credit card and only allow PayPal donations.

PayPal donations are harder to do and so it is less likely that a streamer will be hit with a chargeback by someone who is donating just to troll the streamer.

I recently turned off credit card donations on my stream just to be on the safe side. I also wait to pull out any donated money from my stream just in case someone is messing with me.

These kinds of donations are considered fake donations on Twitch and are something you should be aware of as a streamer. I cover fake donations more in depth in this article here.

If you are curious as to what fake donations are, or want to protect yourself against fake donations then I highly recommend you check out that article.

Now if you want to make the donations on your stream non-refundable, here are some things that you can do.

How To Make Twitch Donations Non-Refundable

The best way to make Twitch donations non-refundable is to only accept subs, Twitch bits and gifted subs on your stream as Twitch has a strict no refund policy. If you do choose to accept donations from credit cards or PayPal make sure to state the donations will not be refunded.

Only Accept Subs, Twitch Bits And Gifted Subs

As I went through above, Twitch has a very strict no refund policy. If someone donates to you through bits, subs or gifted subs then it is extremely unlikely that they will be able to get a refund for those donations.

If you are worried about chargebacks and refunds then try turning off donations through other means such as PayPal or credit cards and only accept payments that go through Twitch.

Don’t Accept Donations Through PayPal Or Credit Cards

These payment processing companies will be much more likely to hit you with a chargeback, especially credit card companies.

Now if someone is repeatedly requesting chargebacks from donations sent to you then I am sure that these companies will eventually catch on and begin to deny their requests.

But if you don’t want to deal with it at all then don’t even put a donation link in your Twitch panels.

State That Donations To The Stream Will Not Be Refunded

Make it clear in your Twitch donation panel that donations are final and that they will not be refunded.

Now to be totally honest, I don’t think that stating this in your Twitch panel is legally binding, but I do think it would make it harder for someone who is requesting a chargeback to win their claim.

I also think that having this in your panels will deter any trolls who have the intention of donating just to ask for a refund days later.

It doesn’t hurt to have it in there and most streamers do. In fact, I need to go and add it myself!

If you want to know how to donate the right way check out my article here. If you want to know why people donate to streamers or how much Twitch takes from donations then check out the articles I linked.

Sources

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/chargeback.asp#:~:text=A%20chargeback%20is%20a%20charge,for%20a%20variety%20of%20reasons.

https://www.paypal.com/dm/webapps/mpp/security/resolve-disputes

https://www.twitch.tv/p/en/legal/terms-of-sale/