Can Donations Be Refunded on Twitch? Details on the Policy

The gist:

• You can dispute a claim to request a refund for Twitch donations through a credit card company or PayPal.
• Disputing the claim can be difficult based on the payment system you’re going through and its policies.
• Unfortunately, viewers have abused this refund process by requesting their money back months after donating, leaving streamers high and dry with negative balances.

Over the years, Twitch has gone back and forth on its refund policy, reshaping what qualifies as a refund for a viewer and putting down barriers to protect its streamers. Donations, for instance, are vital to smaller creators on the platform, which viewers can provide through multiple Twitch-based currencies like bits and gift subscriptions.

For others who like to donate the old-fashioned way, sending funds through a credit card or PayPal is also an option if a streamer has these payment systems active. But what happens when you want the money back days later?

According to Twitch’s refund policy, stream-based offerings aren’t refundable unless there are rare technical circumstances. However, you might have a chance of getting the money back if you used a credit card or PayPal.

You could score a refund by successfully disputing a claim on a Twitch donation sent through a credit card or PayPal.

Twitch has the right to modify the policy around its stream-based digital currencies but has little room for donations made through different payment systems.

Depending on the current policies of your credit card company or PayPal, getting a chargeback is possible days or even months later. As beneficial as this can be for a viewer, streamers living off donations are vulnerable when some maliciously abuse this loophole.

What has become a tasteless trend on Twitch in recent years is viewers refunding donations days or months after a stream to troll creators. Just recently, an old $27,000 donation given to streamer CoconutB was refunded, which set him back over $10,000 in the red.