Why did I receive a negative payout?

Sometimes a payout can show a negative amount — for example, -€34.92 instead of a normal positive transfer. This isn't a mistake, a penalty, or an extra Playtomic fee. It simply means that, that week, more bookings were refunded than paid, so the difference is deducted from your payout (or, in some cases, withdrawn from your bank account).

Here's a simple breakdown of why this happens and how to check the details.

Why does this happen?

Under the New Billing Model (NBM), your weekly bank transfer includes all online bookings paid during those 7 days — even if the match itself takes place later.

If a player later cancels one of those bookings within your cancellation policy, they get refunded automatically. But since that money was already transferred to you in a previous payout, Playtomic needs to recover it. If there isn't enough new income that week to cover the refund, the difference shows up as a negative payout.

A simple example

1. Monday 7th — A player books and pays for a match scheduled for Wednesday 16th.
2. Monday 14th — Playtomic includes that booking in your weekly payout, so you receive the money.
3. Tuesday 15th — The player cancels within your cancellation policy, so they're automatically refunded.
4. Next weekly payout — Since the money had already been paid to you, the refunded amount is deducted from your next payout.

If, that same week, your refunds are higher than your new bookings, your payout balance goes negative. For example: your club receives €100 in new bookings but has €130 in cancellations to refund that week — your payout would show as -€30. That €30 isn't a charge; it's simply money being returned to the player that had already reached your account.

This is not a commission or a Playtomic fee

A negative payout is never an extra cost. It's the recovery of money that was already transferred to your club and is now being refunded to a player, exactly as your cancellation policy requires.

How to check the details

You can review exactly which bookings caused a negative payout directly in Playtomic Manager:

1. Go to Payments > Payouts.
2. Look for a payout with a minus sign before the amount.
3. Download the Transactions (CSV) and Summary (PDF) files for a full breakdown of the refunds involved.
4. You can also check the withdrawal directly from your Stripe account (shown as "Withdrawn"), where the same transaction details are available.

Will I still pay b2b commissions on a refunded booking?

No — you shouldn't end up paying commission on money that was fully refunded to a player. If commission was already charged and invoiced for that booking, Playtomic corrects it with a credit note on a following invoice.

Keep in mind the credit note may appear in a later billing period than the refund itself, so it's normal if they don't show up in the same week. If a booking was refunded but you don't see a matching credit note in your next invoice, reach out to our support team so we can check it for you.

Note: if a refund was issued to the player's Club Wallet instead of their original payment method, the funds stay with your club and this doesn't apply — no negative payout or commission correction is triggered in that case.

Key takeaways

• A negative payout means refunds were higher than new payments that week — it's not a fee.
• It happens because your weekly payout includes money for bookings that can still be cancelled later.
• You can review the exact transactions in Playtomic Manager > Payments > Payouts, or directly in your Stripe account.
• Any commission already charged on a refunded booking is corrected with a credit note on a later invoice.