Twitch Donations Made With a Credit Card or PayPal Can Be Refunded But There's a Catch

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.

Can donations be refunded on Twitch?

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.

Viewers have abused donation refunds to troll streamers and put their accounts in negative balance.

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.

Some streamers, like LosPollosTV, ranted about this refund loophole after a viewer claimed to mistakenly sent a $350 donation during his livestream. Per his discussion with In The Know in 2021, the streamer said donations like these aren’t “just mistakes and simple accidents.”

He continued, “This is a new form of trolling and until creators have more control over their transactions, this is just going to keep getting worse.”

Twitch streamers can make donations with a credit card or PayPal unavailable if they want, which is recommended by most due to the strict policy with stream-based currencies. Twitch’s plans to further protect streamers from this harmful trolling are unclear, but hopefully, a plan will come soon.