Refunds, chargebacks and what happens when it goes wrong

Most refund arguments are not about the money. They are about a policy that was never stated, so both sides are arguing from what seems fair to them, and the outcome depends on persistence rather than on any rule.

The policy is set before you publish

Each event carries its refund terms, chosen by the organiser and displayed on the event page before purchase. An unstated policy becomes whatever the most persistent customer argues for, which is unfair to everybody who did not argue.

Cancellation is handled, not negotiated

If an event is cancelled, ticket holders are refunded and notified — that is not a discretionary decision. Commission on refunded tickets reverses. Postponement is different: holders are notified of the new date and given a stated window to request a refund if it no longer works for them.

Partial refunds are per ticket

Refunding two tickets from an order of five refunds exactly those two, and reverses exactly their commission. The remaining three stay valid and scannable. This sounds obvious and is the thing spreadsheet-based reconciliation most reliably gets wrong.

Chargebacks

A chargeback is a customer disputing with their bank rather than with you. The associated ticket is flagged so it does not admit someone who has already taken their money back, and the evidence needed to respond — purchase record, delivery confirmation, scan history — is assembled rather than reconstructed from memory weeks later.

Where a human is required

No agent can issue a refund, release a payout or resolve a dispute. Support agents can gather context, draft a reply and recommend an outcome; a person approves anything that moves money. This is a fixed boundary, not a current limitation waiting to be relaxed.