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out4 · help center · promoters

Refunds and cancellations.

You set your event's refund policy, but out4 always lets a promoter issue a one-off refund through Stripe and lets you cancel an entire event with a single multi-step flow. The system has a 10-minute undo window so a panicked-cancel doesn't become an irreversible disaster.

Updated May 16, 2026

Policy

Your refund policy is yours.

out4 doesn't impose a global refund rule. You publish your policy in the event description; we expose it next to the checkout button so buyers see it before they pay.

A few honest baselines that we recommend (not enforce):

  • Full refund up to N days before the event. Most promoters set N = 7 for general-admission shows.
  • No refunds in the final week — by then you've booked the venue and paid the artist deposit.
  • Event cancellation → automatic full refund for everyone. This is the one rule we strongly recommend; the cancellation flow even has it pre-baked.

Note

Where buyers see this
Your policy text goes in the event description. It also appears in the buyer confirmation email so they have a record.

One buyer

Refunding a single ticket.

Use this for honored requests, customer-service refunds, or one-off issues. The event itself stays scheduled.

  1. 1
    Open the event in your dashboard, switch to the Attendees tab.
  2. 2
    Search the buyer by name or email, tap their row to open the order panel.
  3. 3
    Tap Refund order. You can refund the full order or a single ticket (if they bought multiple). A confirmation modal shows the refund amount and the impact on your payout.
  4. 4
    Hit Confirm refund. Stripe issues the refund within a few seconds; the buyer's ticket flips to refunded immediately and the scanner will show red if they try to use it.

Note

Stripe processing fee
When you refund a ticket, Stripe doesn't return the processing fee. If you sold a $30 ticket and the buyer paid the fee, the buyer gets the full $30 back; you eat the ~$1.17 Stripe charged on the original transaction. This is a Stripe policy, not an out4 policy.

Whole event

Cancelling an event.

Designed to be deliberate. There are two confirmation gestures (a hold-to-confirm + typing the event title) before it actually fires.

Warning

This is not the same as unpublishing
Unpublishing hides an event from discovery but leaves tickets valid. Cancelling issues automatic full refunds to every paid buyer and voids every ticket. They are very different actions.
  1. 1
    From the event's management page, tap the danger-zone Cancel event button.
  2. 2
    Summary screen — Read the breakdown: number of paid buyers, total refund amount, Stripe fees you'll absorb, and whether you've already been paid out. If you've already received the payout, you'll need to top up your Stripe balance to cover the refunds.
  3. 3
    Hold to confirm — Press and hold the cancel button for 3 seconds. The progress bar fills. If you release early, nothing happens.
  4. 4
    Type the event title — Final keyboard-input gate. Type the exact event title. The button stays disabled until it matches.
  5. 5
    Confirmed — A confirmation card replaces the dialog with a 10-minute undo countdown. See the undo section below.

Fees

What happens to processing fees on a cancel.

The 30-second version: every buyer gets a full refund, you eat the Stripe fees.

Buyer side

Every paid buyer receives a full refund to the original card — including any processing fee they paid at checkout. They should see it on their statement within 5-10 business days, depending on their card issuer.

Promoter side

Stripe doesn't return the processing fee they charged on the original transactions. The cancel flow surfaces this number on the summary screen so you know the exact dollar impact before you confirm.

For a free event there are no fees and no refunds — cancel is a clean no-op from the money side.

Buyer comms

What buyers automatically hear.

Whatever you do, we send the buyer an email so they know what's happening.

One-off refund

Buyer receives a transactional email: "Your refund for <Event> has been processed." No promoter note is included by default. If you want to add a personal message, you can DM them via dashboard inbox.

Event cancel

Every paid buyer receives an email titled "<Event> has been cancelled." with the refund amount, a link to the (now-cancelled) event page, and the timeline for the refund to clear. We strongly recommend posting a public statement on the event page too — when the event is cancelled, the page stays up with a banner so old shared links don't 404, and you can add a note.

Tip

For a sensitive cancellation (artist drops out, venue closes unexpectedly), email support@out4.events before you hit cancel. We'll help you draft the buyer email so the messaging is consistent.

The undo

A 10-minute window to take it back.

The cancel flow queues the actual irreversible work for 10 minutes after you confirm, so a panicked or accidental cancel is recoverable.

As soon as you finish the confirm gestures, the event is marked pending_cancellation: no new tickets can be sold, the page shows a cancellation banner, and a countdown timer appears on the confirmation card. During those 10 minutes:

  • Tap Undo — the cancellation is wiped, the event returns to its previous state, no emails fired, no refunds issued.
  • Wait it out — at T+10min the system fires: tickets are voided, Stripe refunds run, buyer emails go out. From that point the cancel is irreversible from the UI.

Heads up

Past T+10 minutes
The cancellation is final from the UI. If you change your mind after that — for example, the venue confirms last-minute that the show can happen — email support@out4.events immediately and we'll see what can be salvaged manually. But for the buyers, refunds will have already been issued.

Need more help?

Email support@out4.events for anything that isn't urgent. We're a small team — most replies happen the same day.

Mid-event and need a human right now? DM @out4.events on Instagram — Chris is the on-call.

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