Refunds

Sometimes a tip needs to go back — a duplicate charge, a misunderstood "tip" that was meant for someone else, a request the fan changed their mind on. Loadout has a structured refund flow that distinguishes "band can do this themselves" from "needs an admin look."

Within 24 hours: band-initiated refund

In the first 24 hours after a tip, the band can refund it directly from the tips list.

1. Band settings → Tips → Recent tips → find the tip.
2. Tap Refund.
3. Confirm.

The refund goes through Stripe; the fan sees the money back on their card within a few business days. Loadout's 2% fee is reversed; Stripe's processing fee is not reversed (Stripe keeps that on refunds — industry standard).

This is the "no questions asked" window. Use it freely; it costs you the Stripe processing fee but it's by far the cleanest path.

After 24 hours: admin-reviewed

Past 24 hours, the band can still request a refund — but it routes through an admin for review. From the same UI, the button becomes Request refund with a notes field. Add context, submit, an admin gets a notification.

Admin reviews and either approves (refund processed via Stripe) or declines (no refund, the band gets a notification with the reason).

This isn't punitive — it's just the friction point for non-trivial reversals. Most admin-reviewed refunds get approved quickly when there's a clear reason.

When the fan asks Stripe directly (a dispute)

If a fan disputes the charge through their card-issuer instead of asking the band:

1. Stripe creates a dispute and pulls the disputed amount from the band's balance.
2. The band gets a notification + an email.
3. The dispute window opens — you can submit evidence in the Stripe dashboard (set list, performance proof, communication with the fan).
4. Stripe + the card network decide.

Heads up: 5 disputes in a trailing 30 days auto-disables tipping for the band. The daily admin cron does the check. See Loadout Tips setup for the rule and how to get re-enabled.

When your account is under refund review

If your band has 5 or more refund requests in the trailing 30 days, the /tips page shows an amber banner reading "Refund activity under review." Tips continue to process normally — the banner is informational. It clears automatically when older requests age out below the threshold.

This is unrelated to the dispute-driven auto-disable rule above; refund requests trigger the banner, dispute outcomes trigger the disable.

Refund metadata

Every refund writes an audit_log entry: who requested, who approved, why. The post-show summary still includes refunded tips in totals (flagged as refunded) so your historical analytics aren't misleading.

What's next

• Loadout Tips setup — the connected tier setup.
• Balance and payouts — what hits your balance, what doesn't.
• Payout problems — when something's stuck.