What happens to tickets if I cancel my event?

The short answer

If you cancel, everyone who paid should get a full refund, whatever your usual refund policy says. A no-refunds policy covers someone choosing not to come. It does not cover the event not happening. Under Australian Consumer Law, people are generally entitled to their money back when you cancel.

The kind thing, and the sensible thing, is to decide quickly, tell people clearly, and refund without making anyone ask.

Decide early, if you can

The later you cancel, the more it costs everyone: travel booked, babysitters arranged, a Saturday kept free. If an event looks shaky because of weather, low numbers or a venue problem, set a decision time and say it publicly. “We will confirm by 5pm Thursday” is much better than a message an hour before.

Tell people in the right order

1. Update the event page. Put “Cancelled” at the top so anyone checking the link sees it straight away.
2. Tell everyone booked. Email is best because it reaches people who are not on social media. Say what happened, that they will be refunded, and roughly when.
3. Post where you promoted it. Your Instagram, Facebook group, newsletter or club noticeboard.

Keep it short and human. People are disappointed, but they forgive an honest reason far more readily than silence.

Refund the whole thing

Refund the ticket price and any booking fee the buyer paid. They paid it for an event that is not happening. If your platform charges you to refund, that is a cost of cancelling, not something to pass on.

If you are rescheduling rather than cancelling outright, you can offer people the choice: keep their ticket for the new date, or take a refund. See what happens if you change the date.

Watch your money

Refunds come out of the money you were paid. If you have already spent some of it on the venue or deposits, check what you can get back from suppliers before you announce, so you are not caught short. This is one reason many organisers keep ticket money untouched until after the event.

On One Ticket

You refund each order from Orders. A refund you make gives back the ticket price and the booking fee to the buyer’s card, and their tickets stop working at the door. The buyer is emailed when it is done. Orders you added yourself at the box office, like cash at the door, have their places cancelled instead, since no card payment was taken; hand back any cash yourself.

To tell everyone booked, use the attendee list or the CSV export from Orders, which has each buyer’s email. Update the event page too, so the link says what happened.

For new organisers, ticket money is held until two days after the event, so refunds come out of money that has not left Stripe yet.

Related: Cancelling a rained-out outdoor yoga event, How refunds work on One Ticket and What should my event refund policy say?