Payments, Cancellations, Refunds & Payouts

Every paid transaction started on Communly must be completed through Communly. You may not use Communly to find a counterparty and then move the payment off-platform — through cash, Venmo, Zelle, or any other method — in order to avoid fees, safety tools, support, refund rules, or taxes.

Off-platform payments have no protection of any kind. If you pay a user outside Communly, we cannot refund you, we cannot reverse it, we cannot mediate it, and this policy does not apply.

Payments are processed by Stripe. Sellers who accept payment must complete Stripe Connect onboarding and may need to provide identity, tax, and bank information directly to Stripe under Stripe’s own terms and privacy policy.

By paying or receiving payment, you authorize Communly and Stripe to process charges, the buyer service fee, refunds, credits, payout holds, payout reversals, chargebacks, and related payment activity.

Communly is not a bank, money transmitter, escrow agent, insurer, fiduciary, or trustee. We are not holding your money in trust.

• Service fee. Communly charges buyers 10% of the order plus $0.30 on paid bookings — 10% of everything in the order, including add-ons and after any discount, plus $0.30 once per order.
• Free listings and RSVPs. No fee.
• Minimum price. Paid listings must be at least $5.00.
• Disclosure. The fee and the total are shown to you before you pay. Nothing is charged that was not disclosed first.

Sellers currently pay no Communly platform fee on ordinary marketplace transactions. Stripe’s card-processing fees on these transactions are paid by Communly out of the buyer service fee — they are not deducted from the seller’s share, except the fee on a removed club member’s refund (§5). We may change our fees at any time; changes never apply retroactively to a booking already completed.

Referral credits

Referral credits are currently paused: no credits are issued and none can be applied at checkout. When the programme runs, a referral credit reduces the Communly service fee on one booking, up to the amount shown in the app. It is a discount, not money: it has no cash value, cannot be withdrawn or transferred, expires after 90 days, and any value above the service fee on the booking it is used for is forfeited. A credit never reduces what the seller is paid. If a booking paid for with a credit is refunded, the credit is not reinstated and no cash is returned in its place. Full terms are in Section 6 of the Terms of Service.

Partner earnings

A host who was brought to Communly by a partner may have entered that partner’s code, either for the host (the partner earns part of Communly’s service fee on the host’s paid sales for 12 months) or for one event (on that event’s ticket sales only). Partner earnings come only out of Communly’s fee and never change what a host, club, or buyer pays or is paid. Partners are paid after the host is paid for a sale, and earnings on a sale that is refunded or lost to a chargeback are reversed. Full terms are in Section 6 of the Terms of Service.

Split payments

When a booking is split, each person pays Communly for their own spot and gets their own booking and their own refund rights. Nobody is charged for anybody else's share at any point. Spots reserved for people who have not yet paid are released back on sale at the deadline shown on the group page, which is never later than the start of the event. Sellers are paid for spots that were actually paid for; a reserved spot that lapses is simply back on sale and generates no charge and no payout. Full terms are in Section 7 of the Terms of Service.

When creating a listing, the seller chooses one of two refund policies, and the choice is shown on the listing before you book:

Refunds allowed

The buyer may cancel and receive a refund of everything they paid except the service fee, provided all of the following are true:

• the cancellation is made more than 24 hours before the listing's start time;
• the buyer has not already checked in; and
• the seller has not already been paid out.

The service fee is not refunded when a buyer cancels, because the card processor keeps its fee on a refunded payment. Bookings made before this rule was introduced keep a full refund.

If the seller changes the date, time, or place

Your booking moves with the event and you are notified of the change. The rules above still apply: a change does not by itself make a booking refundable. Once anyone has paid, the date, time, and location cannot change within 24 hours of the start. No booking can be cancelled for a refund once the event has started.

No refunds

The purchase is final once completed. Buyer cancellations are not refundable.

A seller may not change the refund policy for a buyer after that buyer has already booked or paid.

Club memberships

Membership dues are released to the club as soon as they are paid, so memberships are non-refundable in the app, whatever refund setting the listing shows. Raise any problem with us instead. The exception: if a club removes you while your membership is still running, you are refunded your dues — what you paid, less the service fee (for a membership someone bought for you, the refund goes to them).

Once anyone has paid for an event, the seller cannot call it off themselves. If it can’t go ahead, the seller asks us, and if we call it off every guest whose payment hasn’t been released to the seller (for example, by checking in) is refunded in full, service fee included, whatever refund policy the listing had. The same happens if we remove a listing before it takes place, or if a payment arrives after a listing has closed or sold out. A seller can still call off an event nobody has paid for. Deleting an account isn’t a way around this: a seller can’t delete their account while anyone has paid for an event they host that hasn’t ended (Terms §25).

Removing a club member

If a club removes a member whose membership is still running, the member is refunded their dues; the service fee is not refunded. The refund comes back out of the club, from whoever receives the club’s payments at the time of the removal (the host or the club’s treasurer). If that is who the dues were paid to, the amount is taken back from that payout, and anything that can’t be taken back is owed and deducted from their next sales. If the club has changed treasurers since, the person receiving now owes it instead, even though the dues went to someone else; they owe no more than their payout balance at the time of the removal, and Communly covers anything beyond that. The card processor’s fee on the refund (about 3% plus $0.30 for a card payment) is charged to the same person.

Beyond that, and regardless of which policy the seller chose, Communly may issue a refund, partial refund, credit, payout hold, payout reversal, or other remedy if:

• the seller cancels the listing or booking;
• the seller fails to provide what was purchased;
• the listing was materially inaccurate or misleading;
• the listing was illegal, prohibited, unsafe, or violated our Terms;
• the seller engaged in fraud, deception, misconduct, or abuse;
• the buyer was charged in error or charged more than once;
• the transaction created legal, safety, or payment risk; or
• a refund is required by law, by Stripe, by a card network, by a payment processor, by Apple, or by an app store rule.

These are discretionary platform remedies, not guarantees. Nothing in this section is insurance, a warranty of safety, a warranty of legality, or a promise that any experience will meet your expectations.

We generally do not provide remedies for:

• subjective disappointment where the listing was substantially accurate;
• buyer no-shows, late arrivals, or missed start times;
• cancellations made within 24 hours of the start time;
• cancellations on "No refunds" listings;
• failure to meet clearly disclosed entry, ID, eligibility, or conduct requirements;
• weather, traffic, parking, transportation, or personal scheduling problems;
• ordinary wear and tear on used goods that was visible or disclosed;
• problems caused by the buyer's own misuse, damage, or misconduct;
• off-platform or cash payments;
• prohibited transactions the buyer knowingly took part in; or
• any loss beyond the amount actually paid through Communly.

Contact us at jpjewell0703@gmail.com with your account email, the listing or booking, a description of the problem, any photos, screenshots, or receipts, and the remedy you are asking for.

Submit claims about events, dinners, and scheduled listings within 24 hours after the scheduled end time, and claims about physical goods within 48 hours after delivery or handoff. We may allow later claims at our discretion or where the law requires it.

Our maximum remedy under this policy is limited to the amount the buyer actually paid through Communly for the affected transaction, unless the law requires otherwise.

Seller proceeds are held and released to the seller’s connected Stripe account when the buyer checks in or the event ends, whichever comes first (release after the end runs once a day, so it can take up to a day); membership dues are released when they are paid. If a host moves an event later, proceeds wait for the new end time, and moving it earlier never releases them sooner than the time the guest originally booked for. Proceeds are held while a booking is under dispute and for any listing we have removed. Released proceeds sit in the seller’s payout balance until the seller cashes out from the dashboard. Actual arrival in a seller’s bank account depends on Stripe, payout schedules, bank processing, weekends, holidays, risk review, disputes, and account status — funds may take several business days to land after release.

Check-in opens one hour before the listed start time and cannot be performed earlier. Because check-in releases seller proceeds, this keeps proceeds from being released days ahead of an event that has not happened yet. A check-in by any of the host’s co-hosts or club admins releases proceeds the same way as one by the host. Every paid listing other than a club membership must have a start and an end time; memberships have none and are not affected by this window.

Cash-outs. A cash-out must be at least $25.00. A smaller balance can be cashed out once every 30 days, counted from your last cash-out (or from when you set up payouts).

We may delay, withhold, reverse, offset, or cancel a payout where we believe there is fraud, chargeback exposure, a legal violation, a Terms violation, an unresolved dispute, inaccurate information, a Stripe or card network requirement, or other platform risk. If we have paid out money we should not have, you agree to repay it, and we may recover it from future payouts or from your payment method.

Once a booking has been paid out, it can no longer be refunded through the app, except a removed club member’s dues (§5). Raise the issue with us instead.

Club treasurers. A club’s host can name a treasurer to receive the club’s payments instead of the host (Terms §12). The payout account is fixed when the buyer pays: the proceeds of a payment made while a treasurer was receiving are released to that treasurer — at purchase for dues, at check-in or event end for tickets — even if the club later changes or removes its treasurer. Payments made before a treasurer was named keep going to the host. If the receiving treasurer can’t take payouts, new payments go to the host. One exception runs the other way: a refund for a removed club member comes from whoever receives the club’s payments at the time of the removal (§5).

If a club owner closes their account, a club that has a co-host passes to the first co-host they added whose account is still in good standing, together with its upcoming events. From then on, proceeds from those listings that had not yet been released are paid to the new owner, who runs the club and its events. Proceeds already released to the former owner stay theirs, and proceeds of payments made to a club treasurer stay the treasurer’s.

A chargeback is when a buyer asks their bank or card issuer to reverse a payment. Here is what happens to the seller’s share of that booking. “Seller” here means whoever the payment was released to: the host, or the club treasurer it was locked to.

• When a chargeback opens: if the share hasn’t been released yet, it is held. If it was already released (membership dues are released at purchase), we take it back from the seller’s Stripe balance while the bank decides.
• If the seller wins: a held share is released as usual, and a share we took back is returned in full. If returning it doesn’t go through that day, we retry daily until it does. A won dispute costs the seller nothing.
• If the seller loses: the bank keeps the buyer’s payment and the share is not returned. The dispute fee Stripe charged (currently $15.00) is charged to the seller and deducted from their next payouts. If the share couldn’t be taken back when the chargeback opened, because the seller had already cashed it out, it is owed too and deducted from their next payouts.
• A bank inquiry (a question about a charge that takes no money back) only holds a share that hasn’t been released, until the inquiry closes. It doesn’t take back money already released.

Communly’s own service fee on a charged-back payment is Communly’s loss; we don’t charge it to the seller. The club’s host and treasurers can see each dispute, and what it took back or returned, on the club’s money page.

Sellers are responsible for Stripe dispute fees, chargeback fees, payment reversal costs, and related losses arising from their listings, transactions, cancellations, non-delivery, misrepresentations, policy violations, or disputes — except where we determine otherwise or the law requires a different result. We may also suspend the account involved, request evidence, and recover amounts owed from future payouts or payment methods.

Filing a fraudulent chargeback, making false claims, or abusing payments may result in account termination, payout reversal, and legal action.

Money collected through a club or membership listing belongs to the club or its host, not to Communly. Treasury and revenue figures in the app are informational summaries of Communly activity only — they are not audited financial statements and must not be relied on for accounting or tax purposes.

Hosts and co-hosts who collect dues are responsible for using the money as represented to members, for complying with their organization’s and school’s financial rules, and for any tax consequences. Disputes over club funds are between the club and its members.

A treasurer the host names receives the club’s payments made while they are treasurer, and is responsible for using that money as represented to members. Changing treasurers doesn’t move money already released; settling funds between a former and a new treasurer is up to the club. That includes a removed member’s refund, which the person receiving the club’s payments at the time covers (§5).

Sellers are responsible for all taxes on their sales and payouts, including income tax reporting — and a club treasurer, on payments released to them. Buyers are responsible for applicable transaction taxes. Communly may collect, report, or remit taxes where required, and Stripe may issue tax forms to whoever receives payouts — the seller, or a club treasurer — once they meet reporting thresholds. Taxes are refunded only where legally required.

Nothing in this policy is tax advice. Consult your own advisor.

We may update this policy. Material changes will be posted with an updated effective date. Changes do not apply retroactively to transactions already completed.

SIGMA SIGMA HOLDINGS LLC d/b/a Communly — jpjewell0703@gmail.com