Refund & Cancellation Policy

This Refund and Cancellation Policy (“Policy”) explains when a Ticket purchase made through Tickopedia may be cancelled, refunded or otherwise remedied. It forms part of the Tickopedia Platform Terms and Conditions.

This Policy applies to Tickets purchased through Tickopedia by registered and guest Buyers. It covers:

• cancelled, postponed, rescheduled, relocated or materially changed Events;
• duplicate or incorrect payments;
• unsuccessful or technically ambiguous M-PESA payments;
• failure to receive Tickets after confirmed payment;
• denial of entry despite presentation of a valid Ticket; and
• voluntary cancellation or change-of-mind requests.

It does not govern merchandise, food, accommodation, transport or other third-party products unless they were expressly included in the Ticket order and shown as refundable under the Event terms.

Unless Tickopedia is expressly named as the Event Organizer, the Organizer is the supplier responsible for producing the Event, honouring valid Tickets and funding refunds arising from cancellation, postponement, material changes, misdescription or failure to deliver the Event.

Tickopedia provides the Ticketing and payment technology and may receive, administer and remit refunds on the Organizer’s behalf. Tickopedia may also provide a remedy directly where required by law or where the loss was caused by Tickopedia’s own error.

The fact that Organizer Earnings have become available or have been withdrawn does not remove the Organizer’s refund obligations or the Buyer’s applicable rights. Buyer refund eligibility is not dependent on whether the Organizer still has funds in their Tickopedia accounting balance.

After a successful Ticket payment, the Organizer’s net earnings ordinarily remain pending for 24 hours before becoming available for withdrawal. Release is calculated from the time Tickopedia confirms the successful sale, not from the time the Buyer receives an STK prompt.

The 24-hour release period:

• is an operational settlement period, not a Buyer refund deadline;
• does not make a Ticket non-refundable where this Policy or the law provides a refund;
• does not prevent Tickopedia from placing or extending a hold where there is a cancellation, dispute, suspected fraud, payment reversal, legal requirement or material risk of refunds; and
• does not release an Organizer from liability after funds become available or are withdrawn.

If a refund becomes payable:

1. Before earnings are released: Tickopedia may cancel or reverse the pending Organizer Earning and apply the amount to the refund.
2. After earnings are available but before withdrawal: Tickopedia may deduct or reserve the refund amount from the Organizer’s available balance.
3. After withdrawal: the Organizer must repay or fund the refund within 3 business days after notice. Tickopedia may, where permitted by law, set off the amount against the Organizer’s current or future earnings, suspend further withdrawals or require a reserve.

Tickopedia may delay an Organizer payout while a refund request, Event cancellation, chargeback or payment dispute is being investigated.

An M-PESA STK prompt, acceptance message or temporary Ticket reservation does not prove that a purchase was completed.

A payment is considered successful only after Tickopedia receives and validates the authoritative result from M-PESA through the payment callback or transaction-status process. Tickopedia then creates the Tickets and queues their delivery.

Where M-PESA shows a debit but Tickopedia shows the order as pending or failed, the Buyer should not immediately make a duplicate payment. The Buyer should contact us and provide:

• the Tickopedia order or payment reference;
• the M-PESA receipt number;
• the amount and payment date;
• the Event name; and
• the masked or last four digits of the phone number used.

The Buyer must never provide their M-PESA PIN, OTP, account password or full guest-order access token to support.

Tickopedia will reconcile the transaction with the payment provider before issuing Tickets or approving a refund.

If the Organizer cancels an Event and it will not take place, the Buyer is entitled to a refund of the amount actually paid for the affected Tickets, including any mandatory Buyer-facing fee that applicable law requires to be returned.

The Organizer must notify Tickopedia immediately after deciding to cancel. Tickopedia may:

• stop further Ticket sales;
• mark the Event as cancelled;
• suspend Organizer withdrawals;
• preserve or reserve unpaid Organizer Earnings;
• notify affected Buyers using their registered or verified guest email;
• request additional Event or payment information; and
• facilitate refunds to the original payment method or another verified lawful method.

Where practical, Tickopedia will notify Buyers without requiring an initial refund request. A Buyer who does not receive notice should submit a request no later than 30 calendar days after the scheduled Event date. A failure to meet this administrative period does not remove a longer right provided by law.

An Organizer may not avoid refund liability by deleting an Event, closing an account, withdrawing earnings or directing Buyers to seek payment from Tickopedia without cooperating.

If an Event is postponed or rescheduled, the Organizer must promptly provide the new date, time, venue and any other material changes.

Unless the Buyer accepts a replacement Ticket or attends the rescheduled Event, the Buyer may request a refund where:

• the new date or time is materially different;
• the Buyer cannot reasonably attend the new date;
• the Event is postponed without a confirmed replacement date for more than 14 calendar days; or
• applicable law or the Event terms provide a broader right.

The request should be submitted within 14 calendar days after notice of the new date. If the rescheduled Event begins sooner, the Buyer may submit the request until the rescheduled Event begins, provided the Ticket has not been used. These periods do not reduce mandatory legal rights.

If the Buyer elects to retain the Ticket, it should remain valid for the rescheduled Event or be replaced without an additional Ticket charge.

A Buyer may request a refund where the Organizer makes a material change after purchase, including:

• moving the Event to a substantially different location;
• changing the Event date or start time materially;
• replacing the principal advertised performer, attraction or experience where that was the main reason for the purchase;
• materially reducing the advertised Event duration or Ticket benefits; or
• imposing a significant entry restriction that was not disclosed before purchase.

Minor scheduling changes, supporting-act changes, reasonable venue-layout changes or changes necessary for safety do not automatically qualify unless they materially alter what the Buyer purchased.

The Organizer and Tickopedia should disclose material changes promptly and provide a reasonable request window appropriate to the change and the amount of notice given.

Subject to applicable law and the Event-specific terms, Tickets are generally not refundable merely because the Buyer:

• changed their mind;
• can no longer attend;
• arrived late;
• travelled to the wrong venue;
• failed to satisfy an age, identification, dress or entry requirement clearly disclosed before purchase;
• failed to check their email or spam folder; or
• shared, lost or exposed their QR code and another person used it first.

An Organizer may offer a more generous cancellation policy. Any such policy must be clearly shown before purchase and applied consistently.

Nothing in this section removes a cancellation or refund remedy arising because required pre-contract information was not disclosed, the Buyer was not given a proper opportunity to accept and correct the order, the Event was misrepresented, or another statutory right applies.

A Buyer may request a refund for:

• the same order being charged more than once;
• an amount collected in excess of the confirmed checkout amount;
• a payment successfully completed after the inventory reservation expired where Tickopedia cannot lawfully issue the purchased Tickets; or
• another verified payment-processing error.

Tickopedia will compare its payment audit records with the M-PESA receipt and provider result. A duplicated checkout initiated separately by the Buyer is not automatically a duplicate charge if separate valid Tickets were issued, but Tickopedia and the Organizer may approve a refund where the circumstances and applicable law justify it.

Where a late payment succeeds after inventory has been released, Tickopedia may offer equivalent Tickets only with the Buyer’s informed agreement. Otherwise, the successfully collected amount must be refunded.

Failure to receive the Ticket email does not by itself cancel a successful order.

The Buyer should:

1. check spam and junk folders;
2. confirm that the email address supplied at checkout is correct;
3. for a registered purchase, check the “My Tickets” section;
4. for a guest purchase, check the order status using the confidential guest order credential; and
5. contact us before making another purchase.

Where payment is confirmed, Tickopedia will make reasonable efforts to resend or restore access to the Ticket. A refund may be appropriate if Tickopedia and the Organizer cannot provide a valid Ticket before the Event and the Buyer did not cause the delivery failure.

A refund may be due where a Buyer presents a genuine, paid, unused and valid Ticket within the admission period but the Organizer wrongfully refuses entry.

A refund is not ordinarily due where entry is refused because:

• the Ticket is invalid, duplicated, altered, cancelled, refunded or already checked in;
• the Buyer presents the Ticket after a clearly disclosed admission deadline;
• the Buyer breaches lawful venue safety or conduct rules;
• the Buyer lacks a legally required or clearly disclosed age or identity requirement; or
• refusal is otherwise lawful and consistent with the Event terms.

The Organizer should preserve check-in logs, incident information and relevant evidence. Tickopedia may review the QR validation record and request information from both parties.

An approved refund is based on the amount actually paid after applying a valid promo code or discount, not the Ticket’s undiscounted face value.

A promo code has no cash value and is not separately refundable. Unless the Organizer agrees otherwise, an expired or single-use promo code does not become reusable merely because a Ticket is refunded.

Where one order contains multiple Tickets or Ticket types, Tickopedia may refund only the affected unused Tickets where the Event issue does not affect the entire order.

A Ticket that has already been successfully checked in will ordinarily not be refunded unless the Event was not substantially delivered, the check-in was incorrect, or applicable law requires a remedy.

Submit a request by emailing support@tickopedia.com with:

• the Buyer’s name;
• account email or verified guest email;
• order/payment reference;
• Event name;
• affected Ticket type and quantity;
• M-PESA receipt number, where relevant;
• the reason for the request; and
• any reasonable supporting evidence.

Requests must be made from the email associated with the order unless the Buyer completes additional verification. Tickopedia may request limited information needed to prevent fraud, but will never ask for an M-PESA PIN or account password.

Submitting a request does not guarantee approval. Tickopedia or the Organizer may request further information and will communicate the decision and reason.

Tickopedia will aim to:

• acknowledge a complete refund request within 2 business days;
• provide an initial decision within 5 business days; and
• initiate an approved refund within 5 business days after approval.

Complex payment reconciliation, suspected fraud, an Organizer dispute or a payment-provider investigation may take longer. Tickopedia will provide an update where reasonably possible.

After initiation, M-PESA or another payment provider may require additional processing time. Tickopedia does not control provider settlement times but will provide a refund reference where available.

Mandatory legal timelines prevail over the targets above.

Refunds will ordinarily be sent to the original payment method or the verified M-PESA number used for the purchase. Where that is not possible, Tickopedia may use another lawful and securely verified method.

Tickopedia will not send a refund to an unrelated number merely because it is provided in an email or message. Additional identity or payment verification may be required before changing the destination.

Refunds are made in Kenya shillings. Tickopedia is not responsible for an independent charge imposed by a Buyer’s provider unless the charge arose from Tickopedia’s breach or applicable law requires reimbursement.

For an Event cancellation or another failure for which the Organizer is responsible:

• the Buyer receives the refundable purchase amount determined under this Policy and applicable law;
• Tickopedia may reverse the Platform Commission associated with refunded Tickets in accordance with the Organizer Agreement; and
• non-refundable treatment of any disclosed fee applies only where lawful and clearly disclosed before purchase.

Tickopedia must not retain a mandatory Buyer-facing fee where applicable law requires the whole payment to be returned.

The Organizer remains responsible for payment-provider fees, refund costs and Commission treatment stated in the Organizer Agreement or fee schedule.

Buyers should contact Tickopedia before initiating an M-PESA reversal or payment dispute so the transaction can be investigated promptly. This does not prevent a Buyer from using a lawful provider or statutory dispute process.

Submitting false information, using a Ticket after receiving a refund, seeking both a Tickopedia refund and a provider reversal for the same payment, or initiating a knowingly false dispute may result in account restriction and recovery action.

Where a payment is reversed after Tickets or Organizer Earnings were issued, Tickopedia may invalidate unused Tickets and adjust the Organizer’s balance, subject to investigation and applicable law.

An Organizer must notify Tickopedia immediately if an Event may be cancelled, postponed, relocated or materially changed. The Organizer must not continue selling Tickets where it knows the Event is unlikely to proceed as advertised.

After notice, Tickopedia may pause sales and payouts while facts are confirmed. The Organizer must provide requested records and fund approved refunds.

If an Organizer fails to fund refunds after withdrawing earnings, Tickopedia may, where permitted by law:

• deduct the amount from present or future earnings;
• create and recover an Organizer debt;
• suspend Events, sales and withdrawals;
• require a rolling reserve or longer earnings hold;
• terminate Organizer access; and
• pursue lawful recovery.

Tickopedia may update this Policy for legal, operational or service changes. The version presented and accepted at checkout will continue to govern that purchase unless a later version is more favourable to the Buyer or applicable law requires otherwise.

Material changes will be communicated through the Platform or another reasonable channel. Changes will not retroactively remove a refund right that already arose.