Refund protocol

When an event is cancelled or rescheduled, here's how the resale market handles payouts and refunds — and the timing that decides who covers the money.

Version: 1.0Updated: June 2026Read: 4 min

The short version: when an event is called off, money may already be on its way to sellers. So timing is everything — tell menta before payouts go out and we can stop them, close the market, and refund buyers cleanly. A cancellation and a reschedule are handled a little differently, and both are spelled out below.

Why this protocol exists#

A cancellation is a race against the clock: sellers are owed their money, buyers are owed refunds, and the funds have to still be there to cover it. This protocol makes that predictable. Three things it sets out to do:

A clear playbook. One agreed way to handle cancellations and reschedulings in the resale market, so nobody improvises under pressure.
Stopping the money in time. Pausing or cancelling seller payouts early enough that the funds are still there to refund buyers.
Telling everyone what happened. A standard way to notify sellers and buyers, and to push refunds through — back to the original transaction, or by bank transfer when that isn't possible.

When an event is cancelled#

The Partner needs to tell menta about the cancellation before the date payouts go out to sellers (settlement). As soon as that notice arrives, menta tech:

Freezes every pending seller payout for the event.
Closes the resale market.

From there, menta refunds the resale buyers — back through the original transaction whenever it can, or by asking for bank details and sending a transfer when that route isn't available. And nobody is left guessing; within 2–3 business days of the notice, menta emails:

Sellers: their sales were cancelled, their payouts voided, and the refund for their own original purchase is handled by the Partner through its usual channels.
Resale buyers: the event was cancelled, their refund is already on its way, and it may take a little longer to show up depending on their bank.

If the Partner notifies the cancellation after payouts have gone out, the money is gone — so the Partner has to put up enough liquidity to cover all the resale buyer refunds. This is exactly what early notice avoids.

One thing that always holds: in any refund scenario, the resale buyer's service fee is non-refundable, unless there's a prior, explicit agreement with the menta tech team.

When an event is rescheduled#

This covers events with a defined change — a new date, a different venue, a changed lineup. A reschedule is handled a little differently from a cancellation, and the responsibilities split cleanly in two.

3.1 · What the Partner does

Whether to issue refunds at all is the Partner's decision — not every Partner offers them. The steps below describe the process if the Partner does decide to refund.

The Partner notifies the reschedule before payouts go out to sellers; menta then shifts the settlement date for every seller on the event. When the Partner does refund, they need to make sure of two things:

Refund only the primary buyers.
Refund only tickets not sold on the resale market. If the Partner cancels or refunds a ticket that's already listed for resale, that listing is automatically taken down.

3.2 · What menta does

For a reschedule the Partner has properly notified, menta:

Emails the sellers. The event was rescheduled, and the payout for their sales is moving to a specific new date.
Emails the buyers. The event was rescheduled, resale purchases are non-refundable — and if they'd rather not go, they're welcome to list their tickets for sale.

Even if the changes aren't confirmed yet — date, venue or lineup still up in the air — the Partner should still notify menta. That lets us pause seller payouts as a precaution until the changes are locked in.

What can't be refunded#

Outside the cases above, and unless local law in the Partner's territories says otherwise, a few things hold:

Resale purchases are final. Tickets bought on the resale market aren't refunded for any reason beyond the ones covered above.
Service fees stay put, unless the Partner and menta tech have agreed otherwise in writing.
A seller asking for their money back can only be refunded for tickets that didn't sell. Anything already sold isn't refundable to the seller — that money is paid out to them in the matching settlement.