Refund Policy
Generosity.co.nz
Version: 3.0 · Effective date: 25 August 2026
3.0 changes: made the direct-charge model explicit — the Platform never receives, holds or routes payments, refunds must be initiated by the seller or fundraiser from their own Stripe balance, platform fees are never refunded, and Stripe may debit a connected bank account when a balance is insufficient.
Generosity.co.nz does not receive, hold or route payments. All payments and refunds occur directly between buyers, fundraisers and wholesalers through Stripe. The Platform cannot issue refunds itself.
Statutory rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 and Fair Trading Act 1986 cannot be excluded.
1. Donations
- Donations are voluntary gifts. They are generally non-refundable unless required by law or made by fraud.
- Exceptions (at the fundraiser's or platform's discretion):
- the donation was made by mistake (e.g. wrong amount, wrong campaign);
- the campaign is fraudulent or the funds cannot be used as described;
- required by law or the payment network (chargebacks).
- Refund requests should be made within 30 days of the donation with reasonable evidence.
- Refunds of donations come from the fundraiser's Stripe balance. The Platform does not hold donation funds and cannot refund them directly.
2. Product orders
Buyers may be entitled to a refund where:
- the item is not as described, faulty, or unsafe (CGA rights);
- the seller cannot fulfil the order (including items that never arrive);
- the order was cancelled before dispatch;
- otherwise agreed between buyer and seller.
CGA remedies (repair, replacement, or refund) are decided by the nature of the fault. Sellers must comply with CGA obligations.
Refunds for items the fundraiser supplies come from the fundraiser's Stripe balance; refunds for wholesale products come from the wholesaler's Stripe balance, because the wholesaler is the seller of record for those items. The Platform cannot issue refunds because it never receives or holds payments.
3. Tickets and events
- Event tickets are refundable if the event is cancelled by the organiser.
- If the event is rescheduled, organisers should offer transfer, credit or refund as communicated.
- Change of mind is not generally a ground for refund.
- The event organiser is responsible for refunds, and refunds come from the organiser's Stripe balance — not the Platform.
4. Raffle tickets
- Raffle tickets are generally non-refundable once purchased.
- Refunds may be issued if the raffle is cancelled or is unlawful.
- Raffle refunds come from the fundraiser's Stripe balance. The Platform cannot refund raffle tickets because it does not receive payments.
5. How refunds are processed
- Refunds must be initiated by the seller or fundraiser through their own Stripe dashboard (the business for wholesale items, the fundraiser for their own items, tickets, raffle tickets and donations). The Platform cannot initiate refunds on their behalf.
- Refunds are processed through Stripe back to the original payment method. Because each seller is the merchant of record for their own sales, the refund comes from the seller's Stripe balance.
- Full or partial refunds are supported.
- Platform fees are never refunded. Fees are invoiced separately and are not part of the payment flow, so there is nothing to refund from a payment. Refunded transactions are simply excluded from the fee basis on the fundraiser's next platform-fee invoice.
- Commission reversal: if a wholesale sale is refunded or charged back, the fundraiser's commission is cancelled, or credited against future commissions if it was already paid.
- Refunds may fail if the seller's Stripe balance is insufficient. Where that happens, Stripe may attempt to debit the seller's connected bank account.
- Refunds may take 5–10 business days to appear, depending on the bank.
6. Chargebacks
If a donor or buyer disputes a payment with their card issuer, the charge follows the card network's process. The disputed amount — and any chargeback fees applied by Stripe or the card network — is taken from the seller's Stripe balance because the seller is the merchant of record. Chargeback decisions are made by Stripe and the payment networks; the Platform is not responsible for those decisions. We cooperate with evidence and may pause payouts or commission invoicing while a dispute is open.
7. Decision-making
Refund decisions are made by the Platform and, where relevant, the seller or fundraiser, under this policy and the Dispute Resolution Policy. The Platform may override a seller's refund decision in cases of fraud, safety or CGA breaches, and may pause payouts during investigations.