Cancelling an Event the Right Way

Sometimes the venue falls through, the speaker cancels, or the numbers just do not work. Cancelling well is part of running events - handled cleanly, your attendees get their money back automatically and stay in your audience for the next one.

What You Will Learn

• Where the cancel action lives and what it requires
• Exactly how attendee refunds work
• What changes on your event the moment you cancel
• How to keep cancelled-event attendees warm for your next event

Who Can Cancel

Only the event host. Cancellation is permanent - to run the event later, create a new one.

Requirements Before You Cancel

• The event must be more than 24 hours away. Inside 24 hours the option is locked.
• You must give a cancellation reason (at least 10 characters) - attendees see it, so write it for them.
• You must tick the confirmation checkbox acknowledging the refund consequences.

Step 1: Cancel the Event

1. Open the event from Events in your dashboard.
2. Go to the Settings tab and scroll to the Danger Zone.
3. Click Cancel Event.
4. Enter your reason, tick the confirmation, and click Cancel Event. (Keep Event backs out safely.)

What Happens Next

Refunds - automatic, to the original payment method

Every paid attendee is refunded to the payment method they paid with - their card or bank, not a platform balance. Refunds are processed in batches by an automated system, so you will see them settle over the next little while rather than all at once, and each buyer is notified as theirs completes.

Two details worth knowing before you write to attendees:

• Attendees get the ticket price back. The platform fee is not refundable.
• To guarantee the money is available, the total refund amount is debited from your Trankets balance up front when you cancel.

If an automatic refund to the original payment method cannot be completed, Trankets falls back: buyers with an account are credited to their wallet, and guest buyers get an email with instructions to arrange their refund.

Your event

• New registrations close immediately.
• The event comes off the discovery page.
• Your event dashboard shows the cancelled state and refund progress.

Affiliates

Commissions on refunded ticket sales are voided - no one is paid for a cancelled sale.

Step 2: Communicate Personally

The automatic notifications cover the mechanics. A personal follow-up covers the relationship. Send one within 24 hours with the reason, what refunded attendees can expect, and - most importantly - what is next.

Example Message

Subject: Update: [Event Name] Cancelled

[Event Name], originally scheduled for [Date], has been cancelled.

If you bought a ticket, your ticket price is being refunded to the payment method you used - no action needed on your end.

We are already planning the next one. Join the waitlist here so you hear about it first: [waitlist link]

Do Not Lose the Audience

The people who registered wanted what you were making. Before you move on:

1. Open a contact group and use Import from Event to pull in every registrant.
2. Create a waitlist for the rescheduled or replacement event and share it in your follow-up message.
3. When the new event is live, email that group first.

A cancelled event with a captured audience is a delayed event. A cancelled event without one is a loss.

Common Issues

• Cancel is unavailable. The event is within 24 hours of starting, already cancelled, or you are not the host.
• A refund has not arrived yet. Refunds settle in batches - each buyer is notified when theirs completes.
• A guest attendee says they got an email about their refund. That is the fallback path when an automatic refund could not be completed; the email tells them how to receive it.

Next Steps

• Create your next event
• Build a waitlist to gauge demand first
• Keep registrants in your contacts