Refund and Transaction Policy

Interim launch version 2026-10-21.1. Effective date: October 21, 2026.

This policy explains who refunds what. It is deliberately not a single "Much Obliged refund policy," because Much Obliged is the merchant for only one thing: its own $8 subscription. Every other payment made through Much Obliged is a payment to a Creator or Seller on their own Stripe account, and the refund decision is theirs.

A. Much Obliged's own $8 subscription (paid by Creators to Much Obliged)

• Subscription charges are generally non-refundable except where applicable law requires a refund.
• Cancellation takes effect at the end of the paid period; the current month is not refunded and partial months are not prorated. Closing your account does not refund the current period and carries no early-termination fee.
• Much Obliged may issue a refund at its discretion, including for a mistaken or duplicate charge. A Creator may contact support@muchobliged.co to request a review. A refund of an $8 payment reduces what you paid Much Obliged; it never takes back access you already had.
• A dispute of an $8 charge raised with your card issuer is handled through the payment processor and applicable law; Much Obliged does not decide it. An open dispute changes nothing about your account. If it is decided in your favor, you keep the access already paid for and your subscription is set to end at the end of that paid period instead of renewing. See Billing and Cancellation.

This section is about money paid to Much Obliged only. Sections B to G are about money paid to Creators and Sellers, which Much Obliged does not refund on their behalf.

B. Support and Membership payments (paid by Supporters and Members to Creators)

• These are payments to the Creator on the Creator's Stripe account. The Creator decides whether to refund, in whole or in part, and issues the refund from their own Stripe Dashboard. Contact the Creator first.
• Much Obliged does not refund a Creator's payment on the Creator's behalf and has no policy requiring Creators to refund. Much Obliged records any refund Stripe reports and updates the Creator's figures for the month the payment was originally made.
• Stripe does not return its processing fee on a refund.
• A refunded Membership payment does not by itself remove access; access follows the paid-through date recorded from Stripe's invoices, which a refund does not move. A Creator who wants to end a Member's access ends the subscription.
• Disputes: see section G.

C. Payment Request transactions (paid by Buyers to Sellers) — applies where Payment Requests are available

A purchase through a Creator's offer or Creative Work page, and a payment for a service, a series session or a job a Seller set up, is a Payment Request for the purposes of this policy.

• The Seller's return or service terms shown before payment govern. The Seller issues any refund from their own Stripe Dashboard, in whole or in part.
• Much Obliged records the refund and updates the transaction record. A full refund of a single-payment sale marks the sale refunded. If Stripe later reports that a refund failed or was cancelled, the record returns to what was true.
• Much Obliged does not refund a Payment Request payment itself, including in the case described in section D.4.
• A refund returns money; it does not change what the Buyer and the Seller agreed.
• Paid to the Seller directly. A Payment Request, or one stage of it, may be paid to the Seller directly (cash, Zelle, Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, check, bank transfer or another way) and recorded by the Seller. That money was not paid through Much Obliged or Stripe, and Much Obliged did not process or verify it. Giving it back is between the Seller and the Buyer, under the Seller's disclosed terms and the law; Much Obliged has no part in it and cannot reverse it. The Seller may record that they gave it back; that record is the Seller's statement, kept with the sale. A recording made by mistake can be voided or corrected with a reason, and the original is kept, marked as such.

Ongoing services. The monthly payments for an ongoing service are payments to the Seller on the Seller's own Stripe account. The Seller decides any refund and issues it from their own Stripe Dashboard. Stopping the service ends it at the end of the period already paid for and refunds nothing automatically.

D. Deposits and balance payments — applies where Deposits are available

1. A deposit is a completed payment to the Seller, not a hold, authorization, escrow or reservation. It is refundable only as the Seller's disclosed terms and applicable law provide; Much Obliged imposes no rule that a deposit is or is not refundable.
2. A partial refund of a deposit leaves the arrangement in place and the balance unchanged. A full refund of the deposit before the balance is paid - or, for a deposit paid to the Seller directly, the Seller recording that they gave it back - ends the arrangement: the balance can no longer be paid through that Payment Request.
3. If both the deposit and the balance were paid and one is refunded, the transaction is partially refunded; the Seller decides what else to refund.
4. Impossible duplicate payment. If Stripe confirms a payment that no longer fits a Payment Request (for example, a payment on a checkout that was no longer the active one), Much Obliged records it as an anomaly for a person at Much Obliged to review, and may contact the Seller. The money is in the Seller's Stripe account. Much Obliged does not refund it automatically or on its own authority; any refund is issued by the Seller, and the Buyer may also dispute the payment with their card issuer.

E. Shipped transactions — applies where Shipping is available

• The Seller's return policy shown before payment governs returns of a shipped item. A refund does not recall a parcel; the Seller and Buyer arrange any return directly.
• Shipping charges are part of the total price and are refunded only if and as the Seller decides; Much Obliged does not recompute postage.
• If the Seller cannot ship by the date they committed to, the law that governs shipped goods applies to the Seller. The Seller can record the delay; the Buyer can then agree to wait or cancel from their payment page. A cancelled order is refunded in full, including shipping, by the Seller from their own Stripe account. Much Obliged records the notice and the answer and refunds nothing itself.
• If the ship-by date passes and the Seller has recorded neither a delay nor a shipment, the Buyer's page says so. Much Obliged does not cancel the sale, refund the Buyer or move any money because the date passed.

F. Quick Sale — applies where Quick Sale is available

• Paid through Stripe. A Quick Sale paid through Stripe is a payment to the Seller on the Seller's own Stripe account. The Seller decides any refund and issues it from their own Stripe Dashboard; Much Obliged records it. Much Obliged does not refund a Quick Sale itself.
• Paid in cash or another way. A Quick Sale the Seller recorded as paid in cash or another way outside Much Obliged was not paid through Much Obliged or Stripe. Giving that money back is between the Seller and the Buyer, and Much Obliged has no part in it. The Seller can void the record, with a reason; the record is kept, marked void.
• Paid does not mean handed over, and a refund does not change whether an item was handed over.

G. Disputes and chargebacks (all Stripe payments to Creators and Sellers)

• A Supporter, Member or Buyer may dispute a payment made through Stripe with their card issuer. A payment the Seller recorded as received in cash or another way is not a Stripe payment and has no Stripe dispute. Stripe debits the disputed amount and its dispute fees from the Creator's or Seller's Stripe account, and the Creator or Seller responds in their own Stripe Dashboard.
• Much Obliged mirrors the dispute's status (open, won, lost, closed) and shows it to the Creator or Seller. Much Obliged does not decide disputes and does not submit responses. For Payment Requests, Much Obliged provides the Seller a plain-text summary of what it recorded to use as evidence.
• While a dispute is open, Much Obliged does not revoke Membership access already paid for, does not shorten paid-through time, and refunds nothing automatically. If a dispute is lost, the amount is treated like a refund in the Creator's or Seller's figures.
• Stripe's dispute fees are not shown in Much Obliged.

H. What Much Obliged never does

Much Obliged never holds funds pending delivery, never releases funds on delivery, never delays a Creator's or Seller's payout, never receives or holds money paid to a Seller directly, never refunds a payment made to a Creator or Seller itself, never guarantees a refund on anyone's behalf, and never refunds its own $8 fee because a Creator's customer disputed a payment.

Questions: support@muchobliged.co