1. Summary
Completed payments support collection treasury and creative work. Payments are generally not refundable just because a project changes, takes longer than expected, misses its goal, or does not produce the outcome a backer hoped for.
Pending Stripe Checkout sessions can be abandoned without charge. Completed payments follow this policy.
2. Collection Subscriptions
- Initial subscription setup is charged immediately when Checkout is completed.
- Recurring commitments renew on your unified billing schedule.
- You can edit, skip, accelerate, or cancel future subscription payments from Billing.
- Cancellation stops future renewal; it does not automatically refund prior completed payments.
- Skipped upcoming payments do not post ledger entries and do not count as paid support.
3. One-Time Round Top-Ups
- One-time top-ups are charged immediately when Checkout is completed.
- Top-ups support the collection treasury connected to that funding round.
- Top-ups do not create ownership, profit rights, royalties, or guaranteed rewards.
- Completed top-ups are generally final unless Soundstarter approves a refund or policy requires one.
4. Funding Round Cancellation
If a funding round is cancelled before settlement, Soundstarter may mark eligible one-time top-ups for refund or cancellation review. Subscription payments are collection-level support and may remain in collection treasury unless Soundstarter decides otherwise.
If a round settles, collection treasury may already have been allocated to artist projects. Later refunds or chargebacks are handled against collection treasury under platform ledger rules.
5. Stale or Replaced Checkout Sessions
Checkout sessions are payment intents only until a valid webhook completes them. If a stale, replaced, mismatched, or no-longer-eligible Checkout completes, Soundstarter does not post the payment to treasury or ledger. If money was captured, Soundstarter attempts an idempotent refund through Stripe.
6. Disputes and Chargebacks
Chargebacks create treasury and platform risk. If a payment is disputed or charged back, Soundstarter may reverse the original payment split, debit collection treasury, revoke affected project attribution, cancel subscriptions, block future payments, and require admin review before payment access is restored.
Normal refunds do not automatically block a user. Chargebacks may block a user because they bypass platform refund review and can add network or dispute fees.
7. Processing Time and Method
Approved refunds are generally returned through the original payment method via Stripe. Bank, card-network, and Stripe timing can vary. Stripe or payment-network fees may affect platform accounting even when a user receives a principal refund.
8. Requesting Help
For refund or billing questions, contact support@soundstarter.fm with your account email, payment date, amount, collection or round, and reason for request.