Scope and payment provider
This Payments, Refunds, and Disputes Policy applies to Hooj Pay marketplace transactions, paid event tickets, and other payments that Hooj expressly processes. It supplements the Terms of Service, Event and Ticket Terms, and any price, fee, tax, refund, or transaction terms shown before confirmation.
Stripe provides payment processing, connected-account onboarding, balances, transfers, and payouts. By using paid features, you agree to the Stripe terms that apply to your role. Hooj Pay is not a bank account, wallet, stored-value product, deposit account, or legally regulated escrow service.
Cash exchanges and payments made outside Hooj are not Hooj Pay. Hooj does not possess, transmit, verify, reverse, refund, or guarantee those funds.
Payment authorization and checkout
When you submit a payment, you authorize Hooj and Stripe to charge the selected payment method for the total shown at checkout. The total may include the item or ticket subtotal, applicable tax, and any separately disclosed buyer fee. You represent that you are authorized to use the payment method.
A payment may require additional authentication, remain processing, fail, or be declined. A pending screen, app message, or bank authorization is not final proof that Hooj received payment. Stripe's confirmed payment record controls whether funds were collected.
Hooj uses transaction identifiers and idempotent processing to reduce duplicate charges and tickets. If an app request times out, do not repeatedly submit a new order without checking Activity or transaction details first.
How marketplace Hooj Pay works
- A buyer and seller agree on an offer.
- If both cash and Hooj Pay are accepted, the buyer chooses the payment method after offer acceptance.
- Both users confirm the meetup details. Hooj Pay checkout may require a complete transaction location.
- The buyer completes checkout before the item is handed over.
- Stripe confirms payment and Hooj records the funds as captured.
- At the meetup, the seller generates a short-lived handoff code.
- The buyer enters the code only after receiving and inspecting the item.
- Hooj marks the handoff complete and attempts the seller transfer.
Do not enter, share, or request the code before the buyer has the item. Code confirmation can mark the listing sold and begin release of the seller's proceeds.
If payout processing is delayed after a valid handoff, the physical sale remains complete. Hooj will continue to show the payment or payout state and may retry or reconcile the transfer.
Paid events and ticket orders
Some ticket tiers require organizer approval. Approval means the attendee may proceed to checkout; it does not charge the attendee, reserve funds, or issue a ticket by itself.
When approval is not required, or after approval is granted, the attendee can complete checkout. Hooj verifies and captures the payment, issues the ticket, and creates the organizer transfer. Capacity and per-person limits are checked again before final issuance.
If payment succeeds but ticket finalization is interrupted, Hooj may safely retry, reconcile the Stripe payment with Hooj's records, issue the valid ticket, or refund the payment. Hooj will not intentionally issue duplicate tickets or duplicate organizer transfers for the same order.
A refunded or successfully disputed ticket can be revoked. A used ticket and a dispute may require manual review because event access may already have been consumed.
Fees, taxes, and the amount shown
Hooj may charge platform, transaction, promotional, subscription, or other fees. The applicable fee or calculation method will be disclosed before the paid action. Seller and organizer payout previews may show the subtotal, Hooj fee, and expected net proceeds.
Unless the interface expressly says otherwise:
- The agreed item or ticket price is the pre-tax subtotal.
- The Hooj platform fee is calculated from the subtotal, not from collected sales tax.
- Applicable tax is added to the buyer total and is not seller proceeds or Hooj revenue.
- The seller or organizer net is the subtotal minus the disclosed Hooj fee and any other disclosed adjustment.
Tax collection may depend on product type, transaction or event location, registrations, and applicable law. Hooj will display tax before charging it when collection applies. Sellers and organizers remain responsible for their own income, registration, reporting, permit, and tax obligations except where Hooj or Stripe is legally responsible.
Marketplace cancellations and refunds
An unpaid marketplace order may be cancelled through the available transaction flow. If Stripe has already captured payment but the handoff has not occurred, the seller can initiate an available refund, and a buyer can contact the seller or Hooj support about a refund request.
Once the buyer confirms the handoff code, the standard pre-handoff refund flow closes. A post-handoff refund is not guaranteed and may depend on user agreement, evidence, applicable law, recoverable funds, Stripe restrictions, or Hooj support review.
When a pre-handoff Hooj Pay transaction is cancelled or refunded, Hooj may cancel the meetup, expire the accepted offer, and return the listing to active status where doing so will not create conflicting ownership or transaction states.
Approved refunds are returned to the original payment method unless Stripe or law requires another method. Bank and card-network timing controls when the credit appears. Hooj cannot guarantee or accelerate that external posting time.
Event cancellations and ticket refunds
Event organizers are responsible for accurate event and refund information, legal compliance, and addressing cancellations or material changes. Ticket purchases are not automatically refundable merely because an attendee changes plans, arrives late, cannot attend, or does not satisfy disclosed eligibility or venue rules.
If an event is cancelled, materially changed, or cannot provide the purchased admission, the attendee may request a refund from the organizer or Hooj. Eligibility depends on applicable law, the event circumstances, whether access was used, available transaction terms, and the ability to recover or return funds.
A completed refund revokes unused ticket access and adjusts the related transaction record. Hooj may preserve ticket, check-in, refund, and dispute history for accounting, safety, fraud prevention, and legal obligations.
Seller and organizer payouts
Sellers and organizations must complete Stripe onboarding and maintain an eligible connected account before receiving Hooj Pay proceeds. Stripe may require identity, business, bank, or taxpayer information and may restrict capabilities or payouts until requirements are satisfied.
A Hooj transfer and a bank payout are separate. Hooj may create a transfer to the connected Stripe account after marketplace handoff or ticket completion, while Stripe sends available funds to the external bank account according to its payout schedule.
Transfers and payouts can be delayed or fail because funds are pending, Hooj or Stripe has insufficient available balance, account information is incomplete, a bank rejects the payout, fraud controls apply, a dispute or refund creates a negative balance, or law requires review. Failed transfers may require an explicit retry; adding funds does not necessarily retry them automatically.
Where legally permitted, Hooj may offset refunds, disputes, reversals, fees, taxes, corrections, or other amounts owed against future proceeds. Hooj may ask a seller or organizer to repay an unrecoverable negative amount.
Card disputes and chargebacks
A card dispute is a process started through the cardholder's bank. It is different from asking the seller, organizer, or Hooj for a refund. Contacting support first can often resolve an issue faster, but nothing in this policy limits non-waivable cardholder rights.
Stripe may immediately remove the disputed amount and a dispute fee from Hooj's platform balance while the bank reviews the claim. Because Hooj processes platform charges and transfers proceeds separately, Hooj may be financially responsible to Stripe even when a seller or organizer received proceeds.
Hooj may use and submit relevant listing, offer, meetup, handoff-code, message, event, ticket, check-in, receipt, device, and transaction records as evidence. Users must cooperate honestly and provide requested information before the evidence deadline.
Hooj may restrict an account, revoke unused access, reverse a recoverable transfer, offset future proceeds, or seek repayment while or after a dispute is resolved. We will not automatically undo a completed physical handoff merely because a payout or dispute state changes.
Fraud prevention and payment restrictions
You may not use stolen or unauthorized payment methods, test cards without authorization, manipulate transaction states, create sham sales, abuse refunds or disputes, launder funds, evade fees, or use Hooj Pay for prohibited goods or conduct.
Hooj and Stripe may decline, delay, cancel, refund, review, or restrict a transaction or payment account when fraud, sanctions, legal, safety, identity, negative-balance, or platform-integrity concerns arise. Hooj may request documents or information and may preserve relevant records.
Payment availability does not mean Hooj has approved the legality, quality, safety, tax treatment, or authenticity of an item, event, seller, organizer, or transaction.
Payment errors, records, and support
Activity and transaction details show Hooj's current record of payment, handoff, ticket, refund, dispute, transfer, and payout state. Stripe remains authoritative for whether money was actually charged, refunded, disputed, or transferred.
Hooj may reconcile its records with Stripe after a timeout, delayed webhook, app closure, or worker failure. Reconciliation may correct a stale status without creating a second charge, transfer, or ticket.
For support, email support@hooj.app with the transaction, listing, event, or ticket identifier and a concise description. Do not email full card or bank-account numbers, passwords, authentication codes, or government identity documents unless Hooj provides an approved secure method.
Policy changes and contact
Hooj may update this policy prospectively as payment features, providers, fees, or legal requirements change. We will update the date above and provide additional notice when a change is material or legally required. The terms displayed when you confirmed a completed transaction continue to govern that transaction where required.
Questions can be sent to:
Hooj, LLC
support@hooj.app
legal@hooj.app
Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, United States