5 Reasons Woven Psyche Doesn’t Give Refunds

I have hosted a lot of workshops and events, and in my experience about half the time there will be at least one no-show. This includes even my most expensive workshops. If someone contacts me about it to let me know before the event or soon after that they were sick or had a family emergency, we’re frequently able to work something out by way of a service credit, but sometimes that person will contact me weeks or even months later asking for a refund, credit or discount on a future event. In those situations, offering a refund or credit simply isn’t doable.

Here’s why:

1. The class sold out

When a class sells out that means other people who might be interested in attending can’t buy a ticket. So if someone buys a ticket and doesn’t show up, that person has taken a spot that someone else would have paid for. Offering a refund in this situation means I lose money because someone else would have paid for that spot if given the opportunity.

2. I sold very few tickets

I need to sell a certain number of tickets to each event I host to make back the costs of hosting the workshop (e.g. venue, transportation, materials, food, etc.), or else I have to cancel. If someone buys a ticket but doesn’t show up and then requests a refund, that could be the difference between breaking even on an event and losing money on an event.

3. We need a certain number of people for it to be a good experience

Like in number two, I need to have a certain number of attendees for a class to be worth it – not just from a financial perspective, but from a social one. If an event is supposed to have a social dynamic to it, or if it’s a class that has partner exercises, only having one or two people will make it way less enjoyable for the attendees. The no refund policy is an important incentive to make sure that people who bought tickets show up.

4. Taxes and accounting

Small business owners are required to report and pay income taxes on their business income four times a year. When someone contacts me for a refund months after the fact, chances are I have already reported the income from that person’s ticket and paid taxes on it. It’s possible to accommodate this when I do my regular annual income tax filing the following year, but it makes things a lot more complicated.

5. Materials and cash flow

For some of my workshops, like perfume making and magic 101, or events that involve food like my “breakfast and tarot” events, I need to provide materials for each student present, and those materials cost money. Not all materials are reusable for future events, particularly if the event involved food, essential oils or other botanical elements that all have shelf lives or was a one-time offering.