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Cancelling an event
If an event can't go ahead, cancel it in BagEvent rather than just taking the page down. Cancel event calls the event off for good, refunds its paid orders if you choose to, and emails everyone who holds a ticket, so nobody is left holding a ticket for something that isn't happening.
Where the button is
Cancel event is in the bar at the top of the event, next to Duplicate. It's shown for any published event — upcoming, running or over — and for a draft only once tickets have been taken on it — a draft nobody has registered for is removed with Delete draft instead.
For an event with several language versions, cancel the main-language event: its language versions are cancelled with it.
Cancel the event
- Choose Cancel event. The dialog lists what is about to happen.
- Optionally write a Message to attendees (up to 2,000 characters): why the event is cancelled, and anything else they should know. It's shown in the cancellation email.
- Leave Refund paid orders ticked to refund every paid order in full, or untick it to leave paid orders as they are.
- Under Type the event’s name to confirm, type the event's name as it's shown there — capitals and extra spaces don't matter — then choose Cancel event. The button stays disabled until the name matches.
Orders are settled one at a time in the background, which can take a few minutes for a large event. You can close the dialog; it keeps running.
Cancelling needs both the "Edit event" and the "Manage orders and attendees" permissions, whether or not you refund: every order is either refunded or called off. If you have only one of them, ask an admin.
What cancelling does
- The event is cancelled for good. Sales stop and the event page and website go offline. A cancelled event can't be published again — to run it again, Duplicate it and publish the copy.
- Paid orders are refunded, if you ticked the box. Each card payment is refunded in full to the original payment method through your connected Stripe account. The money comes back out of your Stripe account, because that's where it was paid in; Stripe's own refund rules and timing apply. See Refunds (for organizers).
- Without the box ticked, paid orders are left exactly as they are. You can refund them yourself from Orders, or run the cancellation again later.
- Orders paid offline are never refunded automatically. They're listed for you to return the money yourself, and then refund the order on the Orders page.
- Free and unpaid registrations are called off.
- Every ticket holder and buyer is emailed, with your message and what happened to their payment.
Refunds and the cancellation email can't be taken back, so make sure you have the right event before you confirm.
Cancellation status
On a cancelled event, the button becomes Cancellation status. It shows how many orders were Refunded, Called off (unpaid) and Left as paid, and how many Need attention. Orders that need you lists those — an offline payment to return by hand, or a refund the payment provider refused.
Run again… settles only the orders that still hold money or tickets. Attendees aren't emailed about the cancellation a second time; a refund that goes through on a later run gets the usual refund email.
If you don't want to cancel
Cancelling is for an event that won't happen. For anything less, use the tools that change only what you need:
| You want to… | Do this |
|---|---|
| Stop new registrations but keep the event | Under Registration Settings → Rules, switch on Close public registration. The page stays up; you can still add attendees yourself. |
| Refund one order, or part of it | Orders → open the order → Refund. See Refunds (for organizers). |
| Cancel one attendee's ticket | Attendees → open the person → Refund (with or without returning the money), or Cancel ticket for a free one. |
| Change the date, venue or join link | Edit the event under Basics. Ticket holders of a published event are emailed about the change unless you untick Email ticket holders about this change when I save — see Automatic reminder and change notices. |
| Take the event offline for a while | Unpublish it (the Live switch at the top of the event) — only possible while the event has no paid orders. |
| Remove an event that never went live | Delete draft — only drafts can be deleted, and only while they have no paid orders. |
Unpublishing is not cancelling
Unpublishing returns the event to draft and takes the event page and website offline. It doesn't refund anyone or email anyone, and existing registrations stay as they are.
That's why unpublishing or deleting an event that has paid orders which haven't been refunded is refused: use Cancel event, so the people who paid are told and, if you choose, refunded.
After the event is cancelled
- Refunds show on each order in Orders, and in your Stripe dashboard.
- Attendees who ask about their money can see Refunds & cancellations: a card refund goes back to their original payment method and can take several days to appear.
- BagEvent takes no fee on ticket sales, so there's no BagEvent fee to reclaim. Stripe's processing fees follow Stripe's own refund policy.
Related
- Refunds (for organizers) — full and partial refunds, one order at a time.
- Refunds & cancellations (for attendees) — what your attendees see.
- Automatic reminder and change notices — the emails ticket holders get when an event changes.
- Broadcasts & email credits — write to everyone who registered.
- Creating an event — unpublishing and deleting drafts.