Disputes

If a paid game goes wrong — the GM no-showed, it wasn’t what was advertised, a safety issue — you can open a dispute. It’s fault-based: the GM gets to respond, the platform decides, and a refund only comes out of the GM’s earnings if they’re found at fault. There’s no “satisfaction guarantee” — a dispute is for things that genuinely went wrong, not buyer’s remorse.

Note

Only paid bookings (a seat or ticket you bought) that are confirmed, attended, or marked no-show can be disputed. Free / RSVP bookings have no payment, so there’s nothing to dispute. You can have one open dispute per booking.

For players — report a problem

1. Go to My purchases and find the booking under Upcoming.

2. Under the booking, click Report a problem.

3. Pick what went wrong — GM didn’t show up, the game wasn’t as advertised, schedule/format differed materially, a safety or conduct issue, a technical failure, or something else.

4. Describe what happened (at least a sentence). The GM sees this and can respond before the platform reviews it.

5. Submit. You’ll see “Dispute open — under review” on that booking.

What happens next: the GM has 72 hours to respond. Then the platform reviews both sides and decides:

• Refund (full or partial) — issued to your card; it usually appears within 5–10 business days.
• Closed, no refund — the platform didn’t find grounds for one.

Either way you get a notification with the decision and a note explaining it.

Caution

File a dispute in good faith. Opening disputes that are repeatedly rejected, or charging back through your bank instead of using this flow, can affect your account standing.

For GMs — respond to a dispute

When a player disputes one of your paid games you get a notification and the dispute appears in your Outpost admin → Disputes.

1. Open Outpost admin → Disputes. Open disputes are listed with the player’s claim.

2. Read the claim, then write your side of what happened in the response box. Be specific — this is exactly what the platform reviews.

3. Submit. The dispute moves to platform review.

Caution

You have 72 hours to respond. If you don’t, the dispute auto-escalates to platform review without your side of the story — so always respond, even briefly.

What a decision costs you

• Decided in your favour — no refund, costs you nothing.
• Decided against you — the refund is clawed back from that booking’s payout (and the platform fee is returned to the player, so the platform takes no cut). You keep every other booking’s earnings.

Card chargebacks

If a player goes to their bank instead of opening a dispute, that’s a chargeback. The bank has already pulled the funds — per platform policy you bear it (it’s your sale), it’s recorded against the booking, and it counts toward your standing. You’ll be notified; you can submit evidence in the Stripe dashboard to contest it with the card network.

Standing & the trust watchlist

A high rate of refunds, upheld disputes, and chargebacks over a rolling 90 days (with enough booking volume to be meaningful) flags your outpost. A flagged outpost is removed from the featured rail and reviewed by the platform team. Standing recovers automatically once your rate comes back down. The single best way to stay clear: run the game you advertised, show up, and communicate.

Tip

Most disputes never need a platform decision — a quick, honest GM response (a make-good, a partial refund offered directly, an explanation) resolves the player’s concern before it escalates.