When a client cancels: what happens to the money, and when yours arrives

If a client cancels a group workshop at least 72 hours before it starts, the deposit goes back to them in full and you do not have to do anything: the refund is issued automatically. If they cancel later, the refund is zero and the deposit stays with you. If they simply do not turn up, without telling you, the same applies: the deposit is yours. There is no middle ground and no penalty to work out by hand.

We have already written on this blog about how to break bad news to a client. We had never written down the rule itself. This is the rule, and below it is the money calendar: where the money sits, who holds it, and when it leaves for your bank.

First things first: deposit or advance payment?

In everyday Italian these two words are used as synonyms. In the Civil Code they are not. Article 1385 covers the caparra confirmatoria, a sum handed over when the contract is concluded: if the other party defaults, whoever received it can withdraw and keep it, and must return double if the defaulting party is them. An advance payment is a different thing: it is simply money paid on account. If the deal falls through it goes back, in principle, and whoever suffered the loss has to prove it in order to keep anything.

This distinction matters to you in one case, but it matters a lot: when you write your own terms for the courses you sell outside this platform, over the phone, in chat, or on a paper form. «20 euro advance» and «20 euro caparra confirmatoria» do not end up the same way in a dispute, and the word written on the form is what counts. The text of the article is public on Normattiva.

On Handsome we made that choice once, and it applies to everyone in the same way: the client reads the same condition on every listing, and you do not have to write it out each time. How to ask for a deposit well is a separate matter, and we covered it in workshop deposits: how to ask properly.

The 14-day withdrawal right does not work like an online purchase

Sooner or later the question comes up: «doesn't the client have fourteen days to change their mind, like when they buy online?». For goods, yes. For leisure services tied to a specific date or period — and a workshop with a day and a time is exactly that — article 59 of the Italian Consumer Code excludes the distance withdrawal right. It is the same reason a concert ticket cannot be handed back three days later because you changed your mind.

That does not mean the client cannot cancel. It means that what applies is the condition written into the service, not an automatic right to think again. Which is precisely why a written threshold, the same for everyone and visible before payment, works for both sides: it takes the negotiation out of the worst possible moment, when somebody is already angry.

The Handsome rule, in two lines

It is binary. Either the refund is full, or there is none.

• Group workshop: if at least 72 hours (3 days) remain before the start, the deposit goes back to the client in full. From that point on, zero.
• Private session: the threshold is 7 days. After that, zero.
• No partial percentages. There is no «we keep 50%»: nothing to calculate and nothing to decide case by case.
• The refund is issued by the platform on whatever the client paid with: the card, or the gift card if that is what they used. You do not make bank transfers and you never send money back out of your own pocket.

The two thresholds differ for a practical reason. A group seat freed up three days ahead can be resold: there is still time. On a private session you block the whole day for a single group, and 48 hours out that day cannot be sold again. It is the same reasoning behind how you price a bespoke request: pricing bespoke workshops for private groups.

When the client simply does not turn up

A no-show is not a cancellation, and this matters because many Makers expect to have to do something about it. Someone who never cancels falls under no threshold at all: the deposit stays with you and is paid out with the normal release after the event, exactly as it would be for someone who did turn up. To be paid you do not have to ask for anything. After the event you can mark in your dashboard who was there and who was not: that mark feeds the attendance record — and it stops an absent client from leaving a review — it does not feed the payout, which goes ahead either way.

That said, an empty seat is still a seat you did not sell: the deposit covers the inconvenience, not the day. The real lever is not the rule, it is the reminder. People who get a message the day before turn up far more often, and the wording that works is in the reminder message that wipes out no-shows.

One thing to keep in mind: the booking brings you the client's email and phone number, so you can reach them directly about that date. They were given to you to handle this booking, not for anything else.

If you are the one cancelling

Here the symmetry is complete, and it is worth knowing before you find yourself in it: if you cancel the event, the clients are refunded in full, no matter how close the date is, and the payout to you is blocked. A cancelled event does not enter the money release.

This holds even when you cancel for a serious reason: the flu, a kiln that breaks. The rule does not look at the reason. What you can work on is the way you say it: how to write that message without losing the client is in announcing a date change or a cancellation. In most cases an alternative date offered straight away is worth more than a refund.

Where the money sits and when it arrives

This is by far the part that generates the most messages, so here it is in order.

1. The client pays only the deposit online: 10 euro per seat on group workshops, 25 per seat on private sessions. The amounts are set by the platform and are the same for everyone; you choose the full price of the seat.
2. You collect the rest in your workshop, on the day of the course, exactly as you always have. The price the client sees on the listing is all-inclusive: nothing is added on top of your figure.
3. The deposit does not pass through a Handsome account: it is created directly on the payment account in your own name. The platform does not keep any percentage of it.
4. The only amount deducted is the fee Stripe applies to any card payment: roughly 1.5% plus 25 cents. On a 10 euro deposit that is about 40 cents, so 10 euro does not land in your account in round figures.
5. The money stays on the account balance, not yet in your bank.
6. The transfer to your IBAN leaves five to six days after the event, released automatically. You do not have to request it. If the funds are still in transit on Stripe at that moment, the release simply tries again on the following days.

The five-day window is not there to keep the money still. It is there to leave room for whatever can arrive after the date: a dispute, or a refund you decide to issue yourself from the dashboard. If the money were already in your bank, that refund would become a manual transfer. While it sits on the balance, it goes out on its own.

The mechanism does not change when the person booking comes from abroad, but the way you handle the wait and the distance does: we wrote about it in bookings and deposits from overseas visitors. And on the paperwork side — what you issue for the deposit and what for the balance collected in the workshop — the guide is invoice or receipt for a workshop.

Three lines worth adding to your listing

The refund threshold is already written into the platform terms, and the client reads it before paying: you do not need to repeat it. What you can add to your workshop description is everything around it: the three things the rule does not cover.

• What happens if they arrive late. Twenty minutes into a three-hour course is not a problem; on a firing that starts at a precise time, it is. Write it down beforehand, not afterwards.
• Whether you accept a change of name. Many clients do not want a refund: they want to send a friend in their place. It is the solution that keeps your seat full and the client happy.
• Whether you offer an alternative date when you are the one who has to move. Saying so in advance removes half the anxiety for someone booking a month ahead.

None of these three changes the refund threshold, which stays the same for everyone. What they change is the way the cancellation lands on your table: earlier, in writing, and with a way out already prepared.