Refunds and free tickets
Issuing free tickets in cori Tickets and what they do to your inventory and seat map — plus how a refund works and what happens to the fee, the ticket and the seat.
Web only
cori Tickets runs in your browser at tickets.cori.music. There's no separate app for it — the cori app simply links there and opens the shop in your browser.
Two things that both move money and seats: you issue free tickets yourself — for the press, sponsors, your own families or a cash payment at the door. A refund gives a buyer their money back and puts the seat back on sale. You do both in the dashboard, and both are final — this article tells you in advance what each one does.
Both are open to anyone on the event's team — the same permission as for editing. There's no finer gradation: whoever can issue free tickets can also refund.
Issuing free tickets
You'll find the Issue free tickets button under Orders & tickets in the "Entry control" box. It's locked as long as there isn't a single ticket category.
A required field — that's where the tickets go. All the free tickets from one run land in a single order sent to that one address.
For an event with a seat map, you tap free seats directly on the map; sold and held seats are locked. Without a seat map, you enter a quantity per category.
If your event collects ticket holder names, you can enter them right here.
cori generates the PDFs and sends them to the address you gave. It then confirms: "Issued N free tickets — emailed to …".
What a free ticket is — and isn't
- Real tickets. Each one carries its own code and scans at the door exactly like a purchased one.
- They cost inventory. A free ticket takes up a real seat from your inventory: the category's "sold" counter goes up, and with a seat map the seat is taken. If there isn't enough inventory, cori refuses with "Only N left for …".
- No money, no invoice. Nothing is charged and no invoice is created — which also means cori charges no fee for these tickets.
- The sales window and maximum quantity don't apply. Those limit buyers, not you: you can issue a free ticket at night before sales start or after they've closed.
- In the order list they carry the Free marker.
Because a free ticket occupies a real seat, it's also the tool for blocking seats — the tech position, the front row for the mayor, broken chairs. Just issue them to your own address. The seat map can't do it: it can't be changed after the first sale.
Turning off "Email the tickets"
The dialog has a switch that suppresses sending — as its description says, "turn off to only generate the PDFs — for tickets you hand over in person". The PDFs really are generated and stored.
cori Tickets doesn't offer a download for individual ticket PDFs in the dashboard — the only route to a ticket is the link in the confirmation email. If you switch sending off, the PDFs do sit on the server, but you can't get to them. Leave the switch on and send the free tickets to an address you have access to yourself — then you can print and hand them over at your leisure.
Free tickets can't be taken back
There's no way to undo a free ticket once issued: refunding requires an actual payment, and there isn't one here. The seat stays occupied. So check the seats and quantities before you click Issue.
Refunds
A refund gives the buyer back the full amount. cori Tickets has no partial refunds — it's always the whole order.
Click the row under Orders & tickets. Expanded, it shows which tickets and seats belong to it — check that before you refund.
The action sits at the end of the row. It's only offered where there's really something to refund: on paid orders with an actual payment behind them.
cori asks before anything happens. After that the repayment runs through Stripe and the order shows as
refunded.
A refund can't be undone. The seat goes straight back on sale and can go to someone else in the same minute — even if it turns out you hit the wrong row. Read the expanded order before you confirm.
There's no payment behind a free ticket that could be reversed — so cori Tickets doesn't offer a refund for them. See above: free tickets, once issued, stay issued.
What a refund triggers
If you refund the whole order — via cori Tickets or directly in your Stripe dashboard — cori Tickets draws the same conclusions as soon as the repayment goes through:
| What | What happens |
|---|---|
| The amount | Goes back to the buyer in full. |
| cori's fee | Is refunded too — cori keeps nothing on a refund. |
| The tickets | Are invalid immediately. The scanner at the door rejects them, because the order is no longer "paid". |
| The seat | Goes back on sale: the "sold" counter drops, the seat block is lifted, and the seat shows as free again in the shop right away. |
| The order | Then shows as refunded. |
In your Stripe dashboard you can also repay just part of an order. cori Tickets then deliberately leaves the order as "paid": it can't know which ticket the partial amount was meant for, and a €5.00 goodwill gesture shouldn't lock every ticket in an order at the door. The seats stay occupied and the tickets stay valid. If you really want to unwind an order, refund it in full — most easily here in the dashboard.
cori Tickets doesn't send its own message about a refund. The buyer sees the credit on their statement and eventually finds out that their ticket no longer works. Write to them yourself — especially if you're cancelling a whole event.
Chargebacks
If a buyer disputes the charge with their bank, Stripe takes the money straight back from you. cori
Tickets then sets the order to disputed, and the tickets are blocked at the door immediately — but
the seat stays reserved for the time being, as long as the case is open.
- Case won: the money comes back and the tickets work again.
- Case lost: the seat goes back on sale, and cori returns its fee to you — exactly as with a refund.
What to sort out in advance
Whether and when you refund is your decision — you're the seller, and the contract is between you and the buyer. Enter your policy under Tax & legal›Refund & cancellation policy: it appears on the event page and at checkout, right above the pay button, so nobody is surprised afterwards.
Before payment, cori Tickets tells every buyer that tickets for an event on a specific date are exempt from the 14-day right of withdrawal and that the order is binding once placed, plus: "Contact the organizer about refunds or cancellations." That doesn't replace a policy of your own.
cori doesn't advise on taxes or legal obligations. What applies between you and cori is set out in the organizer agreement.
What's next?
- The order list and the exports: Keeping an eye on orders
- What cori's fee is and who covers it: Fees and taxes
- How refunds affect your money: Setting up payouts
- Why a ticket is rejected at the door: Admission with the ticket scanner
- Seats on the map: Drawing a seating plan
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