Refund policy

1. How paying works

Every payment on Kweele, on the website or in the app, is taken by Stripe in US dollars, by card or Stripe Link. Kweele holds the money until the work or the goods are confirmed, as this policy explains. This policy is part of our Terms of Service.

2. Paying a professional, one stage at a time

You pay for one stage at a time, at the price in the professional’s quote, with no fee or tax on top. Kweele holds your payment. The professional is paid only when you release the stage, or when we decide a dispute about it. Nothing is released on a timer.

• Releasing is final. When you release a stage, it goes into the queue for payout to the professional’s mobile money, which can’t be reversed. After that we can’t refund it, except as in “If a professional is suspended” below.
• If something’s wrong: when your professional asks you to release a stage, you’ll see their photos of the work. Choose “Something’s wrong — open a dispute” on the website, or “Something’s not right” in the app, instead of releasing. The money stays held while our staff look at the photos, messages and project details. We then release it to the professional, refund the full stage price to you, or split it: part refunded to you, the rest released to the professional.
• If your professional hasn’t started, or has stopped: there is no cancel button for a paid stage, and the dispute button appears only once the professional asks you to release it. Tell us through our contact form, with the project and stage name. We’ll look into it, and while the money is still held we can refund the stage to your card.
• Automatic refunds: you get the whole payment back without asking if you were charged twice for the same stage, if the amount charged doesn’t match the stage price, or if the payment reached us after the project was cancelled or after you or the professional closed the account or were suspended.
• If a professional is suspended: payouts for stages you released that we haven’t sent yet are held. We pay them if the work was done, or refund you the full stage price if it wasn’t.

3. Materials for a stage

When you buy materials for a stage through Kweele, you pay the price of the goods, with no fee or tax on top. That money pays the supplier, never your professional, and Kweele holds it while the goods are delivered and checked.

• After the supplier marks the goods delivered, your professional counts them on site, and you have the number of days shown when you pay to confirm them or report a problem.
• If your professional counted fewer than you ordered, you can ask the supplier to bring the rest. They have 5 days. If the goods still haven’t arrived by then, the missing items are refunded to you automatically in our next daily settlement, and the supplier is paid for what arrived.
• To report damaged, wrong or missing goods, report the item before you confirm it and say what’s wrong. In the app you can also say how many have the problem and add up to 3 photos. We decide each report, and refund some or all of the item.
• You can also report a problem with the whole materials order, even after confirming it. We can refund what we still hold. Money already sent to the supplier’s mobile money can’t be refunded.
• If your professional counted everything and nobody reported a problem, the goods are confirmed when the window ends, and the supplier is paid. Goods nobody counted are never confirmed on their own.
• The whole materials payment is refunded automatically if it reached us after the project was cancelled or someone closed their account, if the list changed while you were paying, or if you paid twice.

4. Marketplace orders

The total you see before you pay is what you pay: the items, delivery, and tax at the rate shown. Any service fee is already in the prices. Kweele holds each supplier’s share of your payment until you confirm your items arrived, or until the confirmation window shown at checkout (currently 3 days) passes after the supplier marks them delivered. Then the supplier is paid. Delivery times are the suppliers’ own lead times, shown at checkout when a supplier has set one.

• Out of stock: if an item is out of stock when your payment reaches us, the whole order is refunded automatically and nothing ships.
• Report a problem: if an item arrives damaged, is wrong, or doesn’t arrive although the supplier marked it delivered, use Report a problem on that item within the confirmation window and say what’s wrong. In the app you can also say how many have the problem and add up to 3 photos. The supplier isn’t paid for that item while we look at it.
• What a reported item gets back: we decide each report, and refund some or all of the item. A refund for an item includes its share of the tax and of any service fee. If all of a supplier’s items on your order are refunded, their share of delivery, including their part of any standard delivery charge, is refunded too.
• Not delivered: if a supplier never marks your items delivered, tell us through our contact form with your order number. While we still hold the payment, we can refund your order.
• Cancelling: there is no cancel button. To cancel before your order is delivered, tell us through our contact form with your order number. If the suppliers haven’t been paid, we can refund the whole order.
• After you confirm: once you confirm an item, or the window passes, the supplier is paid. Kweele doesn’t arrange returns, so report any problem before then.

5. How refunds reach you

Refunds go back to the card or Link account you paid with, through Stripe. Stripe says a refund usually takes 5–10 business days to show on your statement.

We can’t refund money already released to a professional, money already sent to a supplier’s mobile money, or anything you paid outside Kweele. Never pay a professional or supplier outside Kweele: we can’t protect that money or get it back.

6. Closing an account, or a suspension

You can’t delete your account while money is held or moving on it; those payments are settled first. Before we suspend a buyer, we settle any stage they paid for that Kweele is still holding. A stage or materials payment that reaches us after an account is closed or suspended is refunded automatically.

7. Card disputes

You can always ask your card issuer to dispute a charge. Please contact us first: we can often fix the problem faster, and a refund from us goes straight back to your card.