Refunds and access control

Refunds and access control

Refunds can affect customer access, downloads, licenses, memberships, and order status.

Before refunding a customer, it is important to understand what should happen to the digital products they purchased.

Why refunds need access control

Beat stores sell digital files and license rights.

After a customer purchases a beat, they may receive:

• MP3 files;
• WAV files;
• stems;
• license documents;
• membership access;
• private content access;
• customer dashboard access.

If a refund is issued, you may need to decide whether the customer should keep access or lose access to the related files and benefits.

Before issuing a refund

Before refunding, review the original order.

Check:

• what the customer purchased;
• which beat was involved;
• which license was selected;
• which files were delivered;
• whether a license document was generated;
• whether the customer downloaded the files;
• whether the order is linked to a membership;
• whether the refund is full or partial.

Refunds should be handled carefully because they can affect both customer rights and store records.

Stripe refunds

Stripe handles the payment refund itself.

When you issue a refund through Stripe, Stripe processes the money movement according to its own rules, timing, and payment method behavior.

Stripe processing fees may not always be returned depending on Stripe’s policies and your account settings.

Banaslap Studio uses order and payment status to help determine what access should remain available.

Full refund

A full refund usually means the original purchase should no longer give the same access.

Depending on your store policy and configuration, you may want to:

• revoke downloadable files;
• revoke license document access;
• mark the order as refunded;
• remove membership access if the refunded item was a membership;
• keep an internal record of the purchase and refund.

For digital products, make sure your refund policy is clear before customers purchase.

Partial refund

A partial refund may not always require removing all access.

For example, you may issue a partial refund because of:

• customer service gesture;
• pricing mistake;
• duplicate charge;
• partial delivery issue;
• agreement with the customer.

In this case, review the order manually and decide whether access should remain active.

License documents after refund

If a license document was generated before the refund, you need to decide whether the license should remain valid.

This depends on your terms and refund policy.

Possible approaches include:

• keeping the license valid after refund;
• revoking the license after full refund;
• marking the order as refunded while keeping internal records;
• handling special cases manually.

Your public refund policy should explain how digital license rights are handled after a refund.

Download access after refund

If the customer has already downloaded the files, removing dashboard access does not remove files already saved on their device.

However, you can still restrict future access from the customer dashboard.

After a refund, check whether:

• downloads should remain visible;
• downloads should be disabled;
• the order should be marked as refunded;
• the customer should keep access because of a special agreement.

Membership refunds

Membership refunds can be more complex because memberships may include recurring access.

If a membership payment is refunded, check:

• whether the Stripe subscription is still active;
• whether the membership should be cancelled;
• whether member downloads should remain available;
• whether Private Drops or VIP Early Access should still be accessible;
• whether the customer should keep access until the end of the billing period.

If the subscription is cancelled or inactive, member access may be paused or removed.

Failed payments vs refunds

A failed payment is not the same as a refund.

A failed payment means the payment did not complete successfully.

A refund means the payment was completed, then returned to the customer.

Access rules may be different for each case.

For example:

• failed payment should usually not unlock access;
• completed payment can unlock access;
• refunded payment may require access review or revocation.

Best practices

Create a clear refund policy before selling.

Your policy should explain:

• whether digital beat purchases are refundable;
• whether license rights remain valid after refund;
• whether downloaded files must no longer be used;
• whether memberships can be refunded;
• whether access is revoked after refund;
• how customers should request a refund.

Clear terms reduce disputes and support requests.

Starter and Pro

Refund behavior should be managed carefully on both Starter and Pro.

Starter includes a 10% Banaslap commission on beat and membership sales.

Pro includes 0% Banaslap commission on beat and membership sales, with a 1% service fee per successful transaction, excluding Stripe processing fees.

Stripe processing fees are separate in both plans.

Troubleshooting

If a refunded order still shows active access, check:

• order status;
• refund status;
• customer dashboard access;
• license access;
• membership status;
• Stripe subscription status if applicable.

If a customer lost access after a refund but should still have access, review the order and manually confirm the intended access state.

If Stripe shows a refund but Banaslap Studio does not reflect it correctly, check webhook delivery and payment event logs.