Cancellation rules and fee calculation

A cancellation rule combines the time remaining until the offer starts with a fee and an automatic or manual decision. First configure the cancellation group. This page explains how to interpret deadlines and amounts and compare a specific case with the result in edoobox.

What Deadline before start means

Deadline before start is an upper limit. A rule matches when the number of days remaining until the offer starts is no greater than the entered value. If several active rules match, the smallest matching day limit wins. Inactive rules are ignored. The order of visible rows does not replace this selection.

edoobox divides the remaining seconds by 86,400 and rounds down. It therefore counts full 24-hour blocks, not calendar days until midnight. At 14 days and 23 hours, the calculated value is still 14; at 23 hours, it is 0. Check the time and offer start, especially in boundary cases and around clock changes. Do not use only the difference between displayed calendar dates.

Rule to configure	Confirmation	Fee	Range in this tier structure
365 days	Cancel automatically	0 %	Calculated value from 15 to 365.
14 days	Cancel automatically	50 %	Calculated value from 8 to 14.
7 days	Admin confirmation	100 %	Calculated value of 7 or less, including the start and afterwards.

A single row of “14 days, 0%” applies to at most the final 14 calculated days. For a free cancellation period before that, you need another limit, such as the 365-day row in this example. More than 365 calculated days falls outside all rules here. Public cancellation then creates a request for admin review; without a matching rule, the percentage fee preview initially shows 0%. Explicitly review this proposal before confirming as an admin.

Use one unambiguous active row per day limit. For equal limits with conflicting fees or actions, the selection provides no meaningful priority on which to base your tier structure.

Which start date counts and what to check after rescheduling

The fee preview in the administration uses the booked offer’s start. It does not calculate a separate deadline for each participant or individually booked date. Selecting a later individual date therefore does not automatically reset this deadline. For group and multi-offers, check the actual booking context used.

Check especially carefully after rescheduling an offer: The rules remain saved as a copy on the booking. In the current implementation, the participant view partly determines its action from the start originally saved there, while the fee preview uses the current offer start. After rescheduling, the “automatic or admin” decision and suggested fee may therefore diverge. Compare the participant view and admin preview and handle any inconsistent case deliberately in the administration. Consistent recalculation of both views after every rescheduling is not currently reliably established.

How the cancellation fee is calculated

The percentage rule applies to the total amount recorded in the booking and is rounded to two decimal places. It does not apply only to payments already received. For a group booking, this is the entire booking amount; if only one person cancels, use individual group participation management.

Example: booking total CHF 200, matching rule 50%. The fee is CHF 100 even if only CHF 60 has been paid so far. A still-valid withdrawal period without a confirmed waiver sets the actual calculated fee to zero, including for a custom cancellation amount.

In the admin dialog, you can select Cancel using attached rules, No cancellation fee, or Custom cancellation amount. Custom amounts are not automatically limited to the booking total; check the amount and reason before confirming. A fee waiver remains traceable as an action.

Distinguish between fee, payment, and remaining amount

The refund route uses the allocated payment actually available after refunds already completed. Outstanding dunning fees are also considered and covered first when an amount is retained. If the remaining available amount does not cover the cancellation fee, its uncovered portion remains outstanding.

Situation	Use of the existing payment	Remaining result
CHF 200 paid, CHF 100 cancellation fee, no dunning fee	CHF 100 covers the cancellation fee.	CHF 100 for the selected refund route.
CHF 200 paid, CHF 100 cancellation fee, CHF 20 outstanding dunning fee	CHF 20 covers the dunning fee and CHF 100 the cancellation fee.	CHF 80 for the refund route.
CHF 60 paid, CHF 100 cancellation fee, CHF 20 outstanding dunning fee	CHF 20 covers the dunning fee and CHF 40 the cancellation fee.	No refund; CHF 60 of the cancellation fee remains outstanding.
Nothing paid, CHF 100 cancellation fee	No payment available to offset.	A CHF 100 cancellation fee remains to be processed as an amount due.

Dunning fees already paid or otherwise settled must not be included in the outstanding total again. With multiple payments, combined invoices, or previous partial refunds, the amount automatically available may differ from the total price. The automation uses a suitable allocated payment transaction; it does not guarantee complete allocation across every individual payment. In these cases, check each transaction and any remaining balance separately.

Check the fee’s tax rate

The VAT rate used for the fee object comes from the saved cancellation condition. The percentage in the cancellation rule is a share of the booking total, not a tax rate. With “No VAT”, no tax rate is assigned to the fee object. Check the fee amount, stated tax, and generated document together. Changing a template’s fee tax does not retroactively change existing booking copies or fees already generated.

Global VAT settings explains how to configure tax rates; Invoice and cancellation invoice explains the documents.

Check the selected refund route

Group’s refund route	What edoobox processes	What to check afterwards
Online payment system with automatic refunds	Refund for a supported original transaction, in particular Stripe, Stripe SEPA, PayPal Checkout, or Saferpay.	Correct payment, completed refund, amount, and balance. A provider error can block cancellation.
Manually paid invoice	Allocation of a payment already recorded and, where applicable, a task for a manual refund.	Task, original invoice, fee, and actual return transfer. A task does not transfer money.
Voucher code	A new value code for the remaining difference instead of a card or bank refund.	Code, amount, currency, validity, and sending. Voucher codes must be enabled in the booking process; failed creation can block processing.
Retain as user balance	After the original debit is removed and fees deducted, the payment remains as credit in the participant account.	Participant credit and later use. No amount is paid out to a payment provider.
Automatic refunds disabled or payment method unsupported	No guaranteed automatic payout. Supported payments already received may nevertheless cover fees.	Outstanding refund amount, other payment transactions, and required manual processing.

An automatically generated cancellation voucher has its own new details. Check its expiration date and restrictions in voucher management before communicating it as a replacement. The guide to vouchers, remaining values, and credit describes later redemption.

For externally managed invoices and accounting conflicts, edoobox may pause for manual review. First check the reported invoice or integration case and the transaction state already reached. Do not run the process repeatedly without checking. Further steps are described in Check refunds and, for the integration, Change and cancel Bexio invoices.

Cancel as an admin and correct a fee

Open the booking details and read the saved conditions, payments, and any withdrawal.
Select Cancel and check the fee type and actual fee amount.
Document the decision, confirm, and check the booking status, documents, fee object, refund, tasks, and outbox.

The detailed dialog steps are described in Cancel or transfer a booking. Changing or removing the condition does not delete a fee already created. For a separate correction, use Cancel fee: for an open fee, the amount due is cancelled. If the fee has already been paid or covered by an amount retained from a refund, a reversal entry and, where applicable, a refund may be needed. External invoices may also require manual review here.

Automatic cancellation or request

An automatic rule processes the participant’s request directly if the financial processing succeeds. With Admin confirmation, or without a matching rule, a request with a reason is created. The booking remains active until a decision is made; a request does not yet release a place. Before approval, check the fee preview applicable at that time. A request processed later may reach a different time threshold than on the day it was submitted.

A valid withdrawal without a confirmed waiver may be processed immediately without a cancellation fee, even if the rule requires admin confirmation. A blocked automatic refund, however, may create an admin task. Check the actual result in the booking details.

No rule does not mean rejection: If no active row matches the remaining time and saved conditions exist, a request is required. A disabled rule, 0% fee, or high fee does not prevent a request. Rule actions distinguish automatic execution from an admin decision; they do not include an option to completely block participant cancellation requests for an individual offer.

If offers A and B require different processes, assign A a group with admin confirmation and B a group with automatic rules. A then still receives requests, but apart from a technically valid withdrawal, no immediate execution under that admin rule. These two actions cannot be configured to remove the request itself from A as well. The settings comparison shows the distinction from globally Inactive mode and existing bookings.

Example: cancellation requests for a supervised training course should be reviewed, while open individual workshops may be cancelled automatically. Admins assign the course its own group with admin confirmation and retain automatic rules for workshops. For the course, they communicate a request followed by a decision, not a technical block on requests. A fee-free admin rule still creates a request; free automatic cancellation also requires the Automatic action.

Check cases for a complete tier structure

These cases use tiers of 365 days / 0% / automatic, 14 days / 50% / automatic, and 7 days / 100% / admin. The booking is confirmed, totals CHF 200, and has no valid withdrawal; other fees and payments are specified only where relevant.

Case	Matching rule or check	Expected result
20 full days until start	365 days	0% fee, automatic cancellation attempt.
14 days and 23 hours until start	14 calculated days	50% = CHF 100 fee.
7 days and 23 hours until start	7 calculated days	100% = CHF 200; participant request for admin review.
23 hours until start or start already passed	Smallest limit: 7 days	100% = CHF 200; admin review.
400 full days until start	No matching limit	Participant request; admin checks the initially fee-free proposal.
10 full days until start, CHF 200 paid, “User balance” refund	14 days / 50%	CHF 100 fee and CHF 100 credit, provided no other outstanding fees exist.
10 full days until start, valid withdrawal without waiver	Withdrawal takes priority	CHF 0 cancellation fee; check the remaining financial processing and result separately.
Offer start rescheduled after booking	Compare participant action and admin preview	Do not assume that the two time references automatically match.

Waitlist, group bookings, and subscriptions

Pending waitlist or inquiry: The rules process generates no new cancellation fee or automatic refund because participation has not yet been confirmed.
Group booking: The full cancellation action affects the entire booking. For just one person, use individual group participation management.
Participant subscription: Check subscription usage and the remaining allowance after cancelling a course. Course cancellation does not cancel the subscription. For the contractual process, see Subscription renewal and cancellation.