Refund & Chargeback Policy

Contributions are not being accepted at this time, so no refunds arise today. This draft describes how refunds and disputes would be handled if contributions are activated.

A contribution is a voluntary payment to support independent commentary. Because it buys no product and promises no outcome, there is no generic “money-back guarantee.” The situations below describe when a refund would nonetheless be issued.

• Billing errors — duplicate charges, wrong amount, or a charge after a confirmed cancellation.
• Accidental contributions — a clearly mistaken payment, reported promptly.
• Statutory rights — any non-waivable refund rights under applicable law. [PLACEHOLDER: jurisdiction-specific rights.]
• Discretionary — reasonable requests made within a short window after the payment, reviewed case by case.

Approved refunds are returned through Stripe to the original payment method, in the original currency. When a contribution is refunded, the site’s internal ledger records an append-only adjustment and any published aggregate total is recalculated to match — totals are never edited by hand without an audit record.

If you believe a charge is wrong, please contact the operator first — most issues can be resolved faster than a bank dispute. Chargebacks and disputes are handled through Stripe. Amounts that are refunded, charged back, or found fraudulent are removed from any published aggregate via an append-only adjustment.

Email the contact address in the footer with the payment details (date, amount, and the email used at checkout). Refund requests are answered within a reasonable time. This draft is not legal advice and will be reviewed by counsel before launch.