Things happen. Whether it's a venue issue, a scheduling conflict, or something outside your control, sometimes an event needs to be canceled or rescheduled. Here's how to handle it on Eventrise.
Postponing your event
If you're moving your event to a new date, you can update the details directly from your dashboard.
1. Update your event details
Edit your event's date, time, and any other affected details (like location, if it's changing too). See Editing your event details for a walkthrough.
2. Notify your attendees
Communicating with your attendees is your responsibility as the organizer — Eventrise does not send cancellation or postponement notices on your behalf. Using your own email tool, reach out to your attendees as soon as possible explaining what's changing, the new date, and what they need to do (if anything). Be clear and direct — attendees appreciate transparency, especially when plans change.
3. Update any external listings
If you've shared your event on social media, email campaigns, or your own website, update those too so prospective attendees see the new date.
Tip: Even if your refund policy doesn't require it, consider offering refunds to attendees who can't make the new date. It builds long-term trust with your community.
Canceling your event
If you need to cancel entirely, the quickest way is the Cancel event control. Open your event and go to Settings › Event lifecycle, then select Cancel event. Eventrise refunds every order in full, fees included, and emails every buyer. This can't be undone, so be sure before you confirm. You can read about every lifecycle control in How do I unpublish, close, or cancel an event?
If you'd rather refund orders yourself, or you only want to refund some of them, here's the manual process.
1. Notify your attendees first
A message in your own voice helps, whichever way you cancel. Use your own email tool to reach out to your attendees explaining the cancellation. Acknowledge the inconvenience, explain what's happening with refunds, and give them a timeline for when they can expect their money back.
2. Process refunds
Issue refunds to your attendees through the Orders tab. You can refund tickets individually or work through them in bulk. See Refunding a ticket for step-by-step instructions.
Keep in mind:
Refunding an order yourself returns the ticket cost, and platform and processing fees are non-refundable. To refund fees along with the ticket cost when an event is cancelled, use Cancel event instead
Refunds typically take 5–10 business days to appear in your attendee's account
You can include a personalized message with each refund
3. Take the event down
Once refunds are underway, take the event off sale. You can unpublish an event only before its first order, so after that, use Close event to stop new sales or Cancel event to cancel it. Both are under Settings › Event lifecycle. Your historical data and order records will be preserved in your dashboard.
Best practices
Communicate early and often. Don't wait until you have every detail figured out. Attendees would rather hear "we're working on it" than nothing at all.
Be honest about the reason. A short, genuine explanation goes a long way.
Honor your refund policy. Sticking to (or exceeding) what you promised protects your reputation for future events.
Need help with something specific? Reach out to our support team — we're happy to walk through your situation with you.