1. Booking payments
StrictlyByIV bookings use either Pay in full to confirm or Deposit, then balance. Providers and venues may set a deposit from 25% to 75%, a balance due point from 0 to 30 days before service, and up to 7 grace days. If a balance goes unpaid past its deadline on a confirmed booking, the provider may extend the deadline (at most twice, seven days at a time, never past the event) or close the booking; an unpaid balance closes the booking automatically when the service starts. The final balance deadline never extends beyond the start of the service date.
The initial full or deposit payment is due at the earlier of 24 hours after provider acceptance and the service start time. Deposit-and-balance is not offered when fewer than 24 hours remain before service or its balance cutoff has passed; the booking must be recreated using full payment. A late payment cannot reactivate an expired booking and is sent for refund review.
When a booking payment succeeds, StrictlyByIV may hold eligible funds while refund, dispute, completion, payout, and transfer-review rules are evaluated. Collected funds are not treated as paid out to the provider until the payout transfer has conclusively succeeded.
2. Refund window
A successful deposit, balance, or full payment is eligible for self-service full refund until the earlier of 24 hours after payment and the service start time. A rush full-payment booking may therefore have less than 24 hours of self-service refund protection; the app shows the exact deadline before or after payment where applicable.
After the refund window closes, users may need to contact support or open a dispute instead of using self-serve cancellation. A queued or processing gateway refund remains pending until the payment partner confirms it has been processed.
3. Disputes and review
If there is a problem with a paid booking, users should contact the other party or open a dispute before funds are released. The dispute request records a category and description. A disputed booking pauses unsubmitted payout while the issue is reviewed. Disputes are typically resolved within 2 business days.
StrictlyByIV may review booking records, messages, payment status, completion signals, and other relevant information. If the provider wins, held payout resumes and the booking completes. If the booker wins, unreleased successful payments are queued for refund and the booking is cancelled.
Funds already released to the provider remain released. A claim involving released funds requires operations review and may require a platform-funded exception or provider recovery outside this workflow. Where a payment is only partly released, the unreleased remainder can be refunded; there is no automated clawback of money already transferred.
4. Provider payouts
Payouts release in instalments on an event-anchored schedule. The early instalment becomes eligible 30 days before the event, and never before the refund grace window for that payment has closed. All releases also require that the booking and payment are not blocked by cancellation, dispute, refund, failed transfer, or review state.
For a deposit, the early instalment covers at most 50% of the total booking value; any part of the deposit above that stays held until after the service, so it remains refundable if the booking later closes after a balance default. For a full-upfront payment, 75% releases early and the remaining 25% stays held until after the service. Balance payments stay held through the service.
After service ends, the booker's Confirm Booking Complete action authorizes immediate processing of eligible held funds. It does not require a provider request or an additional payment-age delay. A booker may also choose to release held eligible funds early once the refund window has closed: for a deposit this may cover the entire deposit, including the share the automatic schedule would have held back — money released this way cannot be refunded or recovered by a dispute. A full payment's retained share is never releasable before the service ends.
If the booker does not confirm and no cancellation, dispute, refund, failed transfer, or review state blocks release, eligible full-upfront or balance funds become payout-eligible 24 hours after the service end time. The provider's Request Payout action records fulfillment and asks the booker to confirm; it never starts, delays, or resets that automatic-release time.
When the system auto-releases eligible full-upfront or balance funds, the booking may be marked completed by system audit while preserving whether each party actually confirmed. Actual settlement timing can still depend on payment processor checks, bank processing, payout account status, transfer success, and operational review.
5. Fees and payment partners
Payment processing, platform, bank, transfer, or service fees may apply depending on the booking, provider setup, and payment partner rules. The app should show available fee and payout information where supported.
StrictlyByIV may use payment partners such as Paystack to process payments, refunds, and transfers.
6. Contact
Payment, refund, dispute, or payout questions can be sent to support@strictlybyiv.com.