Refunding and transferring race entries

How do I refund an entry?

Find the entry on your athlete roster and refund it. The refund goes back to the card that paid, the place is released, and the athlete is notified.

Refund policy is yours. PodiumBase does not impose a window or a rate, so publish your policy on your race page and apply it consistently; that is what stops the conversation being reopened.

Why can I not refund one person from a group?

Because a group registration is one payment. Several runners were entered together on a single card, so the money cannot be unpicked one runner at a time. Refund the whole group instead, then re-register the runners who are still coming.

You will see this explicitly if you try: the entry tells you it was booked as part of a group and to refund the group.

How do I move an entry to a different runner?

Transfer it, and give the new runner's email address. Their own details replace the original runner's, so results, the emergency contact, and photo matching all follow the person actually running.

Never let an athlete hand over a bib privately. The timing company scores the name on the entry, and the photos match to it, so an unofficial swap produces wrong results and delivers one runner's photos to another.

Should I charge for a transfer?

Many organizers do, and PodiumBase supports recording a separate payment against a transfer. Whether to charge is a policy question; if you do, say so on the race page next to your refund terms.

What about someone who cannot run at all?

If you offer deferrals, that is usually the better answer for both sides: the athlete keeps their money as credit toward a future race of yours, and you keep the revenue. See approving deferral requests.