Refunds
There are two completely different kinds of refund on Onflow Ads, and they behave differently. Knowing which one applies to you saves a lot of confusion.
| Service refunds | Top-up refunds | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A service you paid for from your wallet could not be delivered | Money you added to your wallet, paid back out of the platform |
| Who starts it | Automatic, or you cancel an order | You request it, and it is reviewed manually |
| Where the money goes | Back to your wallet, ready to spend again | To an external destination — not your wallet |
| Fees deducted | None — you get the full amount back | Yes — a platform fee and the payment gateway's fees |
| Guaranteed? | Yes, per the service's own rules | No — every request is reviewed and may be declined |
| Time limit | Per the service's own rules | Within 12 hours of the top-up being credited |
| Effect of asking | None — nothing to ask for | The requested amount is frozen until a decision |
This page covers the rules for both. For the click-by-click flow of asking for a top-up back, see Requesting a Top-up Refund.
The full legal policy is published at https://onflowads.com/refunds and summarised in Refund Policy.
Service refunds — money back to your wallet
When a service you bought from your wallet cannot be delivered, the money returns to your wallet balance, where it is immediately available to spend again. Nothing is deducted, and you do not have to ask.
Boost Metrics orders
- Could not start. If an order cannot be started or is rejected by the provider, the full amount is automatically refunded to your wallet.
- Cancelled or partly delivered. If an order is cancelled, or only partly completed, the unfulfilled portion is automatically refunded.
- Completed orders. Once a service has been delivered as ordered, it is considered performed and is not refundable.
- If you paid partly with Boost Credits, that portion comes back as credit rather than cash — credit never converts to money.
Details: Cancellations and Refunds.
Paid ad placements and campaigns
- Before the owner accepts. You may cancel a placement you booked at any time before the channel owner has accepted it, for a full wallet refund.
- After acceptance, before it goes live. You can still cancel, but a late-cancellation fee — currently 15% of the charge — is deducted and paid to the channel owner for the slot they committed and turned other bookings away for. The rest is refunded to your wallet, and you take a reliability penalty.
- After it starts. Once a placement is live or a campaign has begun, it is generally non-refundable, because the slot was reserved and the post scheduled.
- Non-delivery or our fault. If a placement fails to run because of a fault on our side, or because the counterparty does not deliver an accepted placement, we work with you in good faith to re-run it or provide an appropriate credit or refund.
Details: Escrow and Protection.
Cross-promotion swaps
Cross-promotion slot swaps are free, so there is no payment to refund. You simply opt out before a swap is scheduled.
Where to see a service refund
Look in Activity on your wallet page for a green credit with a reason such as "Boost refund: …", "Paid promotion cancelled — refund" or "Paid promotion not posted — refund". The money is spendable the moment it appears.
Top-up refunds — money back out of the platform
A top-up refund is you asking for money you added to be paid back to you outside Onflow Ads. It is a request, not a right.
When a top-up is eligible
A top-up can only be requested for refund when all of the following hold:
- It was successfully credited to your wallet.
- Less than 12 hours have passed since it was credited. After 12 hours a top-up is final.
- None of it has been spent — and there has been no wallet spend of any kind since it was credited. Any spend disqualifies it.
- There is no open refund request for it already, and it has not already been refunded.
Withdrawal holds and reversals of other refunds are not treated as spends, so they do not disqualify a top-up on their own.
Every refund request is reviewed manually and may be declined at our discretion. Submitting a request does not entitle you to a refund. The wallet page states this before you submit, and it bears repeating here.
What we do commit to: if we decline, we tell you why. A decline cannot be recorded without a stated reason — our systems refuse one — and you are shown that reason in full, in the notification and on the request itself.
What you receive
An approved top-up refund is paid to an external destination — never back to your wallet — and fees are deducted:
after platform fee = top-up amount − 18% platform fee
net you receive = after platform fee − the payment gateway's fees
The gateway's fees depend on how you paid:
| You topped up with | Gateway fee deducted |
|---|---|
| UPI or card | An assumed 2% of the amount remaining after the platform fee. |
| Cryptocurrency | The crypto processor's fee (1% of the remaining amount) plus the live USDT BEP-20 network withdrawal fee applying at the time — subject to a minimum of 3% of the remaining amount, whichever is greater. |
If your top-up carried a deposit bonus, that bonus is removed from your wallet along with the deposit when the refund is approved — and it is frozen alongside it while the request is open. A bonus is promotional credit you were not charged for: it is not paid out to you, and it does not survive the deposit that earned it.
You never have to compute this yourself: before you submit, the wallet shows a quote with the exact rows — Top-up amount, Platform fee (18%), Gateway fees and You receive. What you are shown is what is enforced.
Where an approved refund is paid
- A UPI or card refund goes back to the original payment method you paid from, in Indian Rupees. It cannot be redirected to a different account.
- A crypto refund is sent to a fresh USDT BEP-20 (BSC) address that you provide when you request it. Crypto transfers cannot be reversed, so the address is your responsibility.
Timelines
The two periods run back to back, not at the same time:
- Review — up to 5 business days. From when you submit until the request is approved or declined. Your requested amount is frozen throughout.
- Payout — 7 to 14 business days. From the day the request is approved until the money reaches you. This clock starts at approval, not on the day you asked, because nothing is sent anywhere before a person has approved it.
Business days exclude weekends, public holidays and national festivals in India, so a long festival period adds calendar time to the same number of business days. Unusual volume, or disruption at a bank, a payment provider or a blockchain network, may take longer still. These are targets, not guarantees.
What is never refundable
- Services already delivered or completed as ordered.
- Ad placements or campaigns that have already started or gone live, except for non-delivery or a fault on our side.
- Promotional, bonus or goodwill credit, including Boost Credits — these have no cash value and are neither refundable nor withdrawable.
- Non-recoverable payment-provider fees on a refunded transaction.
- A top-up older than 12 hours, or any part of which has been spent.
Nothing in this policy limits rights you may have under applicable law that cannot be excluded.
Failed, duplicate and unauthorised charges
These are handled separately from the refund request flow:
- Money debited but wallet not credited. Every payment is verified directly with the provider before any credit is applied, and each order is credited only once. A charge that never confirms is reconciled automatically. If the credit has not appeared within a few hours, contact support with the date, amount and any reference — a genuinely failed charge is traced and refunded in full.
- Duplicate charges. If you are charged more than once for the same top-up, the duplicate is refunded in full.
- Unauthorised charges. If you believe a payment was made without your authorisation, email support@onflowads.com immediately so we can investigate.
FAQ
Can I get a top-up back after 24 hours? No. The 12-hour window is firm, and after it a top-up is final. Your balance stays fully spendable on the platform.
I spent $2 of a $200 top-up. Can I refund the rest? No. A top-up is refundable only while it is completely intact. Partial refunds of a top-up are not possible.
Why is the platform fee on a refund higher than the fee I paid to add funds? They are different things: the top-up commission set by your plan is the cost of taking your payment in, while the 18% platform fee on a refund covers reversing an already-completed transaction. Both are stated up front.
My refund was declined. Where is my money? Exactly where it was. A declined top-up refund never moves anything — the amount was never taken out of your wallet, and it remains spendable.
Can a refund be sent to a different bank account than the one I paid from? Not for UPI or card — those always return to source. Crypto refunds go to a fresh address you nominate.
How do I actually ask for one? See Requesting a Top-up Refund.
Who do I contact about a specific refund? Email support@onflowads.com or use the contact form at https://onflowads.com/contact. Include the order reference, the date and the amount.
Next: Requesting a Top-up Refund — the click-by-click flow for asking for a top-up back.