CrawlerToll

Refunds and disputes

CrawlerToll never holds your money, so it never holds your refunds either. Every payment lives where it settled — on your Stripe account or in your wallet — and that is where a refund happens. The plugin gives you the links and one extra step: ending the reader's access.

Card payments (Stripe)

  1. Open the receipt in Settings → CrawlerToll → Recent unlocks. Each card receipt links straight to the payment in your Stripe dashboard.
  2. Refund it in Stripe, fully or partially, exactly as you would any other charge. Stripe's fees, receipts and tax reports apply as normal.
  3. Back in CrawlerToll, click Revoke access on that receipt (Pro). The reader's settlement pass is cancelled at the unlock service, so it no longer renews on any device. Content already decrypted in their browser cannot be pulled back — that is true of every paywall — but nothing new is released.

Disputes and chargebacks are between the cardholder, their bank and your Stripe account. Stripe notifies you; you respond in the Stripe dashboard. Useful evidence: the receipt's content id and time, and the fact that the key was released only after the payment succeeded (the unlock service records every release). CrawlerToll takes no fee and is not a party to the charge.

USDC payments (x402)

On-chain payments are final. To refund, send the USDC back to the payer's wallet — the address is on the transaction the receipt links to. Then revoke the pass as above.

EU and UK right of withdrawal

Consumers in the EU and UK can usually cancel an online purchase within 14 days. For digital content that is delivered immediately, the right ends only when the reader has agreed to immediate access and acknowledged that they lose the right of withdrawal, and the seller confirms that on a durable medium. You are the seller, so this is your obligation. CrawlerToll gives you the three pieces:

  1. Consent before payment. Under Settings → CrawlerToll → EU/UK right of withdrawal, the paid options on the wall stay locked until the reader ticks an unticked box with that statement. Automatic turns this on for sites whose timezone or language looks European; choose Always ask if you sell to European readers from elsewhere.
  2. Your evidence. For card payments your site refuses to start the payment without consent, then stores the consent time and the exact sentence on the PaymentIntent in your own Stripe account. For card and USDC payments the unlock service stores the consent time with the receipt, shown under Recent unlocks.
  3. The reader's copy. After a paid unlock the reader can save a receipt file that names you, the article, the price, the date and the consent they gave.

Free reads and pass renewals are not purchases and are not affected. This helps you meet the rule; it is not legal advice.

What "Revoke access" does and does not do

  • Does: delete the settlement pass at the unlock service, so renewals return a 402 and the reader sees the wall again on every device.
  • Does not: reach into the reader's browser. The key they already used stays in their local cache until they clear it. There is no way around this for any paywall, encrypted or not.

Policy

Publish your own refund policy; readers see your terms link in the 402 offer and on the wall footer. Stripe requires one for card payments. CrawlerToll enforces nothing about refunds beyond giving you the tools above.