Payments, Fees, Cancellations and Refunds Policy

1. Activation and scope

ParkUp does not currently offer managed checkout, host payouts, cancellation calculations or user-facing refunds. This version is a framework only. It does not apply to direct payments between users.

Before managed payments launch for any feature, ParkUp will publish a professionally reviewed activation version, identify the payment provider and exact operating rules, and give affected users notice before it takes effect. The activation version will set the exact fee amounts, cancellation-policy choices, payout-pause evidence thresholds and review timeframes, long-stay payment intervals, and verification failure and refund rules. Version 2026.1 will not activate silently.

2. Checkout and fee disclosure

If ParkUp offers managed checkout, the confirmation screen will show:

• the accommodation or other underlying service charge;
• any traveller service or connection fee;
• any host fee deducted from earnings;
• any payment-processing charge passed on separately;
• GST and other tax components;
• the selected cancellation policy and refundable components;
• the total amount and currency;
• any separate optional contribution.

No mandatory charge will be hidden until after confirmation. A host fee may apply to host earnings, but no percentage is fixed by this version. Any amount will be set in the activation fee schedule and shown before confirmation. A traveller connection fee may apply to a free, koha-based or work-exchange stay where the activation terms say so.

A voluntary contribution will be clearly separate, optional and unticked by default. It will not affect access, approval, verification outcome or support.

Legal sources: Commerce Commission pricing guidance and Fair Trading Act 1986.

3. When a managed booking becomes binding

A request alone is not a booking. The activation terms will state the exact sequence. Unless checkout states otherwise, a managed booking becomes binding only when the host approves, the traveller confirms the final price and cancellation policy, the payment provider authorises the charge, and ParkUp issues confirmation.

ParkUp will record the selected cancellation policy and the price and fee breakdown with the transaction. A failed or incomplete payment does not create a confirmed booking.

4. Host earnings and payouts

The intended ordinary release time is around 24 hours after check-in. Longer stays may use staged or recurring payments. The activation version will set the exact intervals and any feature-specific exceptions before a user confirms.

ParkUp may pause a payout where there is a credible complaint, fraud concern, safety issue, material booking dispute, chargeback, legal requirement or provider restriction. We will tell the affected host the reason and information needed where safe and lawful. We will review relevant evidence from both sides and release, refund or continue the pause within the activation timeframe. The exact evidence threshold and review timeframe require professional review and are deliberately not fixed in this framework.

A payout amount is the underlying host earnings less the disclosed host fee, processing adjustments, tax, refunds, chargebacks or other amounts the host accepted at confirmation.

5. Cancellations and refunds

Each paid feature will have a limited set of cancellation policies that a host or provider can select. The selected policy and timing bands will be shown before confirmation and stored with the booking. Short stays, long stays and storage may use different options. Exact options are deferred to the activation version.

A cancellation policy cannot remove statutory remedies. If ParkUp or a host cancels for a reason within their control, the traveller will ordinarily receive a refund of the unprovided service and ParkUp will not automatically retain its service fee. The activation rules will explain any reasonable, lawful exception and how processing costs are treated.

If a traveller cancels, the selected policy will determine the contractual refund, subject to consumer law and any exceptional-circumstances process in the activation version. ParkUp may issue or facilitate a refund where the service was not supplied, materially misdescribed, unsafe, unlawful, duplicated or charged at the wrong amount.

Longer-stay arrangements that may be tenancies will not use ordinary short-stay cancellation rules. ParkUp needs professional tenancy advice before activating those payments.

Legal sources: Consumer Protection accommodation guidance and Commerce Commission summary of the Bachcare decision.

6. Chargebacks and negative balances

A cardholder may ask their bank for a chargeback for reasons such as non-supply, material misdescription, a wrong amount or duplicate charging. A chargeback is governed by bank and card-scheme rules and is not guaranteed.

ParkUp may ask both parties for booking records, messages, photos, timestamps and other relevant evidence. Where the activation terms and law allocate the chargeback to a host, ParkUp may deduct it and disclosed provider fees from pending or future payouts. We will notify the host and provide a reasonable opportunity to respond where scheme deadlines allow.

If deductions exceed available earnings, the account may have a negative balance. Recovery, repayment timing and any set-off must follow the activation version and cannot be imposed retrospectively. ParkUp will not recover an amount from a user where ParkUp caused the loss or the law places responsibility elsewhere.

Source: Banking Ombudsman chargeback guidance.

7. GST, seller information and records

Marketplace GST rules can require an electronic marketplace to collect and return GST on New Zealand listed services, including short-stay accommodation and ride-sharing. Where an underlying seller is not GST registered, the flat-rate credit scheme may apply. Digital Platform Information rules can separately require seller and transaction reporting.

Before paid stays launch, ParkUp will collect the seller and transaction information required for the final tax design. This may include legal name, address, IRD number, GST status, seller type, date of birth where required, payout account, property address, transaction amounts, fees, tax and refunds. Relevant tax records may need to be kept for at least seven tax years.

Professional tax advice is required for free, koha and work-exchange stays with a connection fee, long stays, storage, promoted listings, memberships and when a booking is made through ParkUp. This framework does not invent those answers.

Sources: Inland Revenue marketplace GST obligations and Digital Platform Information reporting fields.

8. Payment provider and funds flow

Managed payments will flow through the selected payment provider. ParkUp does not intend to hold customer funds in its ordinary bank account. This arrangement is not described as escrow.

If the provider delays, freezes, reverses or cannot complete a payment, ParkUp will tell affected users, stop confirming transactions where needed and work through the provider's process. ParkUp cannot promise immediate release of funds controlled by a provider, but this does not remove statutory rights or ParkUp's responsibility for its own service.

The final flow of funds, provider contract and payout model require professional financial-services, client-money and AML/CFT advice before activation.

Sources: Financial service provider registration guidance and Financial Markets Authority client-money guidance.

9. Questions and disputes

Email hello@parkup.nz with the booking reference, amount and relevant evidence. ParkUp's internal process does not prevent a chargeback request, regulator complaint, tribunal claim or other lawful remedy.