Cancellation policy
Life happens. Here's the plan.
Every Gear Envy listing carries a cancellation tier the owner picks. You'll always see it on the listing before you book, never buried in terms afterwards.
Flexible
The easy-going one
Cancel any time before the hire starts and the hire price is refunded in full. Once the hire period has started there is no refund.
Moderate
The middle ground
Cancel 24 hours or more before the hire starts and the hire price is refunded in full; inside 24 hours, 50% of it. Once the hire period has started there is no refund.
Strict
The committed one
Cancel 72 hours or more before the hire starts and the hire price is refunded in full; between 24 and 72 hours, 50% of it; inside 24 hours, no refund.
Who gets what
- If you cancel, the tier above sets how much of the hire price comes back to you. The hirer service fee is not refunded, unless you refuse faulty gear at the handover or your bond can't be held, when everything comes back. The service fee is for using Gear Envy.
- Not turning up to collect the gear is covered in “If you don't turn up” below.
- If the owner cancels or declines, or Gear Envy cancels the booking for a reason that isn't yours, you get back everything you paid, service fee included.
- Any part of the hire price that isn't refunded goes to the owner, less Gear Envy's usual commission, on the owner's normal payout schedule.
- An owner who cancels a confirmed booking is charged the service fee. Gear Envy can pause or remove listings from owners who cancel late or often.
- The owner isn't charged the service fee when they cancel because the gear has become faulty or unsafe, or for another genuine reason we accept.
- If the hire before yours is late back, you can cancel for a full refund and the owner can cancel without a fee. See “If the gear is running late from the previous hire” below.
- The bond is a separate temporary hold. When a booking is cancelled, by anyone, the hold is released and never captured.
If the gear is running late from the previous hire
- If the hire before yours is running late coming back, we let you and the owner know, and the owner confirms your pickup time.
- If the new time won't work for you, you can cancel from the booking and get back everything you paid, service fee included. Any bond hold is released. The listing's cancellation tier doesn't apply, because it isn't your doing.
- If the owner can't go ahead, they can cancel for the same reason: you get back everything you paid, and the owner isn't charged the service fee.
- This lasts until the gear is recorded as back or the handover happens. Once the gear is back, the usual rules apply again.
- Late-return fees apply to the hire that came back late, as usual. Nothing extra is charged to you or the owner.
If you don't turn up
- The owner waits 30 minutes after the agreed pickup time. After that they can record that you didn't turn up, and the booking is cancelled.
- If you're at the handover and have tapped I'm here, it isn't a no-show. If your bond can't be held after 3 tries or 30 minutes, the owner can cancel the booking: you get back everything you paid, service fee included, and nobody pays a fee.
- Gear Envy keeps the hirer service fee. The listing's cancellation tier, measured at the pickup time, sets how much of the hire price comes back to you; the rest goes to the owner, less Gear Envy's commission. The bond hold is released.
- You'll get a notification and an email straight away. If it isn't right, you have 48 hours to tell us from the booking page. While we look at it, the owner isn't paid for the booking.
- If we overturn it, you get back everything you paid, service fee included.
How timing is measured
- The clock runs to midnight at the start of the first hire day, Sydney time.
- An owner's response window can lapse before a request is approved; in that case the hold is released and the hirer is not charged.