The agreement
These terms govern your use of Tiqstar — the website, the mobile apps, and the creator and vendor tools. By creating an account or buying a ticket you accept them. If you do not accept them, do not use the platform.
Tiqstar is a marketplace. Events are organised by the creators who list them, and services are supplied by the vendors who offer them. We provide the platform, process the payment and issue the ticket. We do not organise the events and we are not a party to the contract between you and a creator or a vendor, except where these terms say otherwise.
Your account
You need an account to buy or sell. You must give accurate details and keep them current — the email address on your account is where your tickets and receipts are sent, and a wrong address means a ticket you cannot use.
You are responsible for what happens under your account. Keep your password to yourself, and tell us straight away if you think someone else has access. You can see and end every active session from your account settings.
You must be old enough to enter into a contract where you live. Individual events may set their own age restrictions, shown on the event page and enforced at the door by the creator.
Roles on the platform
Every new account starts as a guest — you can browse, buy tickets, save events and manage your wallet. Selling tickets or offering services is applied for, not switched on:
- Creator — apply from for creators. Applications are reviewed by our team before an account can publish an event or take money.
- Vendor — apply from for vendors. Same review.
Approval can require identity or business verification documents. We may ask for them at application, before a first payout, or when a threshold set by our payment partners or by law is reached. We may decline or withdraw a role at our discretion, including where a verification cannot be completed.
Buying tickets
When you buy, your order is held while payment is taken, and the ticket is issued the moment the payment is confirmed. A hold is not a purchase: if payment is not completed inside the hold window, the seats return to sale.
Each ticket carries a signed QR code that is unique to it. A screenshot of somebody else's ticket will not admit you — the code is checked at the gate, and a ticket that has already been scanned is refused.
Tickets may be transferred to another person through the platform where the creator allows it. Selling a ticket for more than face value, or through any channel other than Tiqstar, is not permitted and puts the ticket at risk of cancellation.
The event itself — its content, running order, venue, safety and the conduct of the people running it — is the creator's responsibility.
Selling tickets
As a creator you are responsible for:
- describing your event accurately, including date, venue, line-up, age limits, and what a ticket does and does not include;
- holding the licences, permissions and insurance the event needs;
- running the event as advertised, or telling ticket holders promptly when something material changes;
- setting and honouring your refund policy, which is shown on your event page before purchase;
- handling your attendees' personal data lawfully — you get their details to run the event, not to build a marketing list for something else.
You keep ownership of your event content. You give us a licence to display, reproduce and promote it across Tiqstar and our own marketing while your event is listed.
Offering services
Vendors list services and are booked by creators through the platform. You are responsible for describing your services accurately, for holding any licence or insurance your trade requires, and for delivering what you agreed.
Booking payments are held in escrow. Funds are released to you when the booking reaches the agreed completed state, and a disputed booking is held until the dispute is resolved. Neither side should take payment for a platform booking off-platform: doing so removes the escrow protection from both of you.
Fees and payouts
Tiqstar charges a 7% platform fee on paid ticket sales and on vendor bookings. The rate is set per market, and the current schedule for every market is on the pricing page. On top of that sits the payment processor's own fee, which varies by country and currency. Free tickets carry no platform fee.
Who pays each fee is set by the creator: it can be absorbed into the ticket price or added at checkout. Whichever is chosen, the breakdown is shown before you pay — the total on the checkout page is the total you are charged.
Payments are processed by Paystack, Stripe or Flutterwave depending on the currency of the event. Card details are handled by the processor and are never stored on Tiqstar's servers. Where you choose to save a payment method, we store only the processor's token and the last four digits.
Creator and vendor earnings are paid out to the bank or mobile-money account on the payout profile, less fees and any pending refunds or disputes. Payouts may be withheld while a verification, chargeback or dispute is open. Current rates are set out on the pricing page.
Refunds and cancellations
The refund policy for an event is set by its creator and shown on the event page before you buy. Refund requests are raised from your order and go to the creator, who approves or declines them.
If an event is cancelled, ticket holders are entitled to a refund of the ticket price. Where a creator has already been paid out and does not fund the refund, our ability to return your money is limited to the funds we hold or can recover. If an event is postponed or materially changed, your ticket carries over to the new date unless the creator's policy says otherwise.
Refunds are returned to the payment method you used. Processing fees may not be recoverable.
Acceptable use
You may not use Tiqstar to:
- list an event you do not have the right to run, or that does not exist;
- resell tickets above face value, or scrape and bulk-buy inventory;
- launder money, take payment for anything unlawful, or evade sanctions;
- send unsolicited marketing to attendees, or to anyone who has unsubscribed or been suppressed;
- harass, threaten or impersonate anyone;
- probe, scrape, overload or reverse-engineer the platform, or bypass rate limits and access controls.
Automated access is allowed only through our documented API with a valid API key, within its published limits — see developers.
Content you upload
You keep what you own. By uploading images, descriptions, portfolios or reviews you confirm you have the right to use them, and you grant Tiqstar a non-exclusive, worldwide licence to host, display and distribute that content in order to run and promote the platform.
Reviews must reflect a real experience. We remove content that is unlawful, deceptive, infringing, or posted to manipulate a rating.
Suspension and termination
You can close your account at any time from your account settings. We may suspend or close an account that breaches these terms, that we reasonably believe is being used fraudulently, or where we are required to by law or by a payment partner.
Suspension does not cancel obligations already incurred: tickets already sold remain valid, refunds already owed remain owed, and funds may be held pending resolution.
Liability
The platform is provided as it is. We do not warrant that it will be uninterrupted or error-free, and we are not responsible for the quality, safety, legality or occurrence of any event or service listed on it.
Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited — including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud. Subject to that, our total liability to you in connection with the platform is limited to the amount you paid through Tiqstar in relation to the transaction the claim concerns.
Changes to these terms
We may update these terms as the platform changes. The date at the top of this page always reflects the current version. Where a change materially affects you, we will tell you before it takes effect. Continuing to use Tiqstar after that means you accept the updated terms.
Contact
Questions about these terms: legal@tiqstar.com. For help with an order, a ticket or an event, contact support — that reaches someone who can actually look at your order.
Privacy is covered separately in our privacy policy, and cookies in the cookie policy.