Refunds & Cancellations

When you book an item, your card is charged three things at once:

• The rental subtotal — the daily price multiplied by the number of days.
• A service fee of 3.5% of the rental subtotal.
• A refundable damage deposit set by the owner.

The platform service fee is 7% in total: 3.5% is added on top of the subtotal for the renter, and 3.5% is deducted from the owner's payout. No fee is charged on the deposit — it's pure pass-through.

You get a full refund of everything you were charged — the rental subtotal, the service fee, and the entire deposit. Nothing is kept. You can cancel yourself from your dashboard.

A 30% cancellation fee is charged. It's calculated on the rental subtotal plus the service fee — not on the deposit. Everything else is refunded, including the full deposit.

Example: $20/day × 2 days = $40 subtotal, $1.40 service fee, $50 deposit. Charged: $91.40.
Cancel inside 24 hours → fee of 30% × $41.40 = $12.42 kept, $78.98 refunded.

The cancellation fee exists because a late cancellation blocks the owner's dates with no notice.

Once the item has been picked up, you can't cancel the rental yourself — the cancel button disappears. If something has gone wrong, message the other person first, then contact hi@getbutz.com and we'll work it out case by case.

The deposit is charged at checkout and held for the duration of the rental. Once the item is returned and the rental is marked complete, the deposit is released back to you — unless the owner files a damage claim.

If an item comes back damaged, the owner can file a damage claim. A Butz admin reviews the claim, including anything both sides send in, and decides how the deposit is split between the owner and the renter. The admin can award the deposit entirely to the renter, entirely to the owner, or split it by percentage.

The renter's share is refunded to the original payment method. The owner's share is added to what the Butz team pays out to the owner. You'll get a notification when the claim is resolved.

All refunds go back to the original payment method used at checkout — we can't send them anywhere else. Once processed, they typically take 5–10 business days to appear on your statement, depending on your bank.

Owner payouts are settled manually by the Butz team after a rental completes. The pending amount is shown on your dashboard, and it's the rental subtotal minus the 3.5% owner service fee.

Anything unclear or anything that looks wrong on a specific rental: email hi@getbutz.com with the rental dates and the item name. See also our terms and privacy policy.