Internal review draft
Fee & Refunds
A proposed ₹99 registration journey designed to make payment states clear and prevent teachers from paying twice when something goes wrong.
The ₹99 operating journey is owner-approved for the local build. Gateway, merchant account, receipt/invoice treatment, taxes, final refund clauses and finance ownership still require external review and real owner values.
01 · Proposed fee
₹99 for one registration.
The fee and total payable amount should be shown before payment. One verified server-side success maps to one registration ID. Successful registration confirms preliminary teacher verification and one submission opportunity; it does not guarantee technical acceptance, originality clearance, shortlisting or an award.
Confirm whether ₹99 is final, the tax treatment, gateway fees, receipt/invoice language, approved merchant account and the finance reconciliation owner.
02 · Payment states
Success must mean one specific thing.
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Verification in progress | Teaching evidence is being reviewed. No payment option is available. |
| Teacher verified | Teaching status is approved and the payment option may open. |
| Payment pending | The gateway has not confirmed a final result. It is not yet registered. |
| Successfully registered | Gateway success is verified and the platform creates one registration ID and dashboard. |
| Submitted | The participant later sends a story during the common writing window. |
| Eligible | The submitted entry passes technical and rules screening. |
| Shortlisted | The eligible entry advances through judging. |
03 · If payment does not complete
Check first. Retry second.
- A failed payment should preserve the verified participant profile and verification decision.
- A pending or apparently debited payment should show a status-check action and support reference.
- A participant should not be asked to pay again until the first transaction is reconciled.
- If gateway records prove timely success, the system should restore registration and issue one registration ID.
- A payment that is debited but not shown as confirmed straight away — common with UPI — reconciles automatically through the payment gateway's webhook. You are never charged twice.
- If a debited payment has not reflected after a short while, contact support with your payment reference and it will be reconciled against the gateway record.
Confirm the real provider, status-check mechanics, support owner and callback recovery behavior. The protected deadline rule is approved for implementation but remains non-live.
04 · Proposed refund matrix
These outcomes are recommendations, not published terms.
| Situation | Proposed treatment | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmed duplicate charge | Refund verified duplicate to the original payment source. | Finance/legal review |
| Confirmed organizer-platform failure | Refund if the organizer permanently cannot receive or process the paid entry. | Finance/legal review |
| Voluntary withdrawal | Proposed no refund after successful registration. | Anoop/legal decision |
| Ineligibility, false declaration or rules breach | Proposed no refund after disqualification. | Anoop/legal decision |
| Organizer cancels without completing the competition | Proposed refund of successfully collected registration fees. | Finance/legal review |
05 · Timing and confirmation
Every approved refund needs a traceable path.
The final policy should state how a participant requests help, what evidence is needed, the organizer's review and initiation target, the gateway/bank's expected credit time, and how the result is communicated. Refunds should return to the original payment source after verification.
No refund initiation target, gateway-credit estimate or support response time is approved. The proposed human response target for payment mismatches is within two business days, but this must not be published until owned and approved.
06 · Replacement and withdrawal
One entry should remain one entry.
The draft rules propose one manuscript replacement before the deadline using the same entry ID and payment. They also propose that withdrawal ends that registration and does not create a right to buy a second entry.
Approve or reject both positions before the entry journey is built.