Returns & refunds

If something's not right

This page explains how returns, refunds, and disputes work on Rare Kind. The short version: your payment is held by Stripe until you're happy with the item, and you have a short window from delivery to flag a problem — 2 days for orders from individual sellers, 14 days for orders from business sellers (to cover the statutory right to cancel).

Buyer protection

Every purchase on Rare Kind is covered by buyer protection. When you pay at checkout, the money goes into an escrow account at our payments partner Stripe. The seller isn't paid until:

• you confirm the item arrived and matches the listing, or
• the hold window passes since delivery without you raising an issue — 2 days for individual-seller orders, or 14 days for business-seller orders(the extra time covers the statutory 14-day cancellation right on distance sales from traders). When the window closes, the seller's funds release from escrow and the in-platform dispute process closes for that order.

The dispute window is your time to raise a formal in-platform complaint — 2 days for individual-seller orders, 14 days for business-seller orders (the longer trader window incorporates your statutory 14-day right to cancel, so cancelling under that right goes through the same dispute flow). These windows are hard cut-offs— once they close we can no longer facilitate a refund from escrow because the funds have left the platform. What doesn't close:

• your statutory rights under UK consumer law (see “Your statutory rights” below);
• chargeback through your card network or payment method;
• Citizens Advice, Trading Standards, or small claims via your local court.

We may review a late complaint at our discretion — typically where fraud is suspected or tracking evidence changes materially — but we don't promise to, and the alternative remedies above don't depend on us doing so.

How to raise a dispute

Go to your order page and tap Raise a dispute. You'll pick a reason (item didn't arrive, doesn't match the listing, counterfeit, damaged, wrong item, other), describe what went wrong, and attach photos if relevant. Our team reviews every dispute; most are resolved within two working days.

What we can do

The outcome depends on what happened. In order of how common they are:

• Item never arrived— full refund. No return needed (there's nothing to return). Tracking evidence from the carrier is the main input.
• Materially different from the listing— full refund after you return the item to the seller. Photos help. "Materially different" means a real mismatch: wrong size labelled as right size, significant undisclosed damage, different item entirely. Minor differences (colour slightly off on a screen) don't qualify.
• Counterfeit — full refund after return. We investigate seriously; confirmed counterfeiters are suspended pending review and may be permanently banned.
• Damaged in transit — full refund after return, or partial refund if buyer chooses to keep the item at a discount.
• Minor discrepancy not mentioned — usually a partial refund (amount negotiated with the seller or platform-decided).
• “Just didn't fit” on an individual seller listing— no marketplace refund; buyer and seller to sort directly. Individual sellers aren't legally required to accept change-of-mind returns (see below).

Change of mind: business vs individual sellers

Rare Kind hosts two kinds of sellers. Your consumer rights on change-of-mind returns differ.

Business sellers (registered companies on Rare Kind, marked with a verified-business badge next to the handle) are required under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 to offer a 14-day cancellation right on items sold in the course of their business. If you bought from a business seller and change your mind within 14 days of delivery, message them from the order page. The refund covers the item price and the standard delivery cost you paid at checkout. You'll arrange and pay for the return postage yourself, unless the seller explicitly offers free returns.

Business sellers may deduct a reasonable amount from the refund to reflect any diminishment in the value of the goods caused by handling beyond what was necessary to establish the item's nature, characteristics and functioning (as permitted by the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013). A try-on to check fit is fine; wearing the item out for an evening or removing tags that came with it is not.

Individual sellers aren't selling in the course of business, so the 14-day cancellation right doesn't automatically apply. Many are happy to accept change-of-mind returns anyway — always message them before raising a dispute, it's often the fastest path. Where a seller is in fact trading (listing at volume, running a resale shop etc.) we may reclassify the account as a business seller and the 14-day right then applies — see our Terms of service.

Return postage

Rare Kind doesn't pay for return postage. When a return is approved the seller decides two things at once: (a) whether the refund is full or partial (e.g. a partial can reflect wear, a missing tag, or a compromise both sides agree to) and (b) who covers the return label — the seller or the buyer. A seller who shipped the wrong item or a clearly faulty item will typically cover the return; change-of-mind or subjective-fit returns normally have the buyer covering it.

The return label is generated automatically through our shipping partner (Sendcloud) once the return is approved — you don't need to pick a carrier, buy a label, or send a tracking number. The party the seller chose to pay is billed for the label; tracking flows back into the order page from the carrier scans.

Individual-seller orders: 7 days to post

You have 7 days from the return being approved to hand the parcel to the carrier (either drop-off at a ParcelShop / locker or from a collection point — the label tells you which). If the parcel isn't scanned in within 7 days, the refund is automatically cancelled and the seller's payment is released.

Business-seller orders: 14 days to post

You have 14 days from the return being approved to hand the parcel to the carrier. This matches the minimum statutory window under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 (Regulation 35): a consumer returning goods to a trader must do so within 14 days of communicating the cancellation. If the parcel isn't scanned in within 14 days, the refund is automatically cancelled and the seller's payment is released.

Under Regulation 35(5) the buyer bears the return cost by default, but the seller can elect to cover it (or offer free returns as a matter of policy). Whichever side the seller picks, Rare Kind bills the label to them and applies the refund accordingly.

How postage is priced

Outbound postage is quoted at checkout per carrier, based on the parcel size the seller declared. Rare Kind works with a shipping partner (Sendcloud) to offer the cheapest tracked drop-off service each carrier provides for that weight band. The price you see next to each carrier is final: it's what you pay, rounded to the nearest 10p. Nothing is added on later at Stripe Checkout or in the total.

What that means in practice:

• Postage varies by carrier. Sellers often have a preferred set (Royal Mail, Evri, InPost — see “Picking a carrier at checkout” below) and the radio list at Stripe Checkout shows each with its live price and estimated delivery window.
• Postage doesn't vary by postcode. A London-to-Manchester parcel costs the same as a London-to-Stornoway parcel for the same carrier and size — the UK carriers we use price flat within the UK.
• The seller doesn't handle shipping costs themselves: we pay the carrier from what you paid at checkout, and the seller receives the full item price. The buyer protection fee is a separate line on your receipt that goes to Rare Kind, not to the seller.

If Sendcloud is unreachable at the moment you hit checkout — rare, we have a fallback flat-rate table so checkout never blocks — you may see £3.49 / £4.99 / £7.99 for small / medium / large respectively. These are ceilings; the live quote is usually lower.

Picking a carrier at checkout

You pick the carrier yourself at Stripe Checkout. Sellers choose which carriers they're willing to ship with on their shipping-preferences page; the options you see are drawn from that list — today that's Royal Mail, Evri, and InPost (if no preferences are set, all three appear). Each carrier shows its live quoted price alongside an estimated delivery window, so you're choosing on both price and convenience (drop-off point, delivery speed, tracking preference).

Once you pay, Rare Kind buys the shipping label from your chosen carrier on your behalf and emails the seller a PDF they can print, plus a QR code where the service supports drop-off. You don't need to do anything else until the item arrives.

Condition on return

The item must come back in the condition you received it — unworn, undamaged, with any original tags still attached. Reasonable handling to check the item (trying clothes on, inspecting seams) is expected and fine; using the item is not.

On returns to individual sellers, if the item comes back with wear, damage not present on arrival, or with tags or accessories that came with it missing, the seller can refuse the return and the refund is reversed. There are no partial refunds or restocking-style deductions from individual sellers.

On returns to business sellers, the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 permit sellers to deduct a reasonable amount from the refund to reflect any diminishment in the item's value caused by handling beyond what was necessary. In practice that might mean a partial refund rather than a full one. If the business seller proposes a deduction you disagree with, raise a dispute through the Service and our team will review the amount proposed against the actual diminishment.

What a refund includes

What's refunded depends on which point in the order the refund happens at:

Order cancelled before shipping

Nothing has been dispatched and no platform service was consumed. You get back the full transaction — the item price, the postage you paid at checkout, and the buyer protection fee.

Return after delivery — business-seller order

You get back the item price plus the postage you paid at checkout(Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, Regulation 34(1)). Return postage is handled separately under “Return postage” above. The buyer protection fee is not refunded — the platform already provided the dispute-handling service that got you to a refund.

Return after delivery — individual-seller order

You get back the item price. The postage you paid at checkout is kept — you were delivered a service, and individual sellers aren't subject to the statutory cancellation right that obliges business sellers to refund outbound delivery. The buyer protection fee is also kept, for the same reason as business-seller orders.

Item never arrived

You get back the full transaction — there was nothing to deliver, so item price, outbound postage, and buyer protection fee all come back.

Every refunded component comes back to the card or wallet you paid with. Partial refunds cover only the portion the dispute outcome agreed; other components aren't refunded on a partial.

Evidence we look at

We take every dispute seriously and we take fraud seriously too. When you raise a dispute, share anything that helps us understand what happened. You don't need a perfect evidence pack to open a dispute — we investigate even when evidence is limited.

• Item never arrived— we look at the carrier's tracking record first. If tracking shows the parcel delivered to your postcode we'll follow up to find out what happened (mis-delivery, taken-in by a neighbour, parcel-locker issue). If tracking was never scanned or has stalled, the outcome is typically in your favour.
• Not as described, damaged, counterfeit— photos are really helpful and speed up the outcome. Unboxing videos help if you have one. If you can't take photos for any reason, tell us — we'll still investigate.
• Everything else — describe what happened in as much detail as you can. Screenshots of relevant messages with the seller also help.

Repeated disputes with the same reason across many orders, or patterns that suggest fraud, trigger a closer look — including a temporary hold on the account while we investigate.

Timing

Once a refund is approved, Stripe typically releases it the same day. It appears on your statement within five to ten working days depending on your bank. Partial refunds follow the same timeline.

Cancelling before shipping

If you paid but the seller hasn't shipped yet, message them directly to request cancellation. Most are happy to cancel and relist; you'll get a full refund. If the seller doesn't reply within 48 hours, contact hello@joinrarekind.co.uk and we'll step in. Either way, sellers have 7 days from payment to ship— if the parcel still hasn't been handed over by then, the order auto-cancels and you're refunded in full automatically.

Because Rare Kind buys the shipping label on your behalf as soon as your payment clears, a pre-ship cancellation may involve voiding a label that was already issued. Rare Kind handles that void with the carrier; you don't need to do anything. Your refund still covers the item price, the postage, and the buyer protection fee in full.

Counterfeits

If you receive an item you believe is a counterfeit, open a dispute immediately and pick Counterfeit as the reason. Attach photos — tags, stitching detail, seams, logo close-ups all help. We'll investigate, issue a full refund if confirmed, and the seller is suspended pending review. Brands that maintain IP protection registers with us may also be asked to corroborate.

Your statutory rights

None of the above affects your statutory consumer rights under UK law. If you believe those rights have been infringed, you can contact Citizens Advice (0808 223 1133) or Trading Standards.

Questions not covered here? See the Help centre, read the Terms of service, or email us at hello@joinrarekind.co.uk.

Last updated: 25 April 2026