Cancellations, Refunds, and Disputes

The right path depends on where the order is in its lifecycle:

• Before the seller buys a shipping label: self-serve cancellation by buyer or seller. No fees, no admin involvement.
• After the label is purchased: the order is locked in. Buying a label is a commitment to ship. If the seller never actually ships, the buyer is refunded automatically at the ship-by deadline (see Section 3).
• After the carrier's first scan but before delivery: the buyer can request a refund through the refund and dispute flow if there is a documented carrier issue. Normal in-transit orders proceed to delivery.
• After delivery: refund-request and dispute flow for items materially different from the listing.

See the buyer-protection policy and the seller agreement for the buyer-side and seller-side detail.

Either party can cancel before the seller buys a shipping label. From the Marketplace Orders page, open the order and click “Cancel order”. The card authorization is voided immediately on our side; your bank typically clears the hold from your available balance within 1 to 7 days. The listing is returned to active so other buyers can purchase. The other party receives a cancellation confirmation by email.

If the seller has not purchased a label by the listing's ship-by deadline (5 days from order placement), the buyer's authorization is voided automatically and the buyer receives a cancellation email. No buyer action is required.

If the seller has bought a label but never hands the parcel to the carrier (no first scan ever fires), the buyer's authorization is similarly never captured. The order auto-cancels at the deadline and the buyer is refunded. The seller's standing is impacted under the seller agreement.

1. From your Marketplace Orders page, open the order and click “Request a refund”.
2. Choose a reason (not received, not as described, damaged, or other) and submit a brief description plus photos when applicable.
3. The seller has 72 hours to respond with one of: approve, counter-offer, or contest.
4. If the seller approves or fails to respond, the refund is processed automatically; platform fees are reversed proportionally. Stripe processing fees on a captured-then-refunded transaction are not recovered by the processor and are deducted from the seller's portion of the refund.
5. If the seller contests, the request becomes a dispute (see below).

1. You and the seller have 5 business daysto resolve via the platform's in-thread messaging.
2. Either party may escalate at any time. Once escalated, both parties' messaging on the order is locked to evidence-only uploads.
3. Strictly Surf reviews all evidence and decides within 5 business days of escalation.
4. Decisions are final but may be revisited if material new evidence (e.g., recovered tracking, returned item) emerges within 30 days.

• Carrier tracking events (delivered, returned to sender, lost).
• Date-stamped photos of the item before shipment and on arrival.
• The original listing screenshot and in-thread messages.
• Receipts for label costs, return shipping, or repair quotes.

If a dispute outcome is materially incorrect, contact support via the help link in your dashboard within 14 days of the decision. Provide the order ID and a written summary. Support reviews escalations within 5 business days.

Initiating a card chargeback while a Strictly Surf dispute is open waives buyer protection on that order. We cooperate fully with card networks and may close the seller's account if a chargeback is decided in favor of the buyer.