Refund Policy

OurBazaar is a peer-to-peer marketplace. The contract of sale is between the buyer and the seller — we are not the seller of the item. What we provide is payment protection: for orders paid through the Platform, we hold the buyer's money until the order is complete, which is what makes a refund possible at all.

Because of that, this policy has one hard boundary. We can only refund money we are still holding. That is why the 48-hour window matters: once the payment is released to the seller, we no longer hold it.

Cash on Delivery orders delivered by courier are now covered by this policy. They previously were not, because the cash went straight from you to the seller. Cash collected on delivery is now remitted to OurBazaar by the courier and held for the same 48-hour window as any other order, so the same protection applies. The exception is a Cash on Delivery order you collect by Direct Pickup — you pay the seller in person, we never hold that money, and no refund is available from us on it. Section 5 explains both cases.

You have 48 hours from the moment an order is marked delivered — or received, for Direct Pickup — to raise an issue. Within that window your payment is still held by us and a refund is straightforward. The one order we do not hold payment on is Cash on Delivery collected by Direct Pickup, where you pay the seller in cash in person; you can still raise an issue and we still act on it, but there is no payment for us to return. See Section 5.2.

• The clock starts when the order is marked delivered in the app, not when you open the parcel. Inspect items promptly.
• Raising an issue pauses the release of payment while we look at it. An issue raised at hour 47 is as valid as one raised at hour 1.
• If no issue is raised within 48 hours, we release the payment to the seller and the order closes.
• After the payment has been released, we no longer hold the funds and cannot reverse the transaction on your behalf. You may still contact the seller directly, and you may still report them to us — but a refund is no longer something we can compel.

We are stating the second half of that plainly because a policy that implies open-ended protection would be misleading. If you are unsure whether something is wrong with your order, raise the issue inside the window. It is easy to withdraw; it is not possible to reopen.

A refund request raised within the window will be considered where:

• The item materially differs from the listing — wrong size, colour, condition, model, or brand
• The item is counterfeit, or otherwise infringes intellectual property
• The item arrived damaged, including damage caused by insufficient packaging
• The wrong item was sent
• No item was sent, or the parcel was lost in transit
• The item is missing parts or accessories that the listing said were included
• The item does not work as described, where the listing described it as working

Refunds are not available simply because you changed your mind. On a peer-to-peer marketplace the seller is usually an individual who has already parted with their item, so a no-fault return shifts a real loss onto them.

• Change of mind, buyer’s remorse, or finding the same item cheaper elsewhere
• The item is exactly as described but did not suit your taste, size expectation, or intended use
• Wear, flaws, or imperfections that the listing disclosed — including on items sold as used, refurbished, or “for parts”
• Minor colour variation attributable to photography, screen calibration, or lighting
• Damage caused after delivery, including by you, by misuse, or by attempted repair
• Items returned incomplete, used beyond reasonable inspection, or without their original packaging where that packaging formed part of the value
• Delivery delays caused by the courier, an incorrect address you supplied, or your being unreachable for delivery
• Issues raised after the 48-hour window has closed and payment has been released

Certain categories are non-returnable on health and safety grounds once opened or worn, including underwear and swimwear, cosmetics and personal-care items, pierced jewellery, and consumables. This does not affect your rights where such an item arrives damaged, counterfeit, or materially not as described.

A Cash on Delivery order delivered by courier is covered by this policy. You pay cash at the moment the item is handed over. That cash is then remitted to OurBazaar by the courier, and we hold it for the same 48-hour window described in Section 2 before releasing it to the seller. The window starts when the order is marked delivered — the moment your money left your hands — and does not depend on how quickly the courier settles with us.

This is a change. Cash on Delivery previously carried no payment protection, because the money went directly from you to the seller and we never held it. That is no longer how COD works on OurBazaar.

5.1 How a COD Refund Reaches You

We cannot put cash back into your hand, so an approved refund on a COD order is paid either as OurBazaar wallet credit, which is usually available within one working day, or by bank transfer, which takes longer because it is arranged manually. You choose which, and we will ask if you have not said.

5.2 Cash on Delivery Collected by Direct Pickup

If you choose Cash on Delivery and collect the item yourself, no refund is available from us on that order. You hand the cash to the seller in person. There is no courier to remit it and nothing for us to hold, so there is no payment we can reverse. The sale is complete at the handover.

Check the item before you hand over the money. On these orders that inspection is your protection. If the item is not what was listed, do not pay for it.

You can still report the seller, and we still act on it. Raise a dispute exactly as on any other order. We review it, decide who was at fault and record that against the account responsible — which can mean losing Cash on Delivery, restrictions on buying or selling, or removal from OurBazaar. What we cannot do is return money that never reached us.

A prepaid Direct Pickup order is different: we hold that payment, and the full 48-hour window and refund process apply.

5.3 Refusing a COD Delivery

None of this changes your obligation to accept an order you placed. Placing a COD order is a commitment to pay for it at handover. Refusing a delivery without good reason is recorded against your account, and a third such refusal disables Cash on Delivery for you. Full COD terms are in Section 9 of our Terms of Use.

• Step 1 — contact the seller. Open the order in My Orders and start a chat. Describe the problem and attach clear photographs, including of the packaging where damage is involved. Most issues are resolved here within a day.
• Step 2 — raise a dispute. If you and the seller have not agreed within 24 hours, open the order and use “Report a problem”. Do this before the 48-hour window closes; raising a dispute keeps the payment on hold while we review. Sellers can raise one too.
• Step 3 — we mediate. We review both sides, ask for further evidence where we need it, and issue a decision. Most decisions are issued within 5 business days.

Keep the item and its packaging until the matter is closed. Disposing of an item before a decision generally makes a claim impossible to substantiate.

Our Dispute Resolution Policy covers the process in full — who may raise a dispute, how a member of our team joins your chat with the other party, the outcomes we can decide, how fault is decided and recorded against an account, and how to ask us to look again.

• Full refund — the order total is returned to you, usually where the item was never sent, was lost, was counterfeit, or was substantially not as described.
• Partial refund — you keep the item and receive part of the price back. Suitable where a flaw is real but does not destroy the item's value, and where both parties accept it.
• Return and refund — you send the item back and are refunded once the seller confirms receipt or the tracking shows delivery. See Section 8 for who pays the return postage.
• Dismissal — the claim is not supported by the evidence and the payment is released to the seller.

Our mediation decision is final on the Platform. It does not remove any right you have under Pakistani law, and either party may take an unresolved dispute to the relevant consumer-protection authority.

• Where a return is ordered, ship the item within 5 business days of the decision, using a tracked service, and add the tracking number to the order chat.
• Return the item in the condition you received it, with all included parts, accessories, and original packaging.
• Where the seller is at fault — not as described, counterfeit, damaged, wrong item — the seller bears the return shipping cost, and OurBazaar may also bill them for the platform and processing fees.
• Where the return is agreed as a goodwill gesture and the seller is not at fault, the buyer bears the return shipping cost.
• A refund on a return is issued once the seller confirms receipt, or once tracking shows delivery and 3 business days have passed without the seller raising a problem.
• An item that arrives back damaged, incomplete, or visibly used beyond inspection may have its refund reduced or refused.

9.1 You Choose Where It Goes

When a refund is approved you choose between two destinations, and you can state your preference in the app at any time before the refund is issued — you do not have to wait for something to go wrong to say which you would prefer.

• OurBazaar credit — usually within 1 working day. The credit appears in your wallet and can be used towards any future order. It cannot be transferred to a bank account.
• Your original payment method — 3–5 working days. A card payment is reversed through the payment gateway that took it, so the money returns to the same card; how quickly it appears is then up to your bank. Where there is no card charge to reverse — a Cash on Delivery order, for example — our team makes a bank transfer instead, and we will ask you for the account details.

If any part of the order was paid using OurBazaar credit, that part comes back as credit whichever option you choose. We cannot send money to a card that did not pay it in the first place.

9.2 General Terms

• Refunds go to the destination you choose in Section 9.1 — OurBazaar credit or the payment method you used. We cannot send a refund to a different person, or to a card or account that was not the one used to pay.
• Once authorised, OurBazaar credit is usually available within 1 working day. A refund to your original payment method typically takes 3–5 working days; that part of the timing depends on your bank, not on us.
• Where an order is cancelled before dispatch, the refund is authorised immediately (Section 10).
• Refunds are made in Pakistani Rupees (PKR). Where you paid with a card issued outside Pakistan, exchange-rate movement between the payment and the refund may leave a small difference that we cannot control or reimburse.
• Foreign-transaction fees charged by your own bank are not refundable by us.
• Delivery charges are refunded in full where the seller was at fault or the item never arrived, and are not refunded on a goodwill return.

An order can be cancelled while it is still awaiting confirmation or being prepared, and before the seller has handed it to the courier. Contact the seller through the order chat, or Support if the seller does not respond.

• A cancellation agreed before dispatch is refunded in full, including any delivery charge.
• Once an item has been dispatched, cancellation is no longer available — wait for delivery and use the 48-hour window if there is a problem.
• Where a seller fails to dispatch within the handling time on the listing and does not respond, we may cancel the order and refund you in full.
• A winning auction bid cannot be cancelled because you changed your mind. Bids are binding under Section 6 of our Terms of Use.

• Auction purchases carry the same 48-hour window and the same refund grounds as any other order.
• Where a refund is approved on an auction win, the Buyer’s Premium and the platform fee are refunded along with the item price.
• A binding bid is not refundable on change of mind. Non-payment after winning an auction is a separate matter and may restrict your ability to bid.

Paid subscription plans are billed in advance and are separate from marketplace orders.

• Refunds for unused subscription time are at our discretion and are generally not offered. Cancelling stops the next renewal; you keep the paid features until the current period ends.
• Billing errors — duplicate charges, the wrong plan, a charge after a valid cancellation — are refunded in full within 30 days of the charge. Contact Support with the transaction reference.
• Subscriptions purchased through the Apple App Store or Google Play are billed by Apple or Google, and refunds for those must be requested from them directly under their own policies.

This policy exists to make honest buyers safe, and it works only if claims are made in good faith. We review patterns across accounts.

• Repeated claims that are not substantiated, claims for items later found to have been received and kept, or fabricated evidence may lead to refund privileges being withdrawn, and to suspension or termination of your account.
• Sellers who repeatedly misdescribe items, ship damaged goods, or fail to dispatch may be charged the resulting costs, have listings removed, or lose selling access.
• Refusing a Cash on Delivery order without good reason is recorded against your account; a third such refusal disables Cash on Delivery for you. See Section 9 of our Terms of Use.

If you believe an order has gone wrong, raise it with us first. Our dispute process is faster than a bank chargeback and does not put your account at risk.

Raising a chargeback with your bank or wallet provider without first attempting resolution through OurBazaar Support may result in your account being suspended while the chargeback is investigated. Where a chargeback is raised on an order we have already refunded, or is found to be unwarranted, we may recover the amount and any associated bank fees from you.

We may update this Refund Policy from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page always reflects the current revision. We will notify you of material changes by in-app notice and by email at least 14 days before they take effect. The version in force when you placed an order is the version that governs that order.

For a refund on a specific order, use the order chat and the “Escalate to Support” option rather than email — it reaches us with the order attached. For anything else about this policy: