Refund & Return Policy

1. Buyer Protection - what's covered

Buyer Protection applies automatically to every order paid through our checkout. You are eligible for a refund if any of the following happen:

• The item never arrived (no carrier delivery scan within 14 days of payment, or marked delivered but never received with a verifiable cause).
• The item arrived damaged in transit.
• The item is significantly not as described - wrong card, wrong condition, wrong grade, wrong set, missing components, etc.
• The item is a counterfeit, "proxy," or unlicensed reproduction represented as authentic.
• The item was materially altered after the listing photos (e.g., the card you receive shows damage not visible in the seller's photos).

2. How to request a refund

1. Open Orders and find the order in question.
2. Click Report a problem. Choose a reason and describe what happened. Photos help (especially for damage, not-as-described, and counterfeit claims).
3. The seller has 48 hours to respond to the report via the order thread with their side of the story, photos, and any tracking evidence. Sellers cannot self-issue partial refunds or reships through the platform — all resolutions go through admin adjudication so both sides get a fair review.
4. After the 48h response window closes (or immediately, if the seller doesn't respond), a Dragon's Claw Cards admin reviews messages, photos, tracking, and other evidence and issues a binding resolution within 7 business days. Resolutions can include: full refund, partial refund, reship at seller's cost, or dismissal. Both parties are notified of the decision.
5. Approved refunds are issued to your original payment method via Stripe and typically appear in your statement within 5–10 business days (sometimes faster - your bank decides the exact timing).

3. Auto-refund if your seller ghosts

If a seller doesn't upload valid tracking within 14 days of payment, the order is automatically refunded in full to your original payment method — no action required from you. We send the seller reminders at day 7 and day 10. Fake, recycled, or unconfirmed tracking numbers do not prevent the auto-refund.

Listing restoration. If the seller was active on the platform when you placed your order, their listing returns to the marketplace so someone else can buy it. If the seller has been inactive for 7+ days or is currently in Away Mode, the listing moves to their Drafts folder instead to prevent duplicate failed sales. Repeat offenders may be suspended.

Away Mode pause. Sellers can mark themselves as away for a specific date range (vacation, travel, family emergency). While a seller is in Away Mode, the 14-day auto-refund clock pauses — you're shown an "Away until [date]" notice on their listings and at checkout before you buy, so you know shipping will be delayed. The clock resumes the moment their Away date passes.

4. Time windows

• Item never arrived: file by 30 days after delivery date if the carrier scanned it delivered but you didn't receive it, OR 45 days after payment if there's no delivery scan at all (i.e. the seller never actually shipped, or the package was lost pre-scan).
• Damaged / not as described / counterfeit: file within 4 days of delivery.
• After those windows: contact support@dragonsclawcards.com. Late cases are reviewed individually and outcomes are not guaranteed.

5. What a refund covers

• Full refund = item price + shipping paid at checkout, returned to your original payment method.
• Partial refund = the amount the seller agrees to (or the amount admin approves) returned to your original payment method, with the rest of the order remaining paid.
• Refunds are issued to your original payment method only. We cannot send refunds to a different card, bank account, gift card, or PayPal/Venmo.
• If your original payment card has expired, your bank typically credits the refund to the replacement card automatically. If they can't, contact your bank.

6. Returns

Returns are at the seller's discretion except when Buyer Protection applies (damaged, not as described, counterfeit). When a return is required as part of a Buyer Protection resolution:

• The seller covers return shipping via a prepaid label we help them create.
• Return the item within 7 days of approval, in the same condition you received it, with all original packaging (top loader, sleeve, team bag, etc.).
• Use a tracked, insured method. Damage during return shipping is the buyer's responsibility if a non-tracked or non-insured method was used.
• Once the return scan shows on tracking, your refund is issued within 2 business days (typically same-day).

7. Partial refunds & reships

Sellers can offer two non-refund resolutions during the dispute window:

• Partial refund: a credit back to your original payment method while you keep the item. Useful for minor cosmetic issues that don't justify a full return.
• Reship: the seller sends a replacement and you keep, return, or destroy the original (typically destroy or recycle for low-value items).

You can accept the seller's offer in-app, decline and request a different resolution, or escalate to admin review if you and the seller can't agree.

8. What isn't covered

Buyer Protection does not cover:

• Buyer's remorse on a correctly-described item delivered in correct condition.
• Items damaged by the buyer after delivery (rough handling, exposure to liquid, attempting to deshrink/regrade, etc.).
• Disputes on local trades - those happen in person and are outside our escrow. See Section 9 of the Terms of Service.
• Items held by customs, international taxes/duties, or carrier delays beyond our reasonable control.
• Items shipped to an address you entered incorrectly at checkout.
• Items refused at delivery, returned to sender as undeliverable due to your action, or not picked up from a post office hold within the carrier's window.
• Off-platform purchases, off-platform payments, or any item where the buyer paid the seller outside the Dragon's Claw Cards checkout (this also violates our Terms).
• Cards graded by a third-party grading company (PSA, BGS, CGC, etc.) where the dispute is over the grade itself rather than misrepresentation. Grade disputes go to the grading company.
• Sealed product opened or in altered packaging condition unless the alteration is the basis of the claim and was concealed in the listing.

9. Chargebacks

If you do file a bank chargeback, we will respond to your bank using the order data, message thread, tracking events, and any evidence we have. If the bank rules against the buyer, the disputed funds are restored to the seller and the chargeback fee may be passed through to the buyer. Repeat-chargeback buyers (3+ in 90 days) may be permanently banned and may be required to use non-reversible payment methods for any future activity.

10. Seller payouts & reversals

To make refunds safe and reversible, we hold seller payouts via Stripe Connect until after the buyer-protection window - 5 to 10 days after delivery depending on the seller's tier (see seller tiers in the Terms of Service). When a refund is approved during the hold, the funds are pulled from the seller's pending balance before payout - quick, clean, no ACH-debit needed.

Refunds approved after a payout has settled to the seller's bank may require Stripe to debit the seller's account. If the seller's balance is insufficient and Stripe collection fails, the seller becomes personally liable for the amount under Section 15 (Indemnification) of the Terms of Service.

11. Premium subscription refunds

Premium fees are non-refundable for partial months. If you cancel mid-month, you keep Premium benefits until the end of your current paid billing period and are not charged again. We do not pro-rate or refund unused days.

Exception: if a material service failure (extended outage that prevents you from using paid features, billing error, etc.) genuinely deprives you of Premium value, contact support@dragonsclawcards.com with the details and we'll review case-by-case.

12. Promote a Listing refunds

Promotion fees are non-refundable once active, since the boost is delivered immediately. If a promotion is purchased on a listing you delete or that is removed for policy reasons before the boost runs, the fee is refunded automatically.

13. Dispute & refund abuse

The Buyer Protection process exists to make legitimate problems easy to resolve. Abusing it harms honest sellers and isn't tolerated. The following are grounds for warning, suspension, or permanent ban:

• Falsely claiming "did not receive" on an order with a delivery scan to a confirmed address.
• Returning a different (lower-value, damaged, or counterfeit) card in place of what was originally shipped.
• Filing a "not as described" claim after self-inflicted damage.
• Using disputes as leverage for an off-platform discount or for an unrelated grievance.
• Patterns of disputes filed across many orders and sellers without legitimate cause.

We investigate suspected abuse using order history, message content, IP/device signals, carrier evidence, and seller reports. Confirmed abusers may have funds clawed back, accounts banned, and (where the conduct rises to fraud) be reported to law enforcement.

14. Contact

Email support@dragonsclawcards.com. Include your order ID (the first 8 characters is enough) and a short description of what's wrong. The faster we have the basics, the faster we can help.