Buyer Protection

When you buy on the Vwaza Merch Store, your money is held by Vwaza, not the seller, until you have your order. Here is how that protects you.

The buyer-protection promise

You should never have to send money to a stranger and hope for the best. Vwaza buyer protection means that every order you place is held in escrow by Vwaza until the seller has shipped it AND a 14-day window has passed without you raising a dispute. If something goes wrong in that window, Vwaza can refund you directly out of the escrow, without needing to chase the seller.

Escrow, in plain English

Escrow is a fancy word for "a trusted third party holds the money in the middle". When you pay for an order, the money goes to Vwaza first. We do not pass it to the seller until the order has been delivered AND your dispute window has cleared. If we need to refund you, we can do it directly out of the money we are still holding.

Why this matters

  • You do not have to trust the seller's word that they will refund you.
  • You do not have to wait for the seller to send money back: Vwaza handles it.
  • The seller is incentivised to ship quickly because the timer only starts when they mark Shipped.

The 14-day dispute window

When the seller marks your order as Shipped, a 14-day countdown begins. During those 14 days you can request a refund directly from your order page for any reason covered by the Refunds and returns policy. Vwaza Support reviews and decides. If the refund is approved, the money comes back to you out of the escrow that has not yet been paid out.

Returns can extend beyond 14 days

You have 10 business days from delivery (not from Shipped) to request a return. So you almost always have plenty of time, even if delivery takes a few days.

What Vwaza will do for you

If something goes wrong

  • If your order never arrives, you get a full refund (item + shipping).
  • If it arrives damaged or significantly different from the listing, you get a full refund.
  • If the seller cancels before shipping, you get a full automatic refund.
  • If you and the seller disagree, Vwaza Support reviews the evidence and decides in good faith based on the policy.

What it does not cover

Outside the protection

  • Returns requested more than 10 business days after delivery.
  • Items damaged by you after delivery.
  • Items returned in a different condition from how they arrived.
  • Disputes you arrange with the seller off-platform (we cannot mediate what we cannot see).

Always pay through Vwaza

Never send a seller money outside Vwaza, even if they ask you to. Off-platform payments are not protected by escrow and we cannot help if something goes wrong.