This Refund Policy applies to purchases, quote-based orders, sample requests, wholesale orders, custom manufacturing orders, direct bank arrangements, cash-supported transactions, and supported payment flows involving VSL Market buyers, vendors, manufacturers, makers, suppliers, and distributors.

1. Vendor or Manufacturer Responsibility

The vendor or manufacturer is the merchant of record for sales made through or because of VSL Market unless a separate written agreement says otherwise. The seller is responsible for product accuracy, production quality, availability, fulfilment, delivery, customer support, returns, replacements, and refunds.

2. VSL Market's Role

VSL Market provides discovery, listing, quote, communication, payment-request, virtual POS, and payout-routing tools. We do not become the seller, manufacturer, logistics provider, escrow agent, or custodian of funds for buyer-seller transactions unless a separate written product or agreement expressly says so.

3. Contact the Seller First

Buyers should contact the seller first for delivery issues, quality concerns, wrong items, damaged goods, missing items, late production, cancellation requests, returns, or refunds. Sellers must respond in good faith and in line with the terms they agreed with the buyer.

4. Evidence to Keep

Both buyers and sellers should keep quote records, invoices, payment references, chat messages, product specifications, photos, videos, inspection reports, delivery notes, waybills, and any written refund or cancellation terms.

1. Eligible Refund Situations

A refund, replacement, or corrective action may be appropriate where the seller agrees, or where evidence shows that an item was not delivered, was materially different from the agreed description, was damaged before delivery, or the seller cannot fulfil the order.

2. Non-Refundable Situations

Refunds may be refused where the buyer changed their mind after dispatch, provided wrong delivery details, damaged the item after receipt, failed to inspect within the agreed timeframe, or requested a return outside the seller's stated policy.

3. Samples

Samples are often made or shipped for evaluation. Sample fees, shipping fees, and inspection costs may be non-refundable unless the seller clearly agreed otherwise or failed to provide the agreed sample.

4. Shipping and Logistics Fees

Shipping, customs, storage, inspection, and logistics costs are refundable only if the seller, logistics provider, payment partner, or applicable law requires it, or if the parties agreed to that term in writing.

1. Deposits and Production Milestones

For custom manufacturing, wholesale, or made-to-order goods, refund eligibility depends on the written terms agreed by the buyer and vendor before payment. Deposits may become non-refundable once materials are purchased, tooling begins, packaging is printed, labour is committed, or production starts.

2. Buyer Specifications

Buyers are responsible for providing accurate specifications, sizes, artwork, labels, compliance requirements, delivery instructions, and approval decisions. Sellers are not automatically responsible for losses caused by incorrect buyer instructions.

3. Seller Production Failures

If a vendor or manufacturer cannot produce the agreed goods, materially changes the agreed specifications without approval, or misses a critical timeline without reasonable cause, the parties should first try to agree on correction, replacement, partial refund, credit, or cancellation terms.

4. Inspection and Acceptance

For large or custom orders, buyers should request samples, pre-shipment photos, third-party inspections, or quality checks before final acceptance. Failure to inspect within the agreed period may limit refund options.

1. Duplicate or Failed Transactions

If you believe a payment was duplicated, failed incorrectly, credited to the wrong reference, or affected by a technical platform issue, contact support with the payment reference, seller name, screenshots, bank or wallet confirmation, and any related quote or invoice.

2. Released Payments

Where a supported payout has already been routed to the seller's saved bank account or payout destination, VSL Market may not be able to unilaterally reverse the payment. Recovery may depend on the seller, bank, payment processor, mobile-money provider, crypto network, or formal dispute process.

3. Direct Bank, Cash and Off-Platform Payments

For direct bank transfers, cash payments, or arrangements completed outside VSL Market's supported payment rails, the buyer and seller are responsible for proof of payment, refund discussions, and dispute resolution. VSL Market may review account misuse reports but cannot guarantee recovery.

4. Chargebacks and Partner Disputes

Card, bank, mobile-money, and payment-partner disputes may follow the rules and timelines of those providers. VSL Market may provide available records where appropriate, but the final outcome may be controlled by the relevant provider.

1. Private Resolution Period and Public Visibility

A new dispute is first made available to the buyer and seller so they can respond, exchange relevant proof, propose a remedy, acknowledge a refund, replacement or delivery, and close the case directly. If a qualifying dispute remains unresolved for more than 24 hours, its public case record and permitted thread information may appear on the seller's public profile, Commerce Passport and AI-commerce trust view. Contact details, payment credentials and evidence files that are designated private are not made public.

2. How the Resolution Score Works

The score reflects the seller's demonstrated effort and consistency in resolving order disputes. It considers qualifying public disputes, their open or resolved status and whether the seller responded within 24 hours. A score of 3.5 or higher indicates a strong resolution record; a score above 2.5 indicates visible resolution effort; and a score of 2.5 or lower may indicate that the seller has not been responsive. If there is no qualifying dispute information, VSL does not display a score, conclusion or trading advice. The score is context for users and AI agents, not a finding of wrongdoing, and it updates as cases are resolved.

3. Refund and Resolution Verification

Either party may upload proof and record an acknowledgement. A refund may be marked provider-verified where a supported payment provider confirms it, or party-acknowledged where the seller and customer confirm the same outcome. VSL does not treat a screenshot alone as provider confirmation. Resolved cash-payment proof is not included in the seller's public dispute list.

4. Recommended Payment Record

Sellers should endeavour to process orders through the VSL payment terminal, POS or payment-request flow. This connects the order, amount, currency, payment reference and supported provider status, creating a clearer transaction record and helping the parties hold each other accountable. Using a VSL payment flow does not guarantee a refund or make VSL the merchant, escrow agent or custodian.

5. Cash and Physical Transactions

Cash payments, physical handovers and other direct arrangements are supported at the mutual discretion of the customer and seller. The parties should keep receipts, delivery notes, handover acknowledgements, photos and any agreed refund terms. VSL can preserve a related dispute record, but generally cannot provider-verify or reverse cash.

6. Reputation-Based Accountability

This public-accountability approach is sometimes described as a shame-based system. Its purpose is to encourage prompt, practical resolution across marketplace and social-commerce transactions—not humiliation, harassment or punishment. Case visibility should remain evidence-based, proportionate and correctable, and resolved cases should show their resolved outcome.

If a vendor, manufacturer, buyer, or representative uses VSL Market to misrepresent products, collect payment for prohibited activity, impersonate a business, repeatedly fail to fulfil orders, or abuse payment tools, VSL Market may remove listings, restrict payment features, suspend accounts, preserve records, and cooperate with banks, payment partners, regulators, or law enforcement where appropriate.

Submitting false refund claims, fake evidence, fake delivery complaints, or abusive chargebacks may also lead to account restrictions or termination.

1. Open a structured dispute

A buyer or seller can open a dispute from the relevant VSL invoice or payment request. The case keeps the transaction reference, issue, timeline, participant messages and uploaded proof together so the parties can focus on resolution steps instead of repeating the issue across separate chats.

2. Resolve directly

The seller reviews the evidence and proposes a correction, replacement, partial refund, full refund or another agreed solution. The customer can accept the proposal to close the case or reject it with a reason. VSL does not need to approve or cancel a participant-led resolution.

3. Public accountability after 24 hours

If a dispute remains unresolved for more than 24 hours, a public dispute record can appear on the seller’s profile and in the seller’s Commerce Passport. The public record shows the issue category, status, dates, resolution record and a redacted case thread. Contact details, payment credentials and uploaded evidence files remain restricted to the participants.

4. Refund acknowledgment and verification

The seller can record that a refund was sent and add the reference or proof in the case. The customer can confirm receipt or report that it was not received. VSL separately checks available invoice and payment-provider states. A refund is described as provider/invoice verified only when a canonical payment record reports it; matching seller and customer acknowledgments are described as mutually acknowledged.

5. Dispute-based rating

The dispute rating is derived from public dispute records, including resolution rate and whether the seller responded within 24 hours. Sellers with no public dispute history are not assigned an invented score. A resolved case remains part of the record and clearly shows that the parties completed the process.