Damaged, Incorrect, Faulty and Not As Described Goods

Where damaged, faulty, incorrect or not as described goods are received by the customer, the customer should not cover the cost of return, the customer should be provided with a free returns label by you where a return is required.

You may offer the customer a replacement or refund to resolve the issue, but the customer's preference should be adhered to. Please do not dispatch a replacement before the customer agrees to this, as the item may no longer be required.

Where cases are escalated to Fruugo regarding damaged, faulty, incorrect, or not as described goods and the value of the order is under £50, we will refund the customer without the need to return the goods, where evidence of the issue is provided. Any orders above this value we will ask for a free returns label. If this cannot be provided, we will assess the cost of return and the value of the order and may issue a refund to the customer, or advise the customer to return the goods and reimburse the customer for these shipping costs at your expense.

This would also apply to issues arising from SKU variants not being advertised properly in your listings. Misrepresentation of a product is prohibited on Fruugo and it is a retailers responsibility to ensure all images, descriptions, brand names, pricing and categorisation of a product are correct and correspond with the actual product that is being sold. Where the received product is not as advertised due to an issue with the listing, such as missing variants on the items listing, or the image not matching the item received, we may decide to suspend the product from the Fruugo platform and refund the customer at your expense.

If the value of the product is over £50, we would expect that a free returns label is provided to the customer, or the cost of return reimbursed to the customer. Some payment providers will request that a free returns label is given to the customer, if you are unable to provide this, the customer may be refunded without the need to return the goods. This is at the payment provider's discretion and out of our control.

If you do not require that the items are returned to you, you can resolve the case by refunding the customer without the need to return. We reserve the right to action this process in all cases that are escalated to us.

Where we advise a customer to return the items, either by free returns label or when reimbursing the shipping costs, we may refund the order as soon as the shipment is showing as being in transit to you.

Where providing evidence of a faulty, damaged, incorrect or not as described item would pose a risk to the customer’s health and safety, we may not ask the customer to provide this and instead may review and make decisions on this on a case-by-case basis. You can request that the items are returned to you for investigation, but this would need to be returned at your cost and not the customers.

We understand that in some cases, offering the customer a partial refund may resolve the issue for the customer. We do not allow ongoing one sided negotiations, so would expect that when offering these, you make your best offer first. If this is rejected by the customer, do not continue to make counter offers. If your offer is rejected, please proceed to offer the customer a free return and refund. If you do not require the goods to be returned, then you can refund the customer to resolve the case. Where we see that you are involved in bartering with the customer, we may issue a full refund to the customer at your expenses as this behaviour is not allowed on Fruugo and this provides the customer with a poor experience.

Where these cases are escalated to Fruugo and the customer has rejected the partial offer or is not satisfied with this resolution, we may action a full refund at your expense and advise you that if you require the goods to be returned, you should provide the customer with a free returns label.

Legally, within 30 days of receiving the order, the customer has the short term right to reject any faulty goods and have them returned to you at your expense, so it is vital that this is taken into consideration where customers raise issues of faulty goods.

Where a customer raises an issue with an item being faulty within the first 6 months following purchase, the burden of proof that the issue has been caused by misuse or wear and tear is the responsibility of the retailer and not the customer. In some countries the period of time where the burden of proof lies with the retailer has been extended from 6 months to 12 months, so the responsibility to provide this evidence and redress would lie with the retailer and not the customer for this extended period.

With this in mind, it would be your responsibility to assess and investigate any claims within this time.

After a period of  6 or 12 months (depending on the country), the burden of proof shifts to the customer to prove that the item had an underlying fault and the issue has not been caused by misuse or wear and tear. Where the customer can provide this evidence, these customers should also be provided with assistance. Please be aware however that some countries have now extended this period to one year. It is your responsibility to comply with the laws of each of the countries you have chosen to sell in.