Returns & Refunds

Honest Phones sells used devices, many of them broken on purpose — that is the point of the marketplace. So the promise here is not “it will be perfect.” The promise is it will be what the seller disclosed, and your money sits in escrow until you have had a chance to check.

That means: no buyer’s-remorse returns. If a device arrives exactly as disclosed and you simply changed your mind, decided it was not worth the price, or found one cheaper elsewhere, that is not a refundable event. If it does not match its disclosure, you open a dispute inside the inspection window and you are protected.

• You confirm delivery → 72 hours. The clock starts when you mark the order delivered.
• You never confirm delivery → 7 days. If the seller shipped and you never confirmed, we record delivery a set number of days after shipment and give you a longer window, because you may not have had the device in hand when the clock started.
• During the window you can accept (the seller is paid) or open a dispute. If you do neither, the order auto-accepts when the window closes and the seller is paid.

Once an order auto-accepts, escrow has been released and the refund routes in this policy are no longer available. Inspect the device when it arrives, not a week later.

Open a dispute if any of these is true:

• Not as described — a structured condition field is wrong. The screen was listed as light scratches and arrived cracked; it was listed as powering on and does not; a disclosed fault list omitted a real fault.
• Not received — tracking never delivered, or the package arrived empty or obviously tampered with.
• Wrong item — a different model, storage size, or device than the one ordered.
• Damaged in shipping — damage beyond what was disclosed, consistent with transit.
• Counterfeit — the device or a part represented as genuine is not.
• Blacklisted IMEI — the device is blacklisted and was not disclosed as such.

Bring evidence. Photographs of the actual device next to the listing’s disclosure are what resolve these quickly.

• Changing your mind, or finding a better price elsewhere.
• Wear, faults, locks or damage that were disclosed. A device listed as water-damaged, parts-only and activation-locked arriving water-damaged, parts-only and activation-locked is a correctly fulfilled order.
• A device that does not suit a purpose you did not check for — for example buying an activation-locked device expecting to activate it.
• Damage you caused after delivery, including during disassembly or repair attempts.
• Carrier or account restrictions arising from your own account rather than the device.

• Seller missed the ship deadline. Automatic, no dispute needed: if the order is not marked shipped within 3 business days of payment, it is cancelled and you are refunded everything you paid — item price, buyer fee and processing.
• Dispute resolved in your favour. Full refund of everything you paid, including the buyer fee and processing.
• Dispute resolved as a split. The agreed amount is refunded to you out of the seller’s share. Platform fees are retained.
• Dispute resolved in the seller’s favour. No refund; escrow is released to the seller.

Refunds go back to the original payment method through Stripe. How quickly it appears is set by your bank or card issuer, typically 5–10 business days, and is not something we control.

A refund does not automatically mean you keep the device. Where a dispute is resolved in your favour on a device that arrived, we may require you to return it before the refund is released. Do not send a device back without instruction — an unrequested return can leave both the device and the money in the wrong place.

Who pays return shipping. When a return is required it is because the device was not as the seller disclosed — so the seller is at fault, and the seller provides the return label at their own cost. This applies to every ground for a required return: not as described, wrong item, counterfeit, an undisclosed blacklisted IMEI, and damage in transit. You are never asked to pay to return a device that was misrepresented. (A change of mind is not an eligible return at all, so the question does not arise — see section 4.)

How it works, step by step:

• We require the return and notify both parties. Escrow stays frozen — your money is still held, not released to the seller.
• The seller sends you a prepaid return label and marks it sent on the order.
• You ship the device back with that label and enter the return tracking number on the order. Ship within the window shown, or the return expires and escrow releases to the seller.
• The seller confirms they received it — and your refund is released from escrow. If the seller does not confirm within the window after you ship, we auto-confirm and refund you anyway, so a slow seller cannot strand your money.

Send back the same device you received, with everything it arrived with, in the same condition. A device that comes back damaged, altered, or missing parts compared with how it was sent is not a completed return, and we may reduce or decline the refund accordingly.

Use the dispute process, not your card issuer. It is faster, it does not put your account at risk, and it is the only route that can also release the device for relisting. Filing a chargeback on a transaction you are not entitled to reverse is a breach of the Terms of Service and may result in suspension. If you have already opened a dispute with us, let it run.

Your protection is your disclosure. A seller who filled in the structured condition fields accurately is protected in a dispute, and an omitted or misstated field is what loses one. That is the whole bargain: disclose the crack and you are safe; hide it and you are not.

You may also refund a buyer voluntarily by agreement before the inspection window closes — contact us at contact@honestphones.com and we will process it.

Anything unclear about a specific order: contact@honestphones.com. If an inspection window is about to close, open the dispute first and ask questions after — the window does not pause for correspondence.