Terms & Conditions

1. About this policy

This Returns, Refunds & Cancellation Policy (the "Policy") explains how, when and on what conditions you may cancel an order, return an item or claim a refund on TheShop.mu (the "Site"). It is incorporated by reference into our Terms of Service and our Checkout & Payment Terms, and must be read together with our Privacy Policy.

This Policy is governed by the laws of Mauritius. Nothing in this Policy excludes, restricts or modifies any right that you have as a consumer under any law of the Republic of Mauritius that cannot be lawfully excluded — in particular the Consumer Protection Act 1991 (Act 11/1991), the Sale of Goods Act, the Code Civil Mauricien (including the warranty against latent defects — garantie des vices cachés, Articles 1641 to 1649), the Electronic Transactions Act 2000, and the Data Protection Act 2017. Where any provision in this Policy is in conflict with those rights, the statutory rights prevail to the extent of the conflict, and the remainder of this Policy continues to apply.

For all other matters, we have written this Policy so that our remedies are clearly defined, time-bound, evidence-based and operationally sustainable. Read together with the rest of our published terms, this Policy is the single source of truth on cancellations and refunds — anything stated by an individual staff member that is inconsistent with this Policy is overridden by it.

2. Important context — please read first

(a) We are a grocery and pharmacy retailer. A large proportion of our catalogue is perishable (fresh produce, meat, fish, dairy, prepared meals, frozen goods, bakery) or regulated (alcohol, tobacco, prescription and pharmacy items). Mauritian food-safety, pharmacy and excise regulations restrict what can be resold once it has left our chain of custody. This is the principal reason that change-of-mind returns on these categories are not accepted: it is not a commercial preference, it is a public-health and regulatory requirement.

(b) Card payments are processed by Peach Payments. Card and online-wallet transactions on the Site are handled by Peach Payments (Pty) Ltd under our merchant agreement. We never see or store full card details. When we issue a card refund, the funds are released from our merchant account through Peach, returned to the same card used for the original payment, and credited to your statement by your issuing bank. The time it takes to appear on your statement is set by the card scheme (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diners) and your bank — not by us. Typical timing is 5 to 14 business days from refund initiation. Some issuing banks, particularly outside Mauritius, may take longer; we have no control over their processing times. We comply with Peach Payments' Merchant Refund & Returns Policy requirements and with the card-scheme operating rules (Visa Core Rules, Mastercard Chargeback Guide, AmEx Merchant Reference Guide).

(c) Contract formation under Mauritian law. Under the Electronic Transactions Act 2000, the contract between you and us is formed only when we send you the order confirmation email, not when you click "Pay" on the checkout page. If we cannot fulfil an order — for example, where stock is unavailable, where the price displayed was obviously incorrect (manifest pricing error — erreur manifeste), where the address falls outside our delivery zone, where we suspect fraud, or where age-verification cannot be satisfied for restricted items — we may decline the order and refund any amount you have paid in full. No additional rights arise on your side in those circumstances.

(d) Definitions used in this Policy.

• "Order" means a single transaction placed on the Site identified by its order number.
• "Delivery" means the earliest of the following: (i) the moment a parcel is handed to you in person; (ii) the moment it is handed to a person at your delivery address apparently authorised to receive it (a household member of apparent adult age, a doorman, a security guard, a reception desk, an employer's mail-room, or any person who answers the door at the address); (iii) the moment a parcel is left at the "safe place" you nominated (gate, porch, neighbour, locker) where you have instructed us in writing or in your account preferences to do so — in which case risk and delivery pass at the moment of leaving; (iv) the moment of collection at a pickup point; or (v) for refused-delivery and "no one available" cases, the moment our driver attempts delivery in line with the slot. Our driver's proof of delivery — the GPS-stamped photograph at handover, the signed delivery sheet (electronic or paper), the recipient name captured in the driver app, and the timestamp — is the definitive record of delivery for the purposes of this Policy and prevails over a later assertion that no delivery occurred, unless you can produce evidence to displace it.
• "Perishable goods" means goods that, by their nature, deteriorate or expire rapidly — fresh produce, fresh and frozen meat and seafood, dairy, eggs, bakery, fresh ready-meals, ice cream, frozen items, fresh flowers, fresh juices, and any item carrying a "best before" or "use by" date within 30 days of dispatch.
• "Consumable goods" means anything intended to be eaten, drunk, smoked, inhaled, applied to the body, or otherwise taken into or onto the body — including all food and drink (whether perishable or shelf-stable), tobacco and nicotine products, supplements, medicines and pharmacy items, and beauty, personal-care and intimate items. Consumable goods cover everything in a customer's basket that, once it has left our temperature-controlled, pest-controlled and chain-of-custody-controlled premises, cannot be returned to general sale.
• "Non-perishable, non-consumable goods" means shelf-stable general merchandise — household equipment, kitchenware, appliances, electronics, pet hardware (not pet food), baby hardware (not baby formula or food), cleaning equipment (not opened cleaning chemicals), homeware, stationery, and similar items. These are the only goods that may be returned for change of mind under Section 6.
• "Restricted goods" means alcohol, tobacco, vapes and nicotine products, pharmacy products (over-the-counter and prescription), baby formula, slimming and supplement products, and any item that is age-restricted, prescription-controlled or otherwise regulated.
• "Business day" means Monday to Friday in Mauritius, excluding public holidays.
• "Photo evidence" means a clear, unedited photograph showing the item, its packaging and (where relevant) the use-by date, the receipt label, and the issue being reported.

3. Order cancellation by you

3.1 Self-serve cancellation window (online)

You may cancel an order yourself from My Account → Orders → Cancel within 60 minutes of placing the order, provided the order has not yet entered our picking workflow. This is free of charge for orders scheduled for a future delivery date. Where the order is scheduled for delivery today (same-day delivery), a same-day handling fee of 10% of the order value (rounded to the nearest rupee) is deducted from your refund even within this window — because the picking, refrigeration and routing work for a same-day order is committed as soon as the order is placed. The fee preview is shown to you on the cancellation screen before you confirm.

This 60-minute window is enforced automatically by the Site. The cancel button disappears once any of the following has happened, whichever comes first:

• the 60 minutes have elapsed; or
• our pickers have started assembling your order in the warehouse; or
• the order has moved to status picking, packed, out_for_delivery, delivered or cancelled.

When you cancel through this self-serve flow, the refund is initiated automatically: stock is returned to inventory, any loyalty points you redeemed are reinstated to your account, any coupon you used is released, and we send a cancellation confirmation by email. No fee applies to orders scheduled for a future delivery date; the 10% same-day handling fee applies only where the delivery date is today. Refunds to a card are returned to your original card through our payment gateway, Peach Payments, and typically appear on your statement within 5 to 14 business days (Section 7).

3.2 Cancellation outside the self-serve window

After 60 minutes — or if our pickers have already started assembling your order — the self-serve cancel button is no longer available. You can still request a cancellation by contacting refunds@theshop.mu or our WhatsApp line at +230 5250 6006, but the outcome depends on how far along the order is and on which of the following categories applies:

• Before picking begins: we will cancel the order and refund in full, at no cost — unless the order is scheduled for delivery today, in which case the same-day handling fee of 10% described below applies.
• During picking but before dispatch: we will cancel the order, but if your delivery date is today, a same-day handling fee of 10% of the order value (rounded to the nearest rupee) is deducted from your refund. This fee covers the picking, packing, refrigeration and routing work already carried out. It does not apply when the delivery date is in the future.
• **After dispatch (status out_for_delivery): the order can no longer be cancelled. You may refuse delivery at the door, in which case the goods are returned to our warehouse and we will refund you, less the same-day handling fee of 10% and the delivery fee** (which is non-refundable once the driver has been dispatched). Refusal at the door without a reason for which we are responsible (Section 3.4) is treated as a same-day cancellation and the fees above apply.
• After delivery: the order can no longer be cancelled and is treated, if applicable, under Section 5 (defective, wrong or missing items) or Section 6 (change-of-mind returns on non-consumable general merchandise).

We reserve the right to waive the 10% handling fee at our discretion — for example where the cancellation is requested for a reason that is our fault, or where you are a long-standing customer cancelling for the first time. The fact that we have waived it once does not create an obligation to waive it again.

3.2A Anti-abuse — repeat cancellations and refused deliveries

Where a customer cancels three or more orders in a rolling 90-day period, or refuses delivery on two or more orders in a rolling 90-day period, we may, in respect of subsequent orders from that customer, apply one or more of the following — in place of, and not in addition to, the Section 3.2 fees where the same cancellation event is being charged: (i) require pre-payment without any free-cancellation window (so Section 3.1 does not apply); (ii) deduct a fixed handling fee of Rs 250 per cancellation regardless of timing, replacing the 10% same-day fee in Section 3.2; (iii) suspend new orders from the account pending a conversation with our team; or (iv) decline to deliver to addresses associated with a pattern of refused deliveries. The customer will be notified in writing when Section 3.2A is being applied to their account and may appeal under Section 8. This clause exists because repeated cancellations and refusals impose real picking, refrigeration, fuel and routing costs on us — not because we want to punish customers who occasionally change their plans.

3.3 Changing the delivery address or slot — do **not** cancel

If you simply want to change the delivery address or change the delivery slot, please do not cancel the order. Use the self-serve flow in My Account:

• My Account → Orders → Edit Address — available until 6 hours before the slot, subject to the new address being in our delivery zone and not crossing a tier-pricing boundary.
• My Account → Orders → Edit Slot — available until the slot closes for picking, subject to the new slot's availability.

Both flows preserve the original order, your pricing and any coupon you used. Cancelling and re-ordering will lose any time-limited promotion, may trigger the 10% same-day fee unnecessarily, and may not have your original delivery slot still available.

3.4 Cancellation by us

We may cancel all or part of an order at any time before delivery in the following circumstances, and will refund the affected portion in full:

• the item is out of stock and we are unable to source a like-for-like substitute that you accept;
• the price or product description on the Site was manifestly incorrect (typo, mispricing, mis-tag);
• payment has not been received, has been reversed, or has been flagged as high-risk by Peach Payments or our internal risk checks;
• the delivery address is outside our zone, inaccessible, or repeatedly returns "no one available";
• we cannot verify the age of the purchaser for restricted goods;
• you are in breach of our Terms of Service (e.g. coupon abuse, multiple referral fraud, abusive conduct toward staff);
• delivery is not possible due to circumstances outside our control (force majeure — cyclone, flood, civil disturbance, fuel shortage, government order).

Where we cancel under this Section 3.4, your statutory rights are unaffected and we do not charge a cancellation fee. Where the cancellation is partial — for example, we cancel one or more line items while delivering the rest — we will refund the cancelled lines together with a fair share of any line-level discount, coupon benefit or tier-pricing benefit that depended on those lines, and we will recalculate any "spend Rs X" thresholds (free delivery, free gift, basket-tier promotion) on the delivered portion only. We will not, however, retroactively withdraw a free gift or promotional item that has already been dispatched to you in good faith.

3.5 Substitutions

Where you have enabled substitutions in your account preferences, and an item you ordered is out of stock at the time of picking, our picker may substitute it with a like-for-like alternative of equal or higher value (at no additional charge to you). You may, on delivery, accept the substitute (in which case the order is treated as fulfilled and the normal Section 5 / Section 6 rules apply to the substitute), or reject the substitute at the door (in which case the driver takes it back and we refund the price of the substituted line only). Rejection of a substitute is not a refusal of the order under Section 3.2 and does not attract the 10% same-day handling fee. Substitutes may be rejected only at the door — once you have accepted delivery and the driver has left, the substitute is treated as accepted and is subject to the normal Section 5 / Section 6 rules.

Where you have disabled substitutions, an out-of-stock line is simply cancelled (with refund) and we deliver the rest. We do not contact you for a phone-up substitution decision at picking time — this is by design, to keep the picking flow fast.

4. Returns and refunds at a glance

The table below is a summary only. The detailed rules are in Sections 5 to 7 and prevail over the table.

5. Defective, damaged, wrong or missing items

This Section covers everything that is our fault. It is the part of this Policy that mirrors your statutory rights under the Consumer Protection Act 1991, the Sale of Goods Act and the Code Civil Mauricien (Articles 1641–1649, garantie des vices cachés).

5.1 What is covered

You may claim under this Section if, on delivery:

• an item is missing from your order (charged but not delivered);
• the entire order is undelivered within 24 hours of the scheduled slot, where the failure is on our side (not, for example, where our driver attempted delivery and no one was available at the address) — in such cases we will, at our choice, redeliver at the next available slot at no charge or refund the order in full including the delivery fee;
• an item is wrong (you received item B when you ordered item A);
• an item is damaged in transit (broken, leaking, crushed, contaminated);
• a perishable item has arrived spoiled, off, mouldy, past its use-by date, or with a remaining shelf life shorter than what is reasonable for the product type;
• a packaged item is defective on opening (manufacturing fault, foreign object, sealed but contaminated);
• an item does not conform to its description on the Site (wrong size, wrong flavour, wrong packaging, wrong brand) in a material way.

5.2 How and when to claim

You must report the issue within the time frame below, otherwise we are entitled to treat the goods as accepted under the general principles of the Sale of Goods law applicable in Mauritius:

• Perishable goods: within 24 hours of delivery.
• All other goods: within 48 hours of delivery.
• Latent defects (defects that could not reasonably be discovered on a normal inspection): within a reasonable time after discovery, and in any event within the period set by Article 1648 of the Civil Code for latent defects.

Time runs from the moment of delivery as defined in Section 2(d), regardless of whether you were at the address at that time, whether you inspected the goods immediately, or whether the parcel was opened. If you instructed us to deliver to a safe place, to a third party, or while you were away, you are responsible for inspecting the goods promptly on your return; we are not obliged to extend these windows because you were not present.

To report, use one of:

• the "Report an Issue" button in My Account → Orders → [your order], or
• email refunds@theshop.mu with the order number, the item(s) affected and photos, or
• WhatsApp +230 5250 6006 with the same.

Photo evidence is required for damaged, spoiled, wrong or contaminated items. The photo must show the item, its packaging and (for perishables) the use-by date label and our delivery sticker. We will not progress a claim that is filed without photos for these categories — this is to protect both parties against fraud and against scheme-rule chargeback rules that require evidence.

5.2A Missing-item claims — additional verification

Claims that an item was missing from the delivery are processed against our driver's proof of delivery, the picker's pack list, and (where the value of the missing items in a single claim exceeds Rs 2,500) our warehouse weight check at dispatch and CCTV at picking and loading. Where the documentary record shows the item was picked, packed and signed for, we may decline a missing-item claim, or offer a partial refund pending further investigation. Repeated missing-item claims that follow no plausible operational pattern (for example, claims that consistently target the highest-value line in each order) will be investigated and, where appropriate, refused under Section 9.

5.3 What we will do

Once the claim is received with the required evidence we will, at our reasonable choice, do one of the following — usually within 24 hours of you completing the claim:

• replace the affected item on your next delivery (or send it ahead, if you prefer), at no cost to you; or
• refund the affected item to the original payment method; or
• issue store credit of equivalent value, valid for 12 months, only with your consent.

You may not insist on a replacement if the item is out of stock; in that case we will refund. You may not insist on a refund if a replacement is genuinely available and offered promptly; in that case the choice is ours. Nothing in the preceding sentence affects your statutory right to reject defective goods and seek a refund where the defect is material and our replacement would not cure it.

5.4 Collection of damaged goods

For damaged or wrong items, we may ask you to return the item to the driver on your next delivery, or arrange a free collection, before we issue the refund or replacement. For spoiled perishables, we will normally not ask for the item back for hygiene reasons — your photo is sufficient. For high-value items (above Rs 5,000) we will always collect, to preserve the item for inspection and for any onward claim against our supplier or insurer.

Where we have asked for the item back, our refund or replacement is conditional on the item being returned to us within 7 calendar days of the request, in the same condition it was in when you reported it. If the item is not returned within that period, or is returned in a materially different condition, we may decline to refund, cancel an already-initiated refund (or claw it back from your next order), and treat the goods as having been kept by you.

5.5 What is *not* covered under Section 5

Section 5 does not cover:

• normal wear, fade, or perishable shelf-life elapsing after delivery within the product's stated life;
• damage caused after delivery — by you, by your household, by your pet, by storage at the wrong temperature, or by mishandling;
• items where the issue is purely subjective ("I didn't like the taste", "the colour looked different on the website screen") in the absence of any defect — this is a change-of-mind matter and, for consumables, is not refundable at all;
• discrepancies in product packaging, label design or version where the product inside is the one ordered;
• minor weight variation on items sold by approximate weight (such as fresh produce or meat), within the tolerance disclosed on the product page (typically ±10%);
• items where you (or the person who accepted delivery on your behalf) signed the driver's delivery sheet without noting any visible damage or shortage — for visible, on-the-outside damage to packaging, you must note it on the delivery sheet at the door, refuse the affected item at the door, or report it (with a photo taken at the doorstep) as soon as reasonably practicable on the same day. Latent and concealed damage discovered on opening is not affected by this — Section 5.1 and Section 5.2 apply normally;
• items where the proof of delivery shows the goods were left at a safe place at your prior instruction (in writing, by app preference, or recorded in your account) and were subsequently lost, taken, or damaged by weather, animals or third parties — at the safe-place handover the risk passed to you (Section 2(d) and our Terms of Service).

6. Change of mind — non-consumable general merchandise only

We are not legally required by Mauritian law to accept change-of-mind returns. We offer the following limited goodwill window because it is good business and because, frankly, it gives customers a no-friction path back to us rather than to their bank.

Important — food, drink and anything ingestible are not eligible for change-of-mind returns under any circumstances. This is not a commercial preference. We are a grocery and pharmacy retailer regulated under Mauritian food-safety, pharmacy and excise rules. The moment a food, drink, medicine, supplement, baby formula, beauty product or any other consumable item leaves our temperature-controlled, pest-controlled and chain-of-custody-controlled premises, we lose visibility of how it has been stored — and we cannot lawfully return it to general sale. The only remedies available for food, drink and other consumables are the defective-goods remedies in Section 5 (item arrived spoiled, damaged, wrong, missing, off, or contaminated). Buyer's remorse on a bag of rice, a bottle of wine, a tub of moisturiser or a box of paracetamol is not a refundable event on TheShop.

6.1 The 7-day window

For non-perishable, non-consumable, unopened, unused goods only — i.e. shelf-stable general merchandise such as kitchenware, small appliances, electronics, homeware, pet hardware, baby hardware and similar — you may request to return the item for any reason within 7 calendar days of delivery, on these conditions:

• the item is not a consumable within the meaning of Section 2(d) — no food, drink, alcohol, tobacco, pharmacy item, supplement, baby formula, beauty product, personal-care item, or anything intended to be ingested or applied to the body;
• the item is in its original packaging, unopened, unused, with all tags, seals, manuals and accessories intact;
• the item is not on the excluded list at Section 6.4;
• you have your proof of purchase (order number, receipt, or confirmation email);
• the return is initiated through the "Return an Item" form in My Account or by emailing refunds@theshop.mu.

Once we approve the return, you have a further 7 days to deliver the item to us. After 14 days from delivery in total, we will not accept the return.

6.2 Who pays

For change-of-mind returns under Section 6, you pay the cost of returning the item to us. You may either:

• drop the item off at our warehouse at Roma Lane, Riche Terre (Monday to Friday, 09:00–17:00); or
• arrange your own courier; or
• request a paid collection by our driver at the rate published on the Delivery page on the day, which we will deduct from your refund.

Our original delivery fee on the order is non-refundable when the return is for change of mind. Returns travel at your risk until we sign for them — we recommend a trackable service for anything above Rs 1,000.

6.3 Refund amount and restocking fee

Where a change-of-mind return is accepted (and to repeat — only non-consumable general merchandise qualifies) and the item arrives back in saleable condition, we refund the price you paid for the returned item, less a restocking fee of 10% (rounded to the nearest rupee, minimum Rs 50, capped at Rs 1,000 per item). The restocking fee covers picking, packing, inbound inspection, repackaging and re-shelving labour, and is consistent with the practice of most Mauritian and regional e-commerce retailers for change-of-mind returns. We may waive the restocking fee at our discretion for first-time returns, low-value items, or where the customer agrees to take store credit in lieu of a card refund.

We do not refund:

• the original delivery fee;
• any payment processing fee disclosed at checkout (none currently apply on TheShop.mu, but we reserve the position);
• any tier-pricing or coupon benefit that no longer qualifies after the return — for example, if a "Spend Rs 2,500, get free delivery" coupon was applied and the return takes you below Rs 2,500, the delivery fee benefit is reversed and deducted from your refund;
• loyalty points (FreshPoints) earned on the returned item — these are clawed back as a negative transaction at the same rate they were earned;
• any tip you added at checkout for the driver of the original delivery — tips are paid out to the driver and are not refundable, except where the order is cancelled by us (Section 3.4) before the delivery attempt, in which case the tip is refunded with the order.

Saleable condition means the item is in the same condition we sent it, in its original outer packaging, with all seals, tags, manuals, accessories, batteries, free gifts and cellophane wrap intact, and not used, washed, marked, scuffed, scented or assembled. If the item arrives back outside saleable condition, we may either refund a reduced amount reflecting the diminished value (typically 30%–70% off the refund), refuse the return and return the item to you at your cost, or retain the item and refund nothing where the diminution is such that the item has no resale value. We will tell you which before deciding, but the decision is ours.

6.4 Items excluded from change-of-mind returns

The following items cannot be returned for change of mind, full stop. For any of these, your only remedy is the defective-goods remedy in Section 5:

• **all food and drink — perishable and shelf-stable, opened and sealed.** This includes (without limitation) fresh produce, meat, fish, poultry, dairy, eggs, bakery, prepared meals, frozen items, ice cream, cooking oils, sauces and condiments, canned goods, pasta, rice, flour, sugar, salt, spices and seasoning, biscuits and snacks, confectionery, breakfast cereals, tea, coffee, soft drinks, juices, water, energy drinks, infant food, pet food, and anything else of nutritional or culinary use. Once these items leave our chain of custody we cannot resell them, period;
• all alcoholic drinks (wine, beer, spirits, cider, ready-mixed drinks) — regulated under the Excise Act 1994 and its regulations;
• all tobacco, vapes, nicotine pouches and smoking accessories — regulated under the Public Health (Restrictions on Tobacco Products) Regulations and excise law;
• all pharmacy, over-the-counter medicines, prescription medicines, supplements, vitamins, baby formula and medical devices — required by the Pharmacy Council of Mauritius and the Pharmacy Act, on public-health grounds, regardless of seal condition;
• all beauty, skincare, haircare, personal-care, oral-care and intimate items — once they leave our premises they cannot be returned to sale, regardless of whether the seal is intact;
• gift cards, FreshPoints top-ups, vouchers, and digital downloads;
• custom, made-to-order, gift-wrapped, engraved, monogrammed or otherwise personalised goods;
• items marked "Final Sale", "Clearance", "Last Stock", or sold at more than 40% off — the discounted price already reflects the inability to return;
• items where the manufacturer's serial-number sticker or anti-tamper seal has been removed or broken;
• bulk-buy items sold by case, pallet or carton where the seal of the outer pack has been broken;
• items that, by their nature, are not suitable for return (large appliances installed by us, customer-assembled furniture once assembled, mattresses once unwrapped, earrings and other pierced jewellery, swimwear and underwear).

This exclusion list reflects Mauritian regulatory requirements (food safety, pharmacy, excise, public health) and the operational reality of a grocery and pharmacy business. If your order was a food shop, no item in it is eligible for a change-of-mind return. Food-shop items are only refundable under Section 5, and only where one of the defective-goods scenarios in Section 5.1 applies (spoiled on arrival, wrong, damaged, missing, contaminated, expired, or not as described).

7. Refund mechanics — how the money comes back

7.1 Method

Refunds are issued to the original payment method. This is a card-scheme requirement, not a TheShop preference — Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Diners all prohibit refunding to a card other than the one originally charged. The same applies to MCB Juice, blink by Emtel, MauCAS and other wallet rails.

• Card payments are refunded by Peach Payments to the same card. Funds usually appear on your statement in 5 to 14 business days, depending on your issuing bank and card scheme. Foreign-issued cards may take longer at the issuing bank's discretion.
• Wallet payments (MCB Juice, blink, MauCAS) are refunded to the same wallet account, usually within 24 to 48 hours.
• Store credit refunds are issued as a TheShop Wallet balance, valid for 12 months from issue, usable across the Site, non-transferable, and not exchangeable for cash. Store credit refunds are issued only where you have consented to that method.

7.2 Timing

We will decide on a claim within 5 business days of receiving the claim together with all required evidence (photos and returned goods where requested). Where the claim is straightforward — a single spoiled perishable, a clearly-photographed wrong item — we will usually decide within 24 hours, but the 5-business-day window is the contractual SLA.

We will initiate a refund within 48 hours of approving the claim. Initiation is when we instruct Peach Payments (or the wallet operator) to release the funds. The time between initiation and the credit appearing in your account is set by the receiving network and bank and is outside our control.

We will give you a refund reference number with every refund. If the refund has not appeared after the timing in Section 7.1, please come back to us with the reference number and we will trace it with Peach.

7.3 Foreign-exchange and small differences

If your card is denominated in a currency other than MUR, your bank will convert the MUR refund into your card's billing currency at the exchange rate prevailing on the refund date, which may differ from the rate that applied on the original purchase date. The result may be a small difference, positive or negative, between the amount you were charged and the amount you receive back. This difference is set by your bank's foreign-exchange policy, not by us, and we cannot adjust for it.

7.4 Tax and VAT

Refunds are issued inclusive of VAT where VAT was charged. We will issue a credit note for the affected portion of the order for VAT reporting purposes. If you require the credit note for your accounts, ask refunds@theshop.mu.

7.5 Partial refunds, overcharging and price adjustments

Where only part of an order is affected (one item missing out of ten), we refund only that part, including a fair share of any line-level discounts. We do not make retroactive price adjustments where an item you bought is later discounted or goes into a promotion — the price you paid is the price that applied on the date of order.

If we have overcharged you — through a pricing error, an incorrect VAT calculation, a coupon that should have applied and didn't, a duplicate charge, or a delivery-fee error — please tell us within 30 days of the charge and we will refund the difference together with any reasonable evidence of the overcharge (receipt or card-statement entry). We may rely on Peach Payments' transaction record to verify the original charge. Where we discover an overcharge ourselves, we will refund you proactively without you having to ask, and tell you the refund reference.

We may also undercharge in error (a coupon applied twice, a price displayed at zero rupees, a delivery fee waived in error). Where we discover an undercharge, we will write to you to explain, and you may either pay the difference or cancel the affected line; we will not deduct an undercharge from your card without your express consent.

8. Disputes, chargebacks and the card-scheme route

Please come to us first before raising a dispute with your bank.

If you do not recognise a charge, or you disagree with a refund decision, email customerservice@theshop.mu with the order number. We aim to respond within 4 business hours during business hours and within 24 hours outside them. For any "I don't recognise this charge" report, our policy is to refund first and investigate after, where the charge is genuinely unexplained and the matter cannot be resolved by us identifying the transaction together with you.

Where the matter is not a non-recognised charge but a disagreement about the merits of a refund decision, we will reconsider the decision once you ask us to. A second decision is reviewed by a different team member, and if you remain dissatisfied we will set out our position in writing so that you have something to take to your bank, to the Consumer Affairs Division of the Ministry of Commerce and Consumer Protection, or to the small-claims court if you prefer.

A note on chargebacks. A chargeback is a formal dispute that you raise with your card-issuing bank. Once you raise it, the matter passes out of our hands and into the Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Diners scheme rules, and we are required to respond through Peach Payments with documentary evidence — your order, the delivery proof, the IP address and timestamp of your acceptance of these terms, the 3-D Secure authentication record, and the communications between us. We always prefer to settle directly because the scheme process takes 45 to 120 days and benefits no one. The scheme charges us a per-dispute fee for every chargeback regardless of who wins; in line with our Checkout & Payment Terms, we do not pass that fee on to customers. However, where you raise a chargeback for a charge that we had already refunded, or had offered in writing to refund, we may suspend acceptance of new orders from your account pending resolution, and we may rely on Section 9 (fraud and abuse) where the chargeback was raised in bad faith. Your access to your account, your order history and your statutory rights are not affected by an order-suspension under this paragraph.

This Section 8 does not affect your right to complain to:

• the Consumer Affairs Division, Ministry of Commerce and Consumer Protection, Mauritius — commerce@govmu.org / consumer-protection@govmu.org;
• the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in respect of any criminal complaint;
• the Supreme Court of Mauritius or any other court of competent jurisdiction.

9. Fraud, abuse and refusal of refund

We reserve the right to refuse a refund, decline a return, suspend or close an account where we reasonably believe that:

• the claim is fraudulent — for example, claiming non-delivery of an order that has been delivered, claiming damage on goods that were not damaged, repeated "missing item" claims in a pattern that is inconsistent with our picking accuracy;
• the same customer has filed excessive claims beyond the threshold reasonably expected on our category mix (we monitor claim ratio per customer per quarter);
• the customer has engaged in friendly fraud — raising a chargeback after consuming or keeping the goods;
• the goods have been resold or commercially used before the return;
• the customer has breached our Terms of Service in ways related to the refund (coupon abuse, multiple-account fraud).

Refusal under this Section 9 is communicated to you in writing with the reason. It does not affect your statutory rights, and you may take the matter to the Consumer Affairs Division or to court as set out in Section 8.

Where we have a reasonable suspicion of fraud, we may share relevant transaction data, IP address, account history, delivery records and communications with Peach Payments' risk team, with the acquiring bank, with the card schemes' fraud-prevention networks (including Visa Resolve Online, Mastercard MATCH where applicable, and the Verifi / Ethoca alert network), with the Mauritius Police Force in the event of a criminal complaint, and with the Financial Intelligence Unit under the Financial Intelligence and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2002 (FIAMLA) where required by law. Any such sharing is on the legal basis of "legitimate interest" or "legal obligation" under the Data Protection Act 2017 and is described in our Privacy Policy.

10. Peach Payments — what they do and what they don't

The card and online-wallet payment step on TheShop.mu is operated by Peach Payments (Pty) Ltd, our payment service provider, under our merchant agreement and under licence by the relevant card schemes. Peach is a PCI-DSS Level 1 certified processor. Their role and responsibilities are:

• accepting your card details on the Peach-hosted checkout page (we never see them);
• performing 3-D Secure 2 authentication with your issuing bank, so that the transaction carries the EMVCo liability shift in our favour and yours;
• routing the authorisation to the acquirer (MCB or SBM) and back;
• settling cleared funds into our merchant account on the agreed cycle;
• processing refunds that we initiate, on the same payment rail as the original charge;
• managing the chargeback and dispute process with the card schemes on our behalf, including evidence collection from us.

Peach Payments does not decide whether you are entitled to a refund. That decision is made by us under this Policy and under Mauritian law. Peach simply executes the refund instruction once we issue it. Any complaint about the merits of a refund decision should come to us; any complaint about the processing of a refund (delay, wrong amount transmitted, etc.) can come to us and we will raise it with Peach.

Peach Payments' own Merchant Refund & Returns Policy guidance — which we follow — requires merchants to publish a clear, easily accessible refund and returns policy aligned with applicable consumer law, to manage customer expectations on timeframes and conditions, and to handle damaged or incorrect items within 48 hours of report. This Policy meets those requirements.

For Peach's general consumer-facing information, see www.peachpayments.com and the merchant guidance at support.peachpayments.com.

11. Statutory rights — your safety net

Nothing in this Policy excludes, restricts or modifies:

• your rights as a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act 1991 of Mauritius, in particular the prohibition on supplying defective goods (Section 3) and the right of redress under the general law;
• the implied terms of merchantable quality, fitness for purpose and conformity with description that apply to the sale of goods in Mauritius under the Sale of Goods Act and the relevant Articles of the Code Civil Mauricien;
• the warranty against latent defects (garantie des vices cachés) under Articles 1641 to 1649 of the Civil Code, where applicable to the goods sold;
• our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or for any other matter that, as a matter of Mauritian law, cannot lawfully be limited or excluded;
• your rights under the Electronic Transactions Act 2000 with regard to electronic contracts and electronic evidence;
• your rights under the Data Protection Act 2017 with regard to personal data processed during a return or refund.

Where any clause of this Policy is in conflict with those rights, the statutory rights prevail to the extent of the conflict, and the remainder of this Policy continues to apply.

11A. Corporate accounts and credit customers

Where the customer is a registered business buying on our 30-day credit facility (per Section 5.4 of our Terms of Service), this Policy applies subject to the following variations: (i) refunds are applied as credit notes against the next monthly invoice rather than as card refunds, unless the customer's account has been closed, in which case a bank transfer is made within 30 days; (ii) the change-of-mind window in Section 6 is not available on corporate orders — corporate accounts may return goods only under Section 5 (defective, wrong, missing, spoiled); (iii) cancellations of confirmed corporate orders before delivery attract the same fees as in Section 3, and any catered, customised or specially-procured items in a corporate order are non-cancellable from the point of confirmation. Corporate customers may take any dispute to the Mauritian courts under the ordinary commercial law of contract — the Consumer Protection Act 1991 protections in this Policy apply to consumer purchases, not to business-to-business purchases, except where the corporate purchase is for an end-consumer purpose.

12. How to reach us

Service-level commitment: we acknowledge every refunds@theshop.mu email within 4 business hours, provide an initial substantive response (next steps, what we need from you, indicative timing) within 24 hours, and reach a final decision on the claim within the 5-business-day window in Section 7.2 from the moment we have received all required evidence and (where applicable) the returned goods.

13. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. The current version is the one published on this page. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent change.

• Cosmetic and clarifying changes (typos, layout, contact-detail updates) take effect on publication.
• Material changes that affect your rights — for example, narrowing the change-of-mind window, adding a new excluded category, or changing the refund initiation SLA — take effect 14 days after publication, and we will notify registered customers by email at least 14 days in advance.
• Where a material change is required by law or by a card-scheme rule that takes effect sooner, the change will take effect on the date required by that law or rule, and we will notify customers as soon as practicable.

For any version of this Policy, the version that applies to an individual order is the version that was published and accepted by you (via the checkout tick-box and date-stamp captured against the order) on the date the order was placed. Earlier and later versions do not apply to that order, save that where a later version is more favourable to the customer on a specific point, the customer may rely on that more favourable point. The fact that an earlier version was more permissive on a particular point does not entitle a customer to rely on the earlier version once it has been superseded.

14. Governing law and jurisdiction

This Policy is governed by the laws of Mauritius. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with this Policy is subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Mauritius. Your right to bring a complaint to the Consumer Affairs Division of the Ministry of Commerce and Consumer Protection, or to use any other consumer-redress mechanism available under Mauritian law, is preserved.

End of Policy — version 1.4, 27 May 2026.

This Policy was drafted in English. A French translation will be published alongside for the convenience of French-speaking customers, in line with our bilingual customer-service practice. In the event of any inconsistency between the two language versions, the English version prevails for legal purposes.