Refund Policy and Buyer Protection

Effective October 21, 2026

This policy explains how payments work when you buy a card through CardVine, and what happens if something goes wrong. It is part of our Terms of Service. We call the protection described here "CardVine Buyer Protection."

1. How payments work

When you buy a card, or pay the cash portion of a trade, through CardVine, your payment is processed by Stripe and sent directly to the seller's Stripe account as soon as the payment succeeds, less CardVine's selling fee and the payment processor's fees. CardVine does not hold your money while the card is on its way. The money is in the seller's Stripe balance right away; CardVine pays it out to the seller's bank account 30 days after the sale, which covers the Buyer Protection period.

Because the seller is paid right away, Buyer Protection is how a buyer gets their money back when an order goes wrong.

2. What is covered

CardVine Buyer Protection covers a purchase when all of these are true:

• You paid through CardVine checkout. Payments made outside CardVine are never covered.
• The order was shipped to you with a tracked shipping label bought through CardVine.
• The purchase price was $1,000 or less.
• You are following the steps and deadlines in Section 4.

Within those limits, we may refund you if:

• The item never arrived. The seller never shipped it, or the carrier lost it or delivered it more than 48 hours after the estimated delivery date.
• The item is significantly not as described. For example, it is the wrong card, set, edition, or finish (such as Normal instead of Holo); it is counterfeit; it is missing from the package; it was damaged in transit; or its condition is two or more levels worse than the condition listed (such as listed Near Mint but received Moderately Played).
• The seller did not ship in time. If an order is not shipped within 7 days of payment, it is canceled and you are refunded in full automatically.
• The purchase was unauthorized. Someone used your account or payment method without your permission. Email support@cardvine.app within 60 days of the purchase.

3. What is not covered

• Change of mind, or a card you simply no longer want. Returns for these reasons are up to the seller and only if the seller's listing offers them.
• Small differences in condition, such as one condition level, or disagreements about how a card would grade.
• Payments made outside CardVine, in-person sales, or orders not shipped with a tracked CardVine label.
• Orders over $1,000.
• Card-for-card trades with no cash. These are agreements between the two collectors, so we encourage you to use ratings and tracked shipping and to trade only with people you trust.
• Cards damaged, altered, or swapped after delivery, or items you do not return when a return is required.
• Purchases you have also disputed with your bank or card issuer and won. You cannot be refunded twice for the same purchase.

4. How to file a claim

1. Contact the seller first. Message the seller in the app within 3 days of delivery (or, for a package that has not arrived, once it is 48 hours past the estimated delivery date). Describe the problem and attach clear photos or video of the card and the package. The seller has 2 days to respond and try to resolve it.
2. File a claim. If it is not resolved, file a Buyer Protection claim in the app within 7 days of delivery. For an item that never arrived, file within 30 days of payment.
3. Seller response. We notify the seller, who has 48 hours to provide documentation such as tracking and photos. We may also read the messages about the order.
4. Our decision. We review the evidence from both sides and typically decide within 3 business days. Our decision is final under this policy.

5. Returns

For items that are not as described, we may require you to send the card back before we refund you. If so, we will give you a prepaid tracked label, you must ship the card within 5 days of approval, and we refund you after the card is delivered back to the seller. If you do not return the card in time, the claim is closed without a refund. Return shipping for a covered claim is free to you.

6. How refunds are paid

• An approved claim is refunded to the card or payment method you used, for the card price and the shipping you paid, plus any tax charged.
• Refunds usually appear within 5 to 10 business days, depending on your bank.
• CardVine's selling fee is returned on refunded orders. Payment processing fees charged by our payment processor may not be refundable.

7. For sellers

• Ship on time with tracking. Ship within 7 days of payment using a tracked CardVine label with accurate weight and dimensions, and describe each card honestly, including its finish and condition.
• Respond promptly. Reply to buyer messages within 2 days and to a claim within 48 hours.
• Who pays for an approved refund. If the claim is approved because the item was not shipped, was not as described, or you did not follow these rules, the refund is recovered from you. We may reverse the payment from your Stripe balance, where it normally still sits during the 30 days before it is paid out to your bank. If the money is no longer there, we may limit your account until it is resolved.
• Insurance is required on cash orders over $100. When you buy the CardVine shipping label for a cash order over $100, you must insure it for the full order value; the premium is added to your label checkout and shown before you pay. Insurance is optional on smaller orders. The insurer covers trading cards only when they are shipped in a rigid or watertight case, such as a toploader, card saver, or graded slab, so pack them that way and describe the package accurately.
• Lost, stolen, or damaged in transit. The buyer is refunded either way. If you insured the shipment for the full order value and packed it as the insurer requires, the loss is covered by the insurance: we refund the buyer, we file the insurance claim, and you are not charged. If the shipment was not insured, was insured for less than the order value, or the insurer denies the claim because of how it was packed or described, the refund is recovered from you.
• Repeated problems. Frequent late shipments, cancellations, or upheld claims may lead to limits on your account.

8. Bank disputes (chargebacks)

A chargeback is when a buyer asks their bank or card issuer to reverse a payment instead of using Buyer Protection. We ask buyers to file a Buyer Protection claim first (Section 4): it is faster, and it keeps the order, the messages, and the evidence in one place.

• What happens when a dispute is opened. The card network immediately takes the disputed amount back from CardVine's payment account, and our payment processor charges a dispute fee. We notify the seller and ask for documentation: tracking and delivery confirmation, photos, and the messages about the order. We submit the evidence from the order records, together with anything the seller sends us. Sellers should respond within 2 business days so we can meet the processor's deadline.
• The seller bears chargebacks. Because the seller is paid when the buyer pays, a chargeback on a card sale is the seller's responsibility. If a dispute is lost, or cannot be contested in time, the disputed amount and the dispute fee are recovered from the seller. This applies to every reason a bank may give, including a payment the account holder says they did not make. We recover it by reversing the transfer to the seller's Stripe account, debiting the seller's Stripe balance, withholding or offsetting against the seller's payouts, and, if that is not enough, limiting the seller's account until the amount is repaid.
• While a dispute is open. We may hold the disputed amount back from the seller's payouts until the dispute is decided.
• If the dispute is won. The disputed amount is returned to CardVine, any hold is released, and any part of the dispute fee that our processor refunds to us is refunded to the seller.
• One refund per purchase. A buyer cannot be repaid twice for the same purchase. If a buyer disputes a payment that was already refunded through Buyer Protection, or while a claim is open, we will tell the bank and may close the claim.
• Buyers. Disputing a payment you made and received what you ordered, or repeatedly disputing payments without first using Buyer Protection, may lead to limits on, or closure of, your account.
• Other payments. A dispute about a subscription, a shipping label, or a CardVine fee is handled against the account that made that payment, and we may suspend that account while it is open.

Sellers agree to this Section by selling through CardVine and setting up a payout account.

9. Misuse of this policy

We may deny a claim, and restrict or close an account, if we find a claim is false or misleading, if someone repeatedly files claims that are denied, or if a buyer keeps a card and also receives a refund.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. A change applies to purchases made after it takes effect, and we'll update the effective date above.

11. Contact us

Questions about a claim or this policy? Reach us at support@cardvine.app.