Returns & Refunds

1. What This Policy Covers

This policy explains when we will accept a return, replace an item, or refund an order, and what you need to do to start that process. It sits alongside our Terms and Conditions, and where the two overlap, the Terms govern.

Everything we sell is supplied for in vitro laboratory research only. That is the reason this policy is narrower than one you would find on a consumer store: once a research chemical has left our custody we cannot verify how it has been stored or handled, and we will not resell it to someone else on trust.

2. Cancelling an Order

You may cancel at any time before we confirm dispatch, for any reason and at no cost. Email us at support@harbourpep.net with your order number and we will cancel it and refund you in full.

Once we have confirmed dispatch, the contract is formed and the order is in fulfilment. From that point this policy applies instead.

Cancelling is free in both directions. We do not charge a cancellation, restocking or administration fee on an order that has not been dispatched, and we do not issue store credit in place of a refund. We may also cancel before dispatch ourselves — if a product is out of stock, if a price or description was listed in error, or if we cannot verify your details — and where we have already taken payment, we refund it in full.

3. If We Cannot Dispatch On Time

Federal law gives you a right here that most policies never mention, so we will state it plainly. If we cannot dispatch your order within the time we stated when you ordered — or, where we stated none, within 30 days of receiving your completed order and payment — we must tell you before that deadline passes and give you the choice of waiting or cancelling.

If that happens we will email you with a revised dispatch date, or tell you honestly that we cannot give one. You may accept the delay or cancel for a full refund, and cancelling under this section is always free.

• If the revised date is 30 days or less after the original, your order stands unless you tell us before it ships that you do not accept the delay.
• If the revised date is more than 30 days after the original, or we cannot give a date at all, we cancel and refund automatically unless you tell us you still want it.

The dispatch clock starts when we hold both your payment and everything we need in order to ship — not the moment you place the order. Where a payment has to clear first, it starts when we are told it has been honoured.

4. What We Can Accept

We will act on three things:

• Damaged in transit — the parcel or its contents arrived crushed, punctured, leaking, or with a broken vial.
• Incorrect item — what arrived does not match your order confirmation, whether that is the wrong compound, the wrong strength, or the wrong quantity.
• Quality concern — the product does not meet the specification published for it.

These are the cases where something has gone wrong at our end or in transit. They are not conditional on you having done anything, and we do not ask you to prove a negative.

5. The Seven-Day Window

Report the problem within 7 days of delivery. The clock starts on the date the carrier records delivery, not the date you opened the parcel.

Inspect every shipment when it arrives, even if you do not plan to use it straight away. Damage is far easier to attribute in the first few days than in the third week, and outside the window we usually cannot establish where a problem occurred. We will still read anything you send us after seven days, and we will tell you honestly whether we can do anything about it.

6. What to Send Us

Email support@harbourpep.net with:

• Your order number
• Which item or items are affected
• Photographs of the outer packaging, including any damage to the box and the shipping label
• Photographs of the vial and its label — for an incorrect item, put the label and the packing slip in the same frame so both are legible
• A short description of what you found and when

If a parcel looks damaged before you open it, photograph it before unpacking any further. The state of the box is usually the clearest evidence of what happened, and it cannot be reconstructed afterwards.

Keep the product and its packaging as they are until we have replied. Do not send anything back before we have confirmed the return in writing — unauthorised returns cannot be tracked to a claim and may not be refundable.

7. What Happens Next

We will acknowledge your email and review it. Where the answer is straightforward we will resolve it in that first reply. Where it is not, we will tell you what we are checking and roughly how long it will take rather than leaving you waiting.

Where a claim is accepted, we will either replace the item or refund it, at our option. If we ask you to return the item, we will send written instructions and, where the fault is ours, a prepaid label.

8. Return Postage

We pay when the item is damaged, incorrect, or does not meet its published specification. You will not be out of pocket for our error.

In the rare case that we agree to accept a return for any other reason, return postage is yours, and we recommend a tracked service — until the parcel reaches us, its safe return is your responsibility.

9. Refunds

Approved refunds go back to the original payment method. We issue them within 2 business days of approving the claim; how long the money then takes to appear is set by your bank or card issuer, and is commonly a further 5 to 10 business days.

We refund the price paid for the affected item. Where the whole order was affected, or where the fault is ours, we refund the original shipping as well.

If a refund has not reached you within fifteen business days of our confirmation, contact us and we will trace it and send you the transaction reference.

10. What Is Not Covered

• Change of mind after dispatch. These are research chemicals whose integrity depends on unbroken storage and handling, and we cannot verify how a vial has been kept once it has left us. It cannot go back into stock and it will not be supplied to another researcher. The Australian Consumer Law does not give a right to a refund for a change of mind, and this policy does not create one; your rights where a product is faulty or not as described are unaffected — so please order carefully, and ask us first if you are unsure which presentation or quantity you need.
• Problems first reported more than seven days after delivery, except where the law requires otherwise.
• Product that has been opened, reconstituted, decanted, relabelled or otherwise altered, unless the fault is one that could only have been found by opening it.
• Damage caused after delivery, including storage outside the conditions stated for the product.
• Results. We do not warrant that a product will produce any particular outcome in your work — see section 12 of our Terms and Conditions.

11. Lost, Refused and Undeliverable Parcels

Title and risk pass to you when the carrier takes possession of the parcel. In practice, if a shipment is lost or damaged in transit we will still open and pursue the carrier claim on your behalf, because we are the shipper of record and it is far easier for us to do than for you. Tell us and we will handle it.

Where a parcel is returned to us because the address was wrong or incomplete, or because delivery was refused, we will contact you. You may have it reshipped at the cost of postage, or refunded less the original outbound shipping.

We ship within Australia only, so no order passes through customs on its way to you.

12. Contact Us

Every claim is read by a person. Write to support@harbourpep.net and tell us what happened.

This policy sits alongside our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. All products supplied by Harbourpep are for in vitro laboratory research only.