The seller picks a policy. The buyer sees it before ordering. Nobody negotiates the rules at the worst possible moment.
Every seller chooses a cancellation policy for their catalogue, and it is shown to the buyer before the order is placed. Whatever policy applies at the moment of ordering is the one that governs that order — a seller changing their policy later does not change an order already placed.
GRAJ is not a party to the order. The contract is between the buyer and the seller. This policy describes what the Protocol will do — how it calculates, reverses, and records — when one of them cancels under the terms they both accepted.
Cancellation terms cannot be used to keep money for goods that were never shipped. See Section 5.
FLEXIBLE. The buyer may cancel and receive a full refund at any time before the seller marks the order as shipped. Once shipped, the order follows Section 4 (returns), not cancellation.
STANDARD. The buyer may cancel for a full refund within 24 hours of placing the order, or at any time before the seller accepts it. After acceptance and before shipment, the seller may retain documented costs already incurred — materials bought, production started, freight booked — and the balance is refunded. After shipment, Section 4 applies.
MADE TO ORDER. For goods manufactured, printed, decorated, or assembled specifically for this buyer. The buyer may cancel for a full refund within 24 hours of placing the order. After that, because production is under way, the seller may retain documented costs incurred, and the balance is refunded. This policy must not be applied to stock goods held on a shelf.
Documented costs means costs the seller can actually evidence, incurred before the cancellation, for this order. A seller claiming costs must be able to show them; a buyer may dispute them under Section 6.
A seller may cancel an order they cannot fulfil — stock is gone, a line went down, the goods are not to standard. When a seller cancels, the buyer receives a full refund, regardless of which cancellation policy applies. A cancellation policy protects a seller from a buyer changing their mind; it never entitles a seller to keep money for goods they decided not to send.
Seller cancellations are recorded on the seller's protocol record and count toward their reliability standing, because a buyer choosing who to order from is entitled to know how often orders are cancelled on them.
Repeatedly cancelling accepted orders — particularly to avoid a price already agreed — is a breach of the Terms of Service and may result in suspension.
Once goods have shipped, cancellation no longer applies and the seller's return terms govern. Those terms are part of the agreement between buyer and seller and are visible before ordering.
Regardless of return terms, a buyer is entitled to a remedy where goods never arrived, arrived materially damaged, or were materially not what was ordered — see GRAJ Protection.
Where a return is agreed, the Protocol reverses the money proportionally to the value returned, using the same mechanism described in Section 6.
An order that has not been paid can be cancelled by either party at no cost. Nothing has been collected, so nothing is refunded.
Money that was never collected is never disbursed. The Protocol will not pay a seller, a rep, or any other participant out of an order the buyer has not paid for.
When an order is refunded in whole or in part, the Protocol reverses every share of it in the same proportion — not just the buyer's money:
Refunds are calculated to the cent, recorded in the append-only ledger, and are idempotent — a retried or double-submitted refund cannot refund twice. The Protocol will not refund more than was collected on an order.
Payment processing fees charged by Stripe on the original payment are generally not returned by the processor. Where that is the case the fee is absorbed and recorded rather than deducted from the buyer's refund.
Refunds are returned to the original payment method. Timing after GRAJ issues the refund depends on the buyer's bank or card issuer, and is typically 5–10 business days.
Raise it with the other party first, through the Protocol, so the exchange is on the record.
If you cannot resolve it, open a dispute. The Protocol will show both sides the same evidence — the agreement, the order, the fulfilment record, proof of delivery, and the messages — so the disagreement is about facts rather than recollection.
GRAJ does not decide who is right. We may take action on a transaction to prevent loss, and we record everything, but any decision the Protocol makes is about the transaction, not a legal determination of either party's rights. Both parties keep whatever remedies the law and their agreement give them.
Card chargebacks are decided by the buyer's card issuer under the card network's rules, not by GRAJ. Where a chargeback is lost, the Protocol reverses the money in the same proportional way it would a refund.
Where a natural disaster, government action, carrier failure, or comparable event outside either party's control prevents an order from being fulfilled, we expect both parties to act in good faith and, where the goods cannot be delivered, to unwind the order and return the money.
GRAJ may waive or adjust the protocol fee in these circumstances. GRAJ does not compensate either party for losses caused by such an event — see the Terms of Service.