Cancellations, Returns & Refunds

Cancellations, Returns & Refunds Policy - Effective date: 14 August 2026

Quick Summary

• Our returns terms differ depending on where your order is shipped to. This policy covers three regions: Australia & New Zealand, the European Union, and Global (UK, US & Canada & Rest of World). 
• Please ensure you have read the terms for both your region and the general terms for all regions (Section D)
• Australia & New Zealand: no returns for change of mind, but genuine faults/damage are covered, report within 7 days for your choice of replacement, credit, or refund.
• European Union: by law, you can cancel or return most orders within 14 days of delivery, for any reason, see the dedicated EU section for full details. You'll cover return shipping costs.
• Global (UK, US & Canada & Rest of World): all items are final sale once fulfilled, due to the cost and practicality of shipping returns internationally from Australia. You can still cancel an order any time before it's fulfilled. Genuine faults are considered case by case, get in touch and we'll do what's fair.
• No response = abandoned: if we're waiting on you at any stage of a return and don't hear back within 14 days, we'll close the request.
• Regardless of region, nothing in this policy limits any non-excludable consumer rights you have under the law of your country.

Full Policy

1. How this policy is structured

Always Friends ships worldwide from Sydney, Australia. Because return shipping costs, timeframes, and legal requirements vary a lot by destination, this policy is split into three sections based on where your order was shipped:

• Section A, Australia & New Zealand
• Section B, European Union
• Section C, Global (Rest of World, United Kingdom, US & Canada)
• Section D, General terms (all regions)

Find the section that matches your delivery country for the terms that apply to your order. Some general terms (digital products, abandoned requests) apply across all regions and are covered at the end.

Section A, Australia & New Zealand

A1. Change of mind

We do not accept returns, exchanges, or refunds for change of mind, including (but not limited to):

• You ordered the wrong item or size
• You no longer want the item
• It didn't look how you expected

All sales made through our online store and at markets are final in these circumstances.

A2. Faulty or damaged items

If your item arrives with a genuine fault or is damaged in a way that affects its use or appearance beyond minor, expected transit wear, we want to make it right.

What counts as faulty/damaged:

• Printing errors, missing pages, or manufacturing defects
• Items that arrive broken, torn, or unusable
• Significant damage clearly caused in transit (e.g. crushed packaging resulting in a ruined print)

What doesn't count:

• Minor bends, creases, or corner damage that can reasonably happen to paper goods in the post
• Natural variation in riso printing (slight registration shifts, ink density variation, and colour differences are part of the riso process, not a fault)
• Smudging, variation and marks on original artworks, that’s just how they come

How to report it: Contact us within 7 days of your delivery date at hello@alwaysfriends.shop, with your order number and photos of the fault/damage. Claims made after 7 days may not be eligible, since it becomes harder to confirm the item wasn't damaged after receipt.

Please don't send anything back before we've confirmed the return. Items sent to us without first getting approval from us won't be accepted.

What happens next: Once we've confirmed the fault, you can choose one of the following:

• A free replacement (where stock allows)
• Store credit
• A full refund to your original payment method

If a return of the physical item is needed, we'll send you instructions and the address to send it to. Currently, approved returns should be sent to:

R Powell-Hughes c/o EP Australia
Building 19, Disney Studios Australia
38 Driver Avenue Moore Park,
NSW, 2021 Australia

We'll cover the cost of return shipping in these cases, and organise this with you directly.

Refund timing: Once we've received and inspected a returned item, we'll let you know whether the refund/replacement/credit has been approved. If a refund is approved, it'll be issued to your original payment method within 10 business days. Please note it can take your bank or card provider some additional time to process and display the refund. If more than 15 business days have passed since we approved your return and you still haven't seen it, contact us at hello@alwaysfriends.shop.

A3. Items that can't be returned

Regardless of fault, we're not able to accept returns or offer refunds on:

• Sale or clearance items
• Gift cards
• Competition or giveaway prizes
• Custom or personalised orders (see our Wholesale & Custom Order Policy)
• Digital products, once delivered or accessed (see the Digital Products section below)

If you have a question about whether a specific item is eligible, get in touch before purchasing and we're happy to advise.

A4. Return shipping (change of mind exceptions, if approved at our discretion)

On rare occasions we may approve a return outside the above categories at our discretion. In these cases, the customer is responsible for return postage costs, and we recommend using a tracked shipping method, we're not responsible for returns lost in transit back to us.

A5. Market and in-person purchases

Anything purchased directly from us at a market, pop-up, or event is final sale. We're not able to offer returns, exchanges, or refunds on in-person purchases, including for faults, as we're unable to verify the condition of the item at the time of sale versus after. We encourage you to check your items thoroughly before leaving our stall.

A6. Your rights under Australian Consumer Law

Nothing in this policy limits your rights under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). Regardless of what this policy says, if a product has a major failure (it's unsafe, significantly different from its description, or doesn't do what it's supposed to do), you're entitled to choose between a replacement, refund, or compensation. For minor problems, we're entitled to choose how to fix it first (repair, replace, or resolve). Nothing here is intended to override or reduce your ACL rights, it simply explains how we handle everyday requests outside of that scope.

Section B, European Union

This section applies to orders shipped to any of the following EU member states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia (Czech Republic), Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

B1. Your right to return (14-day withdrawal period)

If your order is shipped to the EU, you have a legal right to cancel or return your order within 14 days, for any reason and without needing to justify it. This right exists under EU consumer protection law and applies regardless of the change-of-mind terms that apply to other regions of our store.

• Return window: 14 days
• Starting from: the date of delivery of the last item in your order (for orders with multiple parcels/items)
• Weekends and public holidays: if the 14-day period would otherwise end on a weekend or public holiday, it's automatically extended to the next business day

To be eligible, your item must be returned in the same condition you received it, unused, with any tags, and in its original packaging, along with your receipt or proof of purchase.

B2. Cancelling an order before it ships

You can cancel any order shipping to the EU, for any reason, at any time before it has been fulfilled (i.e. before it's been packed and dispatched). Once your order has been fulfilled, the 14-day return right in Section B1 applies instead.

B3. How to return or cancel

Contact us at hello@alwaysfriends.shop with your order number to start a return or cancellation. We'll confirm your request and provide instructions for returning the item, where applicable.

Please don't send anything back before we've confirmed the return as we cannot accept unconfirmed returns.

B4. Return shipping costs

If you withdraw under this 14-day right, you are responsible for the cost of returning the item to us. We'll refund the price you paid for the item and the original standard delivery cost (excluding any premium/express shipping upgrade) within 14 days of receiving your returned item or, if earlier, evidence that you've sent it back.

B5. Faulty or damaged items

If your item arrives genuinely faulty or damaged, please contact us at hello@alwaysfriends.shop with your order number and photos as soon as possible, and in any event within your 14-day window where practical. We'll assess the issue and offer a replacement or refund. Given we ship from Australia, resolving faults for EU orders is handled case by case, and we'll always aim to find a fair outcome.

B6. Your statutory rights

Nothing in this section limits any additional consumer protections you're entitled to under the law of your EU member state.

Section C, Global (Rest of World, United Kingdom, US & Canada)

This section applies to orders shipped to any destination not covered by Sections A or B, including the United Kingdom, US & Canada and Rest of World.

C1. Final sale once fulfilled

Given the cost and practicality of shipping returns back to us in Australia from these regions, all items are considered final sale once your order has been fulfilled (packed and dispatched). We're not able to offer change-of-mind returns, exchanges, or refunds once an order has shipped.

C2. Cancelling an order before it ships

You can cancel your order, for any reason, at any time before it has been fulfilled. Once an order has been fulfilled, it's treated as final sale per Section C1, subject to Section C3 below.

To cancel, contact us as soon as possible at hello@alwaysfriends.shop with your order number.

C3. Faulty or damaged items

If your item arrives genuinely faulty or damaged, get in touch with us at hello@alwaysfriends.shop with your order number and photos, and we'll work with you to find a fair outcome, this may include a replacement, partial refund, or full refund, depending on the situation. Because these orders are shipped internationally from Australia, resolving faults for this region is handled on a case-by-case basis, weighing up factors like return shipping cost and practicality alongside what's fair to you as the customer.

C4. Your statutory rights

Nothing in this section limits any consumer protections you're entitled to under the law of your country that can't be excluded by this policy (for example, statutory rights relating to faulty goods in the UK, US, or elsewhere).

General terms (all regions)

D1. Digital products

If any product is sold as a digital download (e.g. a digital zine or PDF), no refunds or returns are offered once the file has been delivered or accessed, as the product cannot be "returned." If a digital file is faulty (corrupted, doesn't open, wrong file), contact us and we'll resend or refund it.

D2. Abandoned return requests

If we're in the process of handling your return, refund, or cancellation request, at any stage, whether that's confirming a fault, arranging return shipping, or following up on missing information, and we don't hear back from you within 14 days of our most recent attempt to contact you, we'll treat the request as abandoned.

Once a request is marked abandoned:

• We're no longer obligated to issue a refund, replacement, or store credit for that request
• If you've already sent the item back to us and we haven't heard from you, we're not obligated to return it to you, we may dispose of, donate, or otherwise deal with the item at our discretion

If you're still within any applicable reporting window (e.g. the 7-day fault window in Section A, or the EU 14-day window in Section B) and would like to restart the process, get in touch and we're happy to help, but requests outside those windows may not be eligible to reopen.

D3. Contact

For any return, refund, or cancellation query, email us at hello@alwaysfriends.shop with your order number, we'll aim to respond within 3 business days.

Contact us

For any questions about this policy, contact us at:

Email: hello@alwaysfriends.shop
Address: 18-22 Sydney Street, Marrickville, NSW, 2044