Buyer protection on Arc Bazaar

What happens to your money when something goes wrong, who decides, and how long each step takes.

This page describes what Arc actually does. Every rule below is enforced in code, not by

goodwill, and the deadlines are real clocks.

The short version

• Your money is held by Arc from the moment you pay until the order is settled. The seller does

not have it while your parcel is in transit.

• If something goes wrong, you open a dispute. An open dispute freezes the money — nobody is

paid while you are still arguing.

• The seller has 3 days to answer. If they say nothing, the case does not go to them by

default. It goes to the Arc Council.

• You have 3 days to reply to their answer. If you say nothing, the money is released to the

seller — not as a punishment, but because the seller answered and nobody contested it.

• If you both still disagree, you get 3 days to settle it yourselves, then it goes to the

Council, who have 72 hours.

• No clock ever refunds you. A refund always needs a decision by a person: the seller

agreeing, or the Council deciding.

When you can open a dispute

Within 30 days — counted from delivery, or from dispatch when nothing arrived. Beyond that

the evidence has usually gone and Arc will not pretend otherwise.

You can open a dispute on an order that has been paid for. You cannot open a second dispute on

the same order while the first is still open. Once one is settled, a fresh problem — a

replacement that also arrives broken — is a legitimate new dispute.

Only the buyer opens a dispute. A seller who thinks a sale went wrong refunds it or sends a

replacement; they cannot freeze your order from their side.

What to say, and what to show

Pick what went wrong:

| Reason | Photo needed? |

|---|---|

| It never arrived | No |

| Not what was described | Yes |

| It arrived damaged | Yes |

| The wrong item came | Yes |

| It is not genuine | Yes |

| Only part of it came | Yes |

| Something else | No |

"It never arrived" needs no photograph, because you cannot photograph an absence. The tracking

record on the order is the evidence there, and Arc puts it in front of whoever decides.

Write what happened in your own words. The seller reads it, and if the case goes further, so

does the Council.

What happens to your money

From the moment a dispute is open until the moment it is settled, the payout to the seller is

frozen. This is the part that makes the rest of it mean anything: a protection that pays the

seller halfway through an argument has protected nobody.

When it ends:

• Refund in full — the whole order is refunded to your card. The order is marked refunded.
• Refund part of it — that amount goes back to your card, and the seller is eventually paid

the rest, less the refund. Arc does not make up the difference and neither do you.

• A replacement — the seller sends another one, and the original payment settles normally.
• Released to the seller — the ordinary escrow clock takes over and the seller is paid.
• Withdrawn — you have decided there is no longer a problem.

Refunds go back the way you paid. Arc does not offer credit instead of a refund.

Who can decide what

This is the part worth reading twice.

• A seller can refund you, part-refund you, or send a replacement, at any point. Agreeing

with you is always allowed and never needs anybody's permission.

• You can withdraw the dispute, or release the money to the seller.
• Nobody but the Arc Council can take money off a seller who is still disputing it. Not

Arc staff acting alone, and no automatic timer.

That last rule is the whole design. If a seller's silence produced an automatic refund, anybody

could take money by filing a form and waiting. So silence escalates to a person instead.

The Arc Council

If you and the seller cannot settle it, either of you can ask the Arc Council. A Council seat is

a real named member, serving a term, who has signed a confidentiality undertaking.

What the Council is shown: the reason, what you wrote, what the seller wrote, both sides'

photographs, the tracking record, and what the order was worth.

What the Council is never shown: your name, your username, your delivery address, what else

you have bought, or anything about who either of you is. They decide the case, not the people.

There is no public vote and there never will be. Arc's Community Notes are decided by other

members voting, because "is this claim misleading" is a question anybody can answer from the

note itself. A dispute is different in two ways: it contains a delivery address and a purchase

history, so putting it in front of voters would leak exactly what Arc refuses to leak anywhere

else — and money attracts organised voting that no threshold can fix. A seller with a large

following should not be able to bring forty sympathetic members to decide who keeps £400.

A Council decision must carry a written statement of reasons. You and the seller both see it.

Who can see your dispute

You, the seller, and the Arc Council. Nobody else, ever — not other members, not the seller's

Hub, not a public summary.

Photographs you upload are stored privately. They are not on a public web address; the links

that show them are made for whoever is entitled to look and stop working after a few minutes.

What this does not cover

• Changing your mind. That is a return, not a dispute — ask the seller for a return from the

order page. Sellers set their own returns policy.

• Anything bought outside Arc Bazaar. If you paid a seller directly, Arc never held the

money and cannot return it.

• Collection and local delivery are covered, but the handover was in person, so the escrow

window is shorter (3 days rather than 14). The dispute rules are the same.

If you think Arc has got it wrong

A Council decision is recorded with its reasons and is visible to both parties. If you believe a

decision was wrong, or that a seat has acted improperly, report it from Safety. Council

membership is a staff decision and always has been — no complaint, and no number of complaints,

removes a member automatically.

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See also: Arc Bazaar · Safety Council ·

Arc Wallet · Legal documents

Last updated: 12 August 2026