Terugbetalings- en retourbeleid

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This policy is part of the Terms of Sale and applies to every Order placed on MercadoBon. It does not cover Rides: a Ride is paid to the Driver in cash, and section 17 of the Terms of Sale says what happens when one is cancelled or goes wrong.

The words used here are the ones defined in section 1 of the Terms of Sale: MercadoBon (also the Platform) is the marketplace, operated by PhaseShift Technologies B.V.; the Buyer — "you" on this page — is the person who placed the Order; a Seller is the independent business that sold the goods or services; a Delivery Partner is an independent transport company MercadoBon works with to deliver Orders — today EAA Transport; a Driver is the person who delivered them; and an Order is one Seller's part of a basket. MercadoBon decides every claim under this policy, whoever was at fault, so the Buyer never has to chase a Seller, a Delivery Partner or a Driver. The cost of a claim falls on whoever was responsible for what went wrong: the Seller for their goods and for a delivery they made themselves, a Delivery Partner for a delivery it made — see the Delivery & Collection Policy.

1. The short version

You pay when you place the Order, and MercadoBon refunds whatever the Seller does not end up selling you.

When a Seller is out of something you picked — the side, topping or extra that came with a dish — they can offer to swap it for another option from the same choice that they do have, or to leave it out, instead of dropping the whole dish. You decide on your Order page: take the change, have it left out instead, or drop the dish for a full refund of it. If you have not answered within 10 minutes, the change goes ahead as the Seller proposed, so your food is not held up. You are never charged more than you paid: a swap to something dearer costs you nothing extra, and a swap to something cheaper, or a paid extra left out, is refunded. Where the dish's price already included the option at no extra charge — such as the one side that comes with a main — leaving it out does not change the price of the dish, so nothing is refunded for it unless you drop the dish.

2. How refunds are paid

A basket is charged once, but each Seller's Order is settled on its own, so a refund can reach the Buyer in more than one piece as the Sellers answer. Refunds for Orders nobody confirmed are issued as each Seller responds, and at the latest when that Seller's confirmation window runs out — MercadoBon does not wait for the rest of the basket. For an Order booked for a later time or day, that window runs until two hours before the delivery or collection time the Buyer chose (or, if the Buyer chose only a day, the time the Seller opens that day), and never less than the Seller's usual 15 minutes (a restaurant) or 1.5 hours (every other Seller). The Buyer can cancel such an Order themselves, for a full refund, at any time before the Seller confirms.

• Where the Buyer paid online by card, MercadoBon refunds the same card, including the card fee on the part being refunded — except for a delivery fee refunded because the Buyer switched to collecting the Order, where the card fee already charged on it stays. MercadoBon issues the refund within 5 business days of deciding it; the Buyer's bank then usually takes a few days, and sometimes up to 10 business days, to show it.
• Where the Buyer paid by local bank transfer, the refund is sent by bank transfer, from the account the Buyer paid into, to the account the payment came from, within 5 business days of deciding it. Where the Delivery Partner received the payment, MercadoBon tells them what to refund, and the Buyer does not have to ask them.
• Where the Buyer paid the Seller directly, MercadoBon sees that the Buyer is refunded the way they paid — in cash by the Seller, or by bank transfer to an account in the Buyer's name — within 5 business days of deciding it. The Buyer does not have to chase the Seller: MercadoBon settles it with the Seller afterwards.

Refunds are not paid to a different card, or to anyone other than the person who paid.

3. Raising a claim

If something is wrong with an Order that has reached you, raise a claim on that Order in your MercadoBon account: open the Order and choose Report a problem. If an Order has been confirmed but has not left the Seller yet, message MercadoBon instead. Claims go to MercadoBon, not to the Seller or the Driver.

Deadlines

Bonaire is a small island and most Orders arrive quickly, so these deadlines are short on purpose. They run from when the Order was delivered or collected — or, for an Order that never arrived, from when it was due: when it was marked delivered or, failing that, when it left the Seller.

Food spoils and cannot be checked days later, which is why its window is the shortest. Orders on Bonaire arrive the same day or the next, so a missing Order is noticed well within 72 hours, and the sooner MercadoBon hears of it, the more it can still check with the Seller or the Delivery Partner. MercadoBon would still rather hear it from the Buyer than from their bank.

Claims raised after the deadline are normally declined. If something genuinely stopped you from telling MercadoBon in time, say so and it will be looked at.

What MercadoBon needs from the Buyer

• Which items, and how many. Claim for the items that are wrong, not the whole Order.
• What went wrong: the wrong item, damaged, or not received.
• Photos of anything damaged or wrong, taken before the item or its packaging is thrown away. Without a photo there is usually nothing to go on.

What happens next

A person at MercadoBon reviews every claim; nothing is approved or refused automatically. MercadoBon may ask the Buyer for more detail, and usually asks the Seller for their side — and the Delivery Partner for its side where one made the delivery. The claim is checked against what the Platform recorded: what was ordered, what the Seller confirmed and, for a Delivery Partner's delivery, the delivery record.

MercadoBon aims to decide within two business days and tells the Buyer the outcome either way, with a reason. MercadoBon decides the claim; the Seller does not, and a Seller's own returns policy does not override this one.

Does anything have to go back?

Usually not, and never for food. For a higher-value item MercadoBon may ask the Buyer to return it, or to keep it ready for collection, before the refund is issued. If so, MercadoBon says so, and it costs the Buyer nothing.

4. What is not refunded

• A change of mind on an Order that arrived as described. Bonaire is outside the European Union, so the EU's 14-day withdrawal right does not apply. A Seller may choose to take something back anyway, but does not have to.
• A confirmed Order the Buyer no longer wants. Once a Seller confirms, the Order is sold and there is no right to cancel it — see section 8 of the Terms of Sale. Message MercadoBon anyway: where the Seller has not started and agrees to stop, the refund is made in full.
• Perishable goods delivered correctly, once the 24-hour window has passed.
• Made-to-order, personalised and custom items, unless they are faulty or not what was ordered.
• An Order that was not collected. If the Buyer does not collect a self-pickup Order within the time the Seller allows, it may be disposed of and is not refunded.
• A delivery that failed because of the address or details the Buyer gave, or because nobody was there and nobody could be reached. See the Delivery & Collection Policy.
• Small differences in appearance, packaging or weight where the goods are as described.
• The delivery fee on an Order that was delivered. If a whole Order is refunded, its delivery fee is refunded too.

5. Services and bookings

Where a Seller lists a service rather than goods, that Seller's own cancellation terms apply and are shown on the listing. If a service is not provided at all, this policy applies as it does to an Order that never arrived.

6. Keeping this fair

MercadoBon would rather refund a genuine problem quickly than make everyone prove themselves. That only works if the system is not abused, so:

• Every claim is decided by a person. Nothing is approved automatically, however small.
• Claims are per item. Say which items were wrong, not just that the Order was.
• Photos are expected for anything damaged or wrong.
• The delivery record is checked. A delivery confirmed with the Buyer's delivery code — which only the Buyer can see, never the Seller — is hard to dispute.
• Patterns are looked at. Repeated claims across Sellers, or repeated "not received" claims on confirmed deliveries, lead to a review of the account rather than another refund.
• Where MercadoBon finds abuse, it may decline claims, require collection instead of delivery, recover amounts already refunded and close the account. Serious cases go to the authorities.

If you think MercadoBon decided your claim wrongly, reply and say so, and a different person will look at it again.

7. Before you contact your bank

Please talk to MercadoBon first. A chargeback takes weeks, and while it runs the money is with neither side. Most of what people take to their bank — an Order that never arrived, a Seller who cancelled, a charge they do not recognise — MercadoBon sorts out in days once it knows.

Online card payments appear on the Buyer's statement as MercadoBon or PhaseShift Technologies B.V., the company that operates MercadoBon. Payments made to a Seller directly do not appear there at all, because they never pass through the Platform. If that is why a charge looks unfamiliar, it is MercadoBon.

If a chargeback is raised on an Order that was delivered and never reported to MercadoBon, MercadoBon defends it with the Order and delivery records, and may suspend the account.

8. Reaching MercadoBon

The quickest way is the Order itself in your account, which has everything MercadoBon needs attached. You can also message MercadoBon on WhatsApp at +599 785 5159 or email felix@mercadobon.com. MercadoBon replies within two business days.