Payment Protection Policy

1. Your Money Is Protected — In Plain Terms

When you place an Order on TerzyApp, your payment does not go straight into the seller's pocket. It is held securely by our payment provider, Stripe, and is released to the independent tailor or fabric seller only after your item has been shipped and delivered, a review period has passed, and a member of the TerzyApp team has reviewed the Order and carried the release out. This is the heart of the TerzyApp Trust & Proof System: you pay with confidence, the seller gets paid for honest work, and if something goes wrong, your money stays protected while we look into it. This Policy explains how that protection works. It supplements our Terms of Service and our Returns & Refunds Policy; where those documents describe the same subject in more detail, they control.

2. How Escrow Works — Hold, Deliver, Release

Payment protection follows a simple, predictable path. Your payment is collected at checkout and held by Stripe rather than paid out immediately. It becomes eligible for release only after your Order has been delivered and a review period has passed, and even then it is released to the seller only after a TerzyApp review — never automatically, and never while a reported problem is still open.

• Step 1 — You pay. At checkout, Stripe collects your payment. TerzyApp collects the price as the seller's limited payment-collection agent (Terms of Service Section 8), so paying us satisfies your payment obligation to the seller.
• Step 2 — We hold. The funds are held by Stripe while the seller produces and ships your Order. No payout reaches the seller during this stage.
• Step 3 — It is delivered. Your Order is shipped on a tracked service and marked delivered.
• Step 4 — You check it and tell us. We ask you to inspect your delivery and report any visible problem within 48 hours. Reporting quickly is the fastest route to a resolution and lets us keep your payment held while we review — it is not a deadline for your legal rights, and it is not the moment your payment is released.
• Step 5 — We review, then release. Seven days after your delivery is confirmed, the held payment becomes eligible for release to the seller. Release is never automatic and is never triggered by a timer: a member of the TerzyApp team reviews the Order and carries the release out. Where you have reported a problem, the funds stay held while we look into it.

3. The Held Funds, Stripe, and TerzyApp's Role

It is important to understand who holds your money and who is responsible for your goods. Your payment is held and ultimately moved by Stripe, our regulated payment provider. TerzyApp administers the escrow flow — we decide when the hold, release, freeze, or refund instruction is sent, based on the delivery, reporting, and review milestones described here. Every release is carried out by a member of the TerzyApp team rather than by an automatic timer, and seller payouts are set up so that no payout can leave Stripe until we act. We are a marketplace facilitator that connects you with independent tailors and fabric sellers; we are NOT the seller. The contract of sale for every Order is formed directly between you and the independent seller (Terms of Service Section 3). Where a refund, remake, or other remedy is owed, it is owed and funded by the seller; TerzyApp administers the outcome through the escrow and dispute process and, where appropriate, instructs Stripe to return held funds to you. We do not become the seller, manufacturer, or supplier by holding payment on the seller's behalf.

4. When Funds Are Released to the Seller

Once your Order has been shipped and its delivery is confirmed, the held payment becomes eligible for release to the seller seven days later. Becoming eligible is not the same as being paid out: release is never automatic, and no timer moves your money. A member of the TerzyApp team reviews the Order and then carries the release out, and we can keep the payment held for longer where you have reported a problem, where a refund or remake is being arranged, or where we are still reviewing the Order. Releasing payment reflects normal acceptance of a delivered Order — it does not sign away rights you keep by law. We may still review a later claim where the law requires it, or where there is evidence of a hidden defect, fraud, courier failure, or a serious production error that you could not reasonably have seen when your Order arrived.

5. When We Freeze Funds — Opening a Dispute

If you open a dispute about your Order, we may freeze all or part of the held payment until the matter is resolved, so that money is not released to the seller while a genuine problem is being reviewed. To open a dispute, follow the steps in our Returns & Refunds Policy and our Dispute Resolution Policy: contact the seller through the in-app chat first with the Order ID and clear evidence (photographs, and an unboxing video where you have one). If you and the seller cannot resolve it between you, contact TerzyApp Support from the Order and we will step in, review what both of you provide, and decide on the balance of the evidence (Terms of Service Section 9). While a dispute is under review, the affected funds stay held. The evidence we look at includes order records, the seller's production and packing evidence, courier data, your own evidence, account history, and the timing of your claim, and any decision we reach is subject to your mandatory legal rights.

6. Possible Outcomes of a Dispute

Escrow gives us the flexibility to reach a fair result rather than an all-or-nothing one. Depending on the evidence and the nature of the problem, the held funds may be directed to any of the outcomes below. The detailed criteria for each outcome — and which problems qualify for which remedy — are set out in our Dispute Resolution Policy and our Returns & Refunds Policy.

• Release the full payment to the seller (claim not supported by the evidence).
• Refund the full amount to you (for example, non-delivery, wrong item, a proven empty package, severe damage, or an unfixable material mismatch).
• Issue a partial refund.
• Hold funds while an alteration or remake is arranged (alteration-first resolution, where the item is generally correct but needs adjustment).
• Pay the seller and separately compensate you where that is the fair result.
• Pursue a courier insurance claim where loss or damage in transit is involved.
• Provide platform credit or a goodwill gesture.
• Reject the claim where the evidence is insufficient — without affecting your mandatory legal rights.

7. How and When You Get a Refund

Where a refund is due, it is processed through Stripe back to your original payment method. The timing of the refund depends on the payment provider and your bank or card issuer: once a refund is issued, it typically reaches your card or account within 5 to 10 business days, in line with your issuer's clearing times. Where a refund is required under your statutory rights or under an offer the seller has accepted, the refund will be initiated within 14 days, as set out in Returns & Refunds Policy Section 9. Refunds cover the Order itself; charges incurred outside the Order (for example, import duties, customs fees, or third-party tailoring fees) are not refunded unless they were caused by a fault attributable to the seller.

8. Reporting Windows Do NOT Limit Your Legal Rights

The 48-hour window after confirmed delivery is a reporting fast-track, nothing more. It is the period in which we ask you to inspect your delivery and tell us about any visible problem, so that the problem reaches us while it can still be checked easily and so that honest sellers are paid promptly once you have had a fair chance to look at your Order. It is not an escrow timer, it is not the moment your payment is released, and it is NOT a deadline after which you lose your rights: the held payment becomes eligible for release seven days after confirmed delivery, and is released only after a TerzyApp review. Your mandatory rights as a consumer under United Kingdom law cannot be excluded or limited by this Policy or by any reporting window in it. In particular, if an item is faulty, not as described, or not fit for purpose, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives you a short-term right to reject (normally within 30 days), and further rights to repair, replacement, or a price reduction beyond that period; if an item is never delivered, you keep your right to receive what you paid for. If you report a problem only after the payment has been released to the seller, that never removes these legal rights — you can still raise a faulty, not-as-described, or non-delivery claim afterwards through the seller and, if you cannot resolve it between you, by contacting TerzyApp Support from the Order. Nothing in this Policy takes away rights the law does not allow us to take away.

9. Your Part in Protecting the Payment

A few simple steps make protection faster and stronger if anything goes wrong. None of these steps is a precondition for your statutory rights — they simply help us reach a fair decision quickly.

• Inspect your parcel as soon as it arrives, and report any visible delivery damage, wrong item, empty package, missing item, or item that is materially not as described within the 48-hour reporting window.
• For high-value Orders, we recommend recording a short unboxing video and photographing the outer package and shipping label before opening.
• Keep the original packaging until your inspection is complete.
• Do not alter, repair, wash, or modify the item before review unless we give you written approval in the in-app chat, because unauthorised changes make the original issue impossible to verify (see Returns & Refunds Policy Section 16 and our Dispute Resolution Policy).

10. Keep Payment and Messages on the Platform

Escrow protection only works for payments made through TerzyApp. If you pay a seller off-platform — by bank transfer, cash, or any messaging or social app outside TerzyApp — that payment is not held in escrow, is not covered by this Policy, and is very hard for us to verify or recover if something goes wrong. Off-platform payment requests are prohibited and may remove your protections (Acceptable Use Policy Section 4; Terms of Service Section 27). Keep all order-related communication and payment inside TerzyApp so your Trust & Proof protection stays intact. Misusing the payment system — for example, raising a dishonest chargeback while a TerzyApp dispute is under review, or making false claims with manipulated evidence — may lead to your claim being rejected and to account restrictions, as described in our Dispute Resolution Policy and Acceptable Use Policy.

11. How This Policy Fits With Our Other Terms

This Payment Protection & Escrow Policy is part of the TerzyApp Trust & Proof System and works alongside our other documents. It does not replace them, and where they give you stronger rights, those rights prevail. For the payments and Stripe Connect framework, see Terms of Service Section 8; for our role as an intermediary rather than the seller, see Terms of Service Section 3; for the dispute process and refund route, see Terms of Service Section 9. If you and the seller cannot resolve a problem between you, contact TerzyApp Support from the Order and we will step in, review what both of you provide, and decide on the balance of the evidence. For when an item can or cannot be returned, refund method and timing, lost or undelivered packages, and faulty-item claims, see the Returns & Refunds Policy. For how a dispute is opened, what evidence is reviewed, and how outcomes are decided, see the Dispute Resolution Policy. If you are resident in the European Union or the United States, region-specific terms in the EU Addendum and US Addendum apply in addition to this Policy.