Europe's specialist marketplace for collectible model aircraft
Model Plane Zone

Returns and refunds information

Returns and refunds information for Model Plane Zone (MPZ)

Last updated: 1 July 2026

This page forms part of our Terms and Conditions (it is section 11 of those Terms) and works together with our Seller Terms and Privacy Policy. It is published here on its own so it is easy to find. The same content also appears inside the Terms and Conditions.

What you can do if you want to return an item, or get your money back, depends on who you bought from. There are two kinds of seller on MPZ: a business seller and a private seller. Each seller's status is shown on their store and on their listings, so please check it before you buy.

Our role, and who is responsible for your order

We run the marketplace and provide the tools around a sale, such as listings, messaging, checkout, and the request options described below. We are not the seller. We do not own, hold, check, or send the items, and we are not a party to the contract between you and the seller.

When you buy on MPZ, the contract is between you and the seller. The seller alone is responsible for the item, its description and condition, packing and delivery, and for handling any return or refund. The seller is also responsible for following any consumer law that applies to the sale. We are not responsible for the seller's acts, and we are not responsible for whether the seller meets these duties.

Each seller shows whether they are a business seller (a trader) or a private seller (a non-trader). This is based on what the seller declares to us. Where the seller is a private seller, the consumer rights that come from EU consumer law do not apply to that contract. We may review and change a seller's status, but we rely on the seller's declaration, and we are not responsible if a seller has declared the wrong status.

We give you a way to contact the seller about a return or refund. We do not decide the outcome, we do not act as judge between you and a seller, and we do not promise a result. We do not run a buyer-protection scheme, we are not a guarantor (we do not stand behind the seller's debts or promises), and we do not pay refunds out of our own money.

Returns

If you bought from a business seller

When you buy from a business seller, EU and Dutch consumer law applies to your purchase. The business seller is responsible for following it. We are not responsible for the seller meeting these duties.

You usually have a right of withdrawal for 14 days (the right to cancel without giving a reason). You can cancel the purchase within 14 days of receiving the item. Some items are left out of this right by law, for example an item made or personalised just for you.

You also have the legal guarantee of conformity (the item must match its description and be what you could fairly expect). If it does not, you have the right to have it put right, and the business seller has to handle that.

Who pays return postage. Each business seller sets out their own return policy on their seller page, including who pays to send an item back. By law, a business seller can only ask you to pay return postage if they told you so before you bought. So please check the seller's return policy on their page before you order. If the seller did not say that you pay return postage, the seller pays it. This is a matter between you and the seller.

If you bought from a private seller

When you buy from a private seller, the consumer right of withdrawal and the consumer legal guarantee do not apply. There is no automatic 14-day right to change your mind.

Returns on private-seller sales are between you and the seller. The seller must still have described the item honestly and sent what was agreed. But whether a return is accepted is up to the seller, unless the law requires otherwise.

We may give you a way to ask the seller for a return through your order. This is only a way to contact the seller. It does not place any duty on us, it does not mean a return will be accepted, and it does not mean a refund will be paid. We do not decide whether a return should happen, and we do not act as judge.

We may add an official returns channel in the future. If we do, it will run on our own terms and at our discretion. We may change or remove any return request tool at any time.

Refunds

A refund sends what you paid back to your original payment method. Refunds are handled through Stripe, the payment provider we use. A refund can come up in different situations, and what happens depends on the situation. In every case, any duty to refund is the seller's, not ours.

If an order is cancelled or the item is never sent

If an order is cancelled before it is sent, or the seller never sends the item, you should get back what you paid.

On MPZ, the seller is paid only after the item is delivered. So in these cases the money has usually not reached the seller yet, and the payment can be sent back to you through Stripe. This is the normal result when nothing was shipped: no delivery, no payout to the seller, and your payment comes back to you. For local-pickup orders, which have no carrier tracking, we use another confirmation we accept in place of delivery confirmation.

To be clear about what this is and is not: the duty to refund is the seller's. The refund is a reversal of the payment through Stripe. It is not a promise from us. We do not pay refunds out of our own money. It is not escrow (we do not hold your money for you) and it is not a buyer-protection scheme. This usually works in a simple unsent order, but we cannot promise that a reversal will be possible in every case, for example where the payout has already been released or where Stripe cannot complete it. We may also change how payouts and refunds are set up.

If you return an item

Where a return applies (see the Returns section above), the refund follows the return, and it is the seller's to handle.

For a business seller, the law sets the rules. On a valid withdrawal, the seller refunds what you paid, including the standard delivery cost, usually within 14 days. The seller may wait until the item has been returned, or until you have shown that you have sent it back.

For a private seller, any refund on a return is what you and the seller agree, unless the law requires otherwise.

How a refund is paid

Refunds are normally sent back to your original payment method through Stripe. A buyer and a seller may instead agree a different refund method, but only where both of them freely agree to it. An alternative method must not be used to avoid our fees or rules, or to move payment off the platform to escape them, and it does not reduce any statutory refund a consumer is owed by a business seller. If you do agree an alternative method, keep a record of it through your order. MPZ is not responsible for a refund method that a buyer and seller arrange between themselves.

If a refund is disputed

If a refund is disputed, the result can depend on the return and tracking status, the seller's response, any evidence, and the payment provider's process. We may give tools to help you and the seller talk and to look into the problem, but we are not required to investigate, we do not decide the result, and we do not promise a refund.

How long refunds take

Refunds go back to your original payment method through Stripe. The timing depends on Stripe's processing and, where a return is involved, on the return and tracking status. We do not hold your payment apart from the payment provider, and we do not control bank or card processing times. We are not responsible for delays caused by the payment provider or your bank.

If your item is not as described, did not arrive, or you have a payment problem

This applies whoever you bought from, including private sellers.

If an item is clearly not as described, is fake or the wrong item, or never arrives, you may have rights against the seller under the law, even on a private sale. These rights are against the seller, not against us. Please raise it with the seller first through your order, and keep evidence such as photos and messages, because it helps sort things out.

Separately, payments run through Stripe. A payment dispute or chargeback (asking your bank or card provider to reverse a payment) goes through Stripe's process and the rules of your bank or card provider, whatever is agreed on this page. That route is between you, the seller, and the payment provider. It is not a remedy we provide or control.

We do not settle these disputes for you, and we do not become a party to them. We may help users talk to each other and look into a problem through our support and dispute tools, and we may act under our own rules, for example by restricting or suspending a seller. None of this makes us the seller, a party to your contract, or responsible for the seller's acts. Our Terms and Conditions explain what support we do and do not provide, and the rules and appeal route that apply when we restrict a listing or account.

The limits of our responsibility

To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not responsible for:

  • the item, including its description, condition, authenticity, safety, or legality;

  • whether the seller sends the item, sends it on time, or sends what was agreed;

  • whether a return is accepted, or whether and when a refund is paid; or

  • the outcome of any return, refund, dispute, or chargeback.

These are the seller's responsibilities, or are handled by the payment provider, not by us.

This page does not exclude anything we are not allowed to exclude by law. For example, we do not exclude liability for our own intent or deliberate fault, for death or personal injury caused by us, or any liability that the law says cannot be excluded. Where we do have any responsibility, it is subject to the limits and exclusions in our Terms and Conditions.

How to ask for a return or refund

Where the tool is available, open the order and use the return or refund request option. This sends your request to the seller and opens a message about it.

For a business seller, this starts a process the seller must handle under the law and their stated return policy. For a private seller, this is only a way to ask the seller, and any return or refund is up to the seller, unless the law requires otherwise. Where an order was never sent, the payment can usually be returned through Stripe, as described above.

If you cannot find the option, or you need help, contact modelplanezone@gmail.com. Contacting us does not make us responsible for your order or change who is responsible for it.

Changes to this page

We may update this page from time to time. The version that applies to your order is the one published when you placed it. We show the date of the latest version at the top.