Cancellations, Returns and Seller Protection Policy at Noon

At Noon, customers are provided with an option to return items purchased on the platform. Any order that is eligible for a return, and where the return request does not exceed fifteen (15) days from the date of delivery, shall be covered under this policy.

Customers have the option to cancel an order in transit by filing a return request with Noon’s customer services agents (CSA). Upon return request creation, our CSAs verify the return request to approve it and initiate the cancellation process. After going through quality control verification at Noon’s warehouse, such items are either returned to the seller or restocked in the inventory based on Noon’s decision. For some cases described in the next sections of this policy, Noon also proactively compensates the Seller from the Seller Protection Fund managed by Noon.

Customer Cancellation and Returns Management:

Scenario 1: Customer Cancellations:

Pre-shipment cancellations occur frequently in the e-commerce industry. This can create challenges for the seller in the form of a constant back and forth movement of items.

In order to overcome this challenge, Noon does not firmly link a unit of stock to a customer order until the item arrives in our warehouse. This gives us the flexibility to reallocate orders in the event of customer cancellations and reduces the logistics costs associated with back and forth movement of the shipments.

Depending on sellers' preference, Noon can either convert all unshipped items to our fulfilled by Noon model (“FBN”) or transfer them back to the seller through the return to vendor model (“RTV”) within 48 - 72 hours of receipt of the request from the seller.

Scenario 2: Customer Returns:

All customer returns (i.e. customer-initiated returns and non-delivered returns) are brought back to Noon’s warehouse. With respect to customer-initiated returns, a basic identification check is performed at the time of item pick-up at the customer’s doorstep and a quality check is performed at the warehouse, and for all non-saleable inventory, a grade is assigned to every returned item upon receipt of said item. Refer to Annexure-1 below to check various aspects of the inbound QC process.

Any such returned items qualify as “good inventory and eligible for sale”. Noon shall store such items at our warehouse to fulfill any subsequent customer orders based on the seller’s preference defined in Seller Lab. For all other cases, Noon or the partner shall initiate a RTV process according to the business model that they employ. See detailed return policies for FBN and cross-dock B2B.

The grading will invoke a compensation amount from the Seller Protection Fund managed by Noon, which will be paid to the seller along with the RTV request.

Unclaimed RTV Inventory - Notification and Disposal Process:

If a seller does not accept the RTV process under Scenario 2 (above), in order to ensure warehouse facilities are optimized effectively at noon, we will communicate to the seller the list of such pending items to be removed at the earliest.

Sellers who have a concern regarding a specific RTV should accept the RTV, and raise a dispute for it on Seller Lab; noon logistics will then collect the items from their location within a few days.

On receipt of the RTV, the seller shall duly check the returned items and the grade it has been assigned in the Noon grading process. If the seller has substantial evidence to assume that grading is incorrect, the seller shall raise a dispute to challenge Noon’s grading decision on the Seller Lab within fourteen (14) day from the time of delivery of the physical item.

The Noon grading structure has been tabulated in the FAQs below.

Return disputes are managed by Noon to protect the seller against:

1. a) any fraudulent claims by the customers; and/or
2. b) damages during the return logistics

Circumstances when Seller Protection Policy is not applicable to sellers:

Except as provided, Noon will not cover the sellers under Seller Protection Policy in the following circumstances:

• Mis-shipment or Item Incorrectly Detailed. Item shipped by the seller is not as per the description on the platform, or in cases where the seller has shipped the wrong product
• Missing Parts. The seller has not fulfilled the order in accordance with the details on the website (i.e. a missing freebie, accessory or a part)
• Fake/Defective/Used/Expired Product Shipped. If fake products, defective products, used products and products post expiry date are shipped by the seller and returned by the buyer
• Seller Fraud. If the seller is found violating any of the Noon’s seller policies, the seller’s claim amount will be put on hold
• Intact Product. In case the buyer has shipped back the product to the seller and it has been received in perfect condition
• Manufacturing Defects - Dead on Arrival. Product partial or complete failure within fifteen (15) business days
• Additional Circumstances. Sellers hereby agree that under no circumstances shall Noon be liable or responsible for any damage or loss caused to items on account of terrorism, war, invasion or warlike operations, civil war, rebellion, detention by public or government authority, protest or strikes, riots, delay, detention or confiscation by customs or other authorities, war, invasion or warlike operations, damage or loss caused by any process of repairing, renovation, deterioration arising from wear and tear; moth; vermin; insects or mildew or any other gradually operating natural cause.

The seller protection fund safeguards sellers from losses incurred due to customer returns or courier return received in an unacceptable condition via compensation from the fund, thus ensuring that the sellers are not unfairly impacted. Furthermore, this policy has been designed to safeguard sellers’ interests and make Noon a secure medium to conduct business.

Frequently Asked Questions (‘FAQs’)

1. Will I be compensated if the customer or logistics partner has returned a damaged item, despite shipping a quality product?

Noon will proactively ensure that sellers are not impacted for any logistics damage cases by absorbing the full impact. In the event of damage, seller believes isn’t his mistake, the seller shall raise a claim through the “Dispute Mechanism” on Seller Lab. Upon pursuing the incident, Noon, at its sole discretion, shall compensate based on the parameters set thereunder, including but not limited to, category of goods, quality control (“QC”) status at the time of shipping and receiving the item back at the warehouse (with evidence of such receipt).

Will I be compensated if the customer has replaced the original item with a different item?

In cases when the contents of the returned shipment are missing, or when the returned items received by the seller are not the same items that were shipped by the seller, the seller can raise a claim through Dispute Mechanism on the Seller Lab.

If the seller suspects that the buyer is taking unfair advantage of the return policy, then the seller can intimate Noon on this issue so they can review the buyer’s claim and take necessary actions.

Upon pursuing the incident, Noon, at its sole discretion, shall compensate the seller based on the parameters set thereunder, including but not limited to, category of goods, QC status at the time of shipping and receiving the item back at the warehouse (with evidence of such receipt).

What is the turnaround time from customer return to receipt of items in the warehouse?

In addition to the regular sales promise, the item grading process for damaged returns will take up to seven (7) business days.

How does the “Seller Protection Mechanism” work at Noon?

All returned items go through a physical QC and a grade is assigned to the item by Noon, which determines the compensation under seller protection fund.

The below payout grading system is net of commission and any related Noon fees.

Annexure 1
Inbound Quality Control at Noon