‌Effective Date: October 26, 2026‌

This Refund and Returns Policy applies to all purchases made through the official e-commerce website of HITCHON INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, accessible at www.hitchoninternational.com. We are a New Zealand-based retailer focused on delivering reliable, high-quality small garden tools at fair, honest prices for every plant parent, balcony gardener, and backyard hobbyist. All terms outlined below clearly define our return, exchange, and full refund eligibility rules, with explicit clarification that pure “refund only” requests without the return of purchased physical goods are not permitted under any standard circumstances.

1. Contact Information for Returns Support

For any enquiries related to returns, product issues, or policy clarifications, you may reach our support team using the following official contact details:

• Registered Business Address: 10 Syd Bradley Road, Avonhead, Christchurch 8042, New Zealand
• Official Contact Email: [email protected]
• Customer Service Telephone: +64 3 357 8979

We aim to respond to all valid return-related submissions within 2 working days of receiving your request, to process your eligible case as efficiently as possible.

2. Core Policy Rule: No Standalone “Refund Only” Requests Permitted

We explicitly confirm that we do not honour any “refund only” requests where customers keep full possession of the purchased physical goods while demanding a 100% or partial monetary refund without returning the items. This rule applies to all product categories sold on our platform, including all garden hand trowels, pruning shears, plant labels, watering cans, and all other gardening supplies listed on our store.

This policy is implemented to ensure equal, fair treatment for all our customers, to prevent fraudulent claims that would otherwise force us to raise product prices for our entire community of home gardeners, and to maintain our commitment to offering fairly priced, high-quality gardening tools long-term. No exceptions will be made for standalone refund-only requests for any reason, including but not limited to claims that the product does not match your personal preference, you no longer need the item after delivery, or you found a lower price for a similar product elsewhere.

3. Eligible Return Conditions

You are qualified to initiate a return request within 30 calendar days from the date you receive your ordered package, only if your purchased item meets one of the following valid, verifiable eligible conditions:

• The product you received has confirmed manufacturing defects that affect its normal use, such as a cracked trowel blade, misaligned pruner cutting edges, or a watering can with non-functional leaking structure that impacts its intended purpose.
• You received the completely wrong item that does not match the exact product you submitted in your original order.
• The product arrived severely damaged in transit due to improper packaging or rough courier handling, that makes it impossible for you to use it for its designed gardening function.

All returned items must be in their original unaltered condition, with all original packaging, tags, accessories, and user manuals intact. Items that show clear signs of heavy use, intentional damage, modification, or wear from extended gardening use will not be accepted for return processing.

4. Return Processing Workflow

To submit a valid return request, you must first contact our support team via the provided email or phone number, and share clear photographic evidence of the eligible issue with your product, alongside your original order number. Our team will review your submission within 2 working days, and send you a confirmed approved return authorization and a designated return shipping address. You are responsible for covering the return shipping cost for all non-defective returns, unless the return is caused by our shipping error or confirmed manufacturing flaw.

You must send the complete, intact product back to our designated return address, and share the return tracking number with our team once the parcel is dispatched. We will not process any partial returns where you keep the purchased goods while only returning empty packaging or incomplete components of the product. Once our warehouse team receives and inspects your returned item and confirms it meets all return eligibility requirements, we will proceed to process your requested remedy.

5. Remedy Options After Successful Return Inspection

Once we complete verification of your eligible returned product, you will be offered two formal remedy options to choose from, no standalone refund without item return will be approved at this stage:

1. ‌Equal Product Exchange‌: You may request that we send you a brand new identical replacement unit of the returned product, free of any extra product cost, with our team covering the standard shipping fee for sending the replacement item back to your address.
2. ‌Full Refund After Goods Are Received‌: If you no longer wish to get a replacement, we will process a full refund for the exact amount you paid for the returned item, directly back to your original payment method. Refund processing typically takes 3 to 7 working days to reflect in your bank or payment account, depending on the processing speed of your payment service provider.

6. Exceptions and Non-Returnable Items

The following items are not eligible for return processing, and no related remedies will be provided even if you submit a refund-only request:

• Clearance sale items marked as “final sale” on our product listing pages.
• Custom engraved or personalized plant labels or custom modified gardening tools, made exclusively to your submitted custom specifications.
• Disposable protective gloves, opened liquid garden nutrient products, and other hygiene-related items that cannot be resold for health and safety reasons once opened by customers.

7. Final Clarification

This policy is consistent with New Zealand consumer protection laws, while clearly upholding our no refund-only rule to protect the interests of all our loyal gardening community customers. If you have any further questions about this policy, contact our support team directly for assistance.