Refund and Returns Policy

Last updated: 28 August 2026

Live plants are different

Everything Sacred Cactus sells is a living organism. That shapes this policy, and it is worth explaining plainly rather than burying it.

Under section 44 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 (ECTA), a consumer buying online is normally entitled to a seven-day cooling-off period and may cancel without reason or penalty. However, section 42 of the same Act excludes perishable goods from that right. Live plants fall within that exclusion. Section 16 of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 stands down where ECTA section 44 applies, so only one cooling-off regime is ever in play.

In short: we cannot offer change-of-mind returns on living plants, because a cactus that has spent a week in a courier network and a week on your windowsill is not the plant we dispatched. What we offer instead is a guarantee on the condition it arrives in.

Arrival condition guarantee

If your plant arrives dead, crushed, frozen, rotted or otherwise damaged in transit, we will replace it or refund it in full. To claim:

1. Contact us within 48 hours of delivery.
2. Send clear photographs of the plant and of the packaging as it arrived, including the courier label.
3. Keep the packaging until the claim is resolved.

We ask for 48 hours because decline after that point is usually a matter of aftercare rather than transit, and we have no way to tell the two apart later.

What is not covered

• Plants that have been potted on, planted out, grafted, cut or otherwise altered.
• Decline caused by overwatering, underwatering, frost, sunburn or pests after delivery. Cacti are slow; problems often surface weeks later, and by then the cause is care, not carriage.
• Minor cosmetic variation. These are individual plants raised from seed, not manufactured items. Size, colour, tubercle count, offsets and scarring vary between specimens, and photographs on this site are representative rather than exact.
• Refusal or failure to accept delivery, or an incorrect delivery address supplied at checkout.

Faulty, incorrect or misdescribed goods

Nothing in this policy limits your rights under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008. If we send the wrong species, misdescribe a plant, or supply goods that are defective, you are entitled to a repair, replacement or refund, and we will arrange return carriage at our cost.

How refunds are paid

Approved refunds are returned via the original payment method through Payfast. Where a cancellation falls under ECTA, the refund is made within 30 days of cancellation. In practice we process approved claims considerably faster than that.

Shipping costs

Where a claim is our fault — transit damage, wrong species, misdescription — we cover carriage both ways. Where a return is agreed outside those circumstances, outbound shipping is not refundable and return carriage is for the buyer’s account.

Cancelling before dispatch

If your order has not yet been packed, contact us and we will cancel and refund it in full, no questions asked. Once a plant has been wrapped and handed to a courier we cannot recall it.

CITES and cross-border orders

Some species we stock carry international trade restrictions — Ariocarpus is listed on CITES Appendix I, and all Cactaceae are listed at least on Appendix II. Permits and paperwork for any cross-border shipment are the buyer’s responsibility, and we cannot refund an order seized or refused at a border for want of documentation. If you intend to export, resolve the permits before you order.

Contact

Sacred Cactus, Rivonia, Sandton, Johannesburg. Reach us through the contact page with your order number and, for a condition claim, your photographs.