Talk to us before you send anything. Message us here, or email [email protected], with your order number and what is coming back, and one of our team will confirm the return and give you the right address. There is no printable label on the website, and no single return address — we ship from several regional warehouses and returns go to different ones — so a parcel posted without checking can arrive at the wrong warehouse and take much longer to be processed.
Having the return confirmed first is what keeps it straightforward for both of us.
Pack it firmly
Electronics do not travel well loose. A few rules of thumb:
Use a rigid outer box, not a padded envelope or a poly mailer. A jiffy bag will not protect a circuit board, a screen or a servo.
Put the original box inside a bigger one if you still have it. The product box is designed to protect the product, not to survive a courier network on its own, and printing a label straight onto it rarely ends well.
Leave a few centimetres of padding on every side. Bubble wrap, foam, or crumpled paper all work. The item should not be able to touch the outer wall of the box.
Fill the empty space. Something that rattles when you shake the box will rattle for the whole journey. Give it a gentle shake before you seal it — if you can hear movement, add more filling.
Wrap loose parts separately so they cannot knock against the main item, and keep small components in a bag rather than loose in the box.
Take the batteries out unless we have asked you to leave them in. Loose cells can short against metal in transit, and some carriers will not accept them.
Tape all the seams with proper packing tape, and put a note inside with your order number in case the label comes off.
Remove or cover old labels and barcodes if you are reusing a box. Couriers scan whatever they see first.
Send it tracked, and send us the tracking number. Tracking protects you if the parcel goes missing on the way back, and it lets us follow its progress. Your refund does not wait for the parcel to reach us — the timing is in When will my refund be issued?
Who pays the postage. If the return is down to us — faulty, damaged on arrival, or not what you ordered — we cover it. If you have simply changed your mind, the return postage is yours. The full rules are in What is CircuitMess’ refund policy?