Returns & Cancellations

Fragrance is the one thing you really can't judge from a screen. That's the whole reason this shop exists — so a wrong guess costs you a coffee instead of a bottle.

But guesses still go wrong sometimes, and when they do we'd rather you told us than quietly stopped buying. Here's exactly where you stand, by what you bought.

The short version

 

1. Brand originals

These are the sealed things: house sample vials, boxed miniatures, and full bottles with the dabber still in the box. We didn't open them and neither did anyone else.

You have seven days from the day it arrives to change your mind, for any reason or none. You don't have to explain yourself and there's no penalty for it.

Two conditions, and they're the obvious ones:

• It has to be unopened and unused, with cellophane and seals intact
• You cover the cost of sending it back to us

Once it's back with us and we've checked it, we refund the full purchase price to the card or account you paid from, including what you paid for the original delivery.

If you've broken the seal, this section stops applying and section 5 takes over.

2. Decants

Every decant is poured after you order it. Nothing sits pre-filled on a shelf here — decanting starts a clock on a fragrance, and we're not starting it until we know it's going to you. It's the reason a Try smells the way the bottle does.

The trade-off is that once your 5ml is poured, it's yours. We can't put it back in the bottle and we won't sell it to somebody else.

Either way, if a decant arrives leaking, short-filled, or it isn't what you ordered, section 5 applies and none of the above matters. 

To start a return, you can contact us at info@gildedsenses.co.za. 

If your return is accepted, we’ll send you a return shipping label, as well as instructions on how and where to send your package. 

3. Occasion Gift Boxes

A box is a bundle, so it follows whatever's inside it.

• Unopened box, seven days from delivery — full refund, on the same terms as section 1. The box has to come back complete, with nothing inside it opened
• Box opened, contents untouched — send back what's sealed and we'll refund those items. The box and packaging themselves aren't refundable once opened
• Something's been used — that item follows section 2; the rest follows section 1

If the box was a gift and you're the person who received it, talk to us directly rather than going back to whoever sent it. We'll sort it out with you and we won't tell them unless you want us to.

4. Split-a-Bottle and Source-for-me

Two things that work differently, because you're not buying stock off a shelf — you're asking us to go and get something.

Split-a-Bottle

When you take a share, you're reserving a portion of a bottle we haven't bought yet. Your money sits with us until the split fills.

• Cancel any time before we buy the bottle and you get every cent back. No fee, no admin charge, no partial anything
• Once the bottle is bought, your share is being poured for you and section 2 applies
• If the split doesn't fill within the window on the page, we refund everyone in full, automatically. You don't have to chase us
• If the split fills but we can't get the bottle — it happens; stock moves — we refund everyone in full and tell you why

We'll always tell you which of these is happening. A silent split that just goes quiet is the exact thing we're trying not to be.

Source-for-me

You ask us to find something specific. We quote you. You decide.

Once payment is made:

Before we place the order with our supplier, cancel for any reason and get a full refund

After we've placed it, we've committed our own money to a bottle bought for you. If you cancel at that point we'll refund you less what it actually costs us — and we'll show you the number, not assert it

If we can't source it, full refund. Always. Sourcing is our risk, not yours

Customs, duty and clearing are our problem too. Anything we quote you is the landed price

5. If something's wrong

Different thing entirely, and a much simpler answer.

If your order arrives damaged, leaking, short-filled, faulty, or it's simply not what you ordered — tell us within seven days of it arriving and we'll make it right. Email us with your order number and a photo if there's something to photograph.

You choose what happens next: we replace it, we fix it, or we refund you. That's your call, not ours. We cover the return cost, and there's no handling fee, no restocking fee, and no deduction of any kind.

This applies to everything on the site, decants included, whether it's been opened or not.

6. How to start a return

• Email info@gildedsenses.co.za with your order number and what's happened
• Wait for us to confirm before you send anything back — parcels that arrive unannounced are hard to match to an order and we may not be able to accept them
• We'll send you the return address and tell you which courier to use
• Once it's back and checked, your refund goes to the card or account you paid from

Refund timing: we process refunds within five business days of the goods reaching us, and always within 30 days of you cancelling. After that it's between your bank and Payfast, which usually adds another few days. If it's been more than ten business days since we told you the refund was processed and you still haven't seen it, email us and we'll chase it.

7. A few things we can't do

Being straight about these up front:

• We can't take back anything you've forwarded on internationally. Fragrance is a flammable liquid and shipping it abroad is regulated. If you re-ship a decant out of South Africa, that's on you, and we can't accept it back
• We can't refund a gift card, but we can transfer the balance to someone else
• We can't accept returns of anything that's been decanted, diluted, mixed or repackaged after it left us

8. Who we are

 

SASSCAPADES (Pty) Ltd, trading as Gilded Senses Registration number 2021/429648/07 

 info@gildedsenses.co.za Not registered for VAT. Prices shown are the price you pay.

If something's gone wrong and we haven't fixed it to your satisfaction, email us first — we'd rather hear it. If that doesn't work, you can take it to the National Consumer Commission.

Last updated: 23 August 2026