Refund policy

1. Overview

All orders placed on the Cortex USA, Inc. Exclusive Wholesale Marketplace at www.cortexwholesale.com are final sale. We do not accept returns or issue refunds except in the specific situations described in this policy.

This policy applies to every approved wholesale account and every brand sold on the Marketplace, including Cortex Beauty, Cortex Professional, Bellezza, Hair Rage, and La Sirena. It is part of the Marketplace Terms & Conditions. The 30-day return policy on cortexbeauty.com and our other consumer sites does not apply to wholesale orders.

You are buying as a business. Please order carefully, check your cart before you pay, and inspect every shipment when it arrives.

2. What we will replace or credit

We will fix the problem, at no cost to you, in these four situations only:

Situation	What counts	Report within
Shipping damage	Cartons or products damaged in transit	5 business days of delivery
Shortage	Fewer units than the packing slip shows	5 business days of delivery
Wrong item	A SKU, color, or size you did not order	5 business days of delivery
Manufacturer defect	A product that does not work or has a defect in materials or workmanship when it comes out of the box	30 days of delivery

A claim must be filed within the time shown and must follow the steps in Section 4. Late claims may be denied.

We will resolve an approved claim with a replacement, an account credit, or a refund as described in Section 5.

3. What we will not take back

We do not accept returns, exchanges, or refund requests for:

• Overstock, slow sellers, or product you no longer want
• Ordering mistakes on your end (wrong SKU, wrong quantity, wrong ship-to address)
• Product that has been opened, used, tested, or displayed
• Product with damaged, missing, or altered packaging, inserts, or serial numbers
• Product that was damaged after delivery, including in your stockroom or on your sales floor
• Products marked closeout, clearance, discontinued, or final sale
• Products bought more than 30 days ago, except as covered in Section 6
• Product that was sold through a channel we did not approve (see the resale rules in the Terms & Conditions)
• Damage caused by misuse, accident, improper voltage, or repairs by anyone other than Cortex

If you send product back to us without a return authorization number, we may refuse the delivery or dispose of the product. No credit will be issued, and return shipping will not be reimbursed.

4. How to file a claim

1. Inspect on arrival. Count cartons against the packing slip and look for damage before you sign for the delivery. Note any damage or shortage on the carrier's delivery receipt. A clean signature makes a shipping damage claim much harder to approve.
2. Email us. Send your claim to Helpdesk@cortexbeauty.com with the subject line "Wholesale Claim - Order #[your order number]". Include:
   • Your business name and account email
   • The order number and the SKUs involved
   • The number of units affected
   • A short description of the problem
   • Clear photos of the damage or defect, the product packaging, the outer carton, and the shipping label
   • For a defect, a short video showing the problem if the product is electrical
3. Wait for a return authorization (RA) number. We review claims within 5 business days and reply with an approval, a request for more information, or a denial with the reason. Do not ship anything back until you have an RA number. We may not ask for the product back at all.
4. Ship only what we ask for. If we need the product back, we will send a prepaid shipping label and instructions. Pack the product in its original packaging and write the RA number on the outside of the box. Returns without an RA number on the box may be refused.

Keep damaged product and packaging until the claim is closed. Carriers sometimes ask to inspect it.

5. How we resolve an approved claim

We choose the remedy. In most cases we will:

• Replace the product. We ship the same SKU at no charge. If the SKU is out of stock, we may substitute a comparable product or issue a credit instead.
• Issue an account credit. The credit is applied to your wholesale account and used on your next order. Credits do not expire while your account is open and are not transferable.
• Refund to your bank account. If a replacement or credit does not make sense (for example, the product is discontinued or your account is closing), we refund the wholesale price you paid for the affected units by ACH to the same bank account you paid from. Refunds take 5 to 10 business days to appear after we process them.

Refunds and credits cover the wholesale price of the affected units only. We do not refund shipping charges unless the entire order was damaged, lost, or sent in error, and we do not reimburse your lost sales, labor, or your customer's refund.

Replacement products ship at our cost and are covered for the remainder of the original product's warranty.

6. Products your customers return to you

The 30-day defect window in Section 2 covers product that is defective when you receive it. Once you have sold a product to your customer, the manufacturer's warranty is between Cortex and that customer, not between Cortex and you.

If a customer brings a product back to you as defective:

• Point them to the warranty page for that brand (for Cortex Beauty, cortexbeauty.com/pages/warranty). They register the product, file the warranty claim with us directly, and we handle the replacement with them.
• Do not refund or replace the product for the customer and then send it back to us for credit. We do not accept returns of opened or used product from wholesale accounts.
• If you want to take care of the customer yourself, that is your choice and your cost. We will still honor the customer's warranty claim if they file one with us.

If you see a pattern of the same defect across several units of one SKU, email us. We want to know, and we may offer a credit or replacement on your remaining stock of that SKU at our discretion.

7. No chargebacks or payment reversals

Chargebacks, ACH disputes, and payment reversals are not allowed on Marketplace orders. This policy is the only way to resolve a problem with an order.

By paying through the Marketplace, you agree that you will not:

• Ask your bank to reverse, dispute, or return an ACH payment you authorized
• Dispute a payment as unauthorized when it was placed under your account
• Stop payment on an ACH transfer after an order has been accepted
• Use a bank dispute as a way to get a refund, a discount, or faster service on a claim

If you believe you were charged in error, were charged the wrong amount, or did not receive what you paid for, email us first. We will investigate and correct genuine errors through this policy. Most issues are resolved within 5 business days.

If you file a chargeback, ACH dispute, or reversal anyway:

• We will treat it as a breach of the Terms & Conditions
• Your account will be suspended right away and may be closed permanently
• Any open orders will be cancelled and any account credit will be forfeited
• You will owe us the full disputed amount, plus any bank or processor fees we are charged, plus a $50 administrative fee per disputed transaction
• We may refer the balance to collections and recover our reasonable attorney's fees and collection costs
• We may report the account to our other brands and sales channels so that future wholesale requests are declined

A reversed payment does not cancel your obligation to pay for product you received.

8. Cancellations and restocking fees

Before the order ships. Email us as soon as possible with your order number. If we have not started picking the order, we will cancel it and refund your ACH payment in full. Refunds take 5 to 10 business days to reach your bank.

After picking has started. If the order has already been picked or packed, we may charge a restocking fee of 15% of the order value before cancelling and refunding the rest.

After the order ships. Orders cannot be cancelled once they leave our warehouse. If you refuse the delivery, the order is still yours. We will not refund it, and you will be responsible for any return freight charged to us.

Orders we cancel. If we cancel an order or part of one (for example, out of stock, a pricing error, or a resale concern), we refund the amount you paid for the cancelled items in full. No restocking fee applies.

9. Contact

File claims, cancellation requests, and payment questions at:

Email: Helpdesk@cortexbeauty.com

Mail: Cortex USA, Inc. Attn: Wholesale Accounts 5820 NW 163rd Street Miami Lakes, FL 33014 United States

Wholesale support hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time, excluding holidays.

We may update this policy at any time by posting a new version on the Marketplace and changing the date at the top. Orders placed after the update are subject to the new version.