Payment Policy

Short answer: Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover cards, plus PayPal.

Credit and debit cards are both taken on all four networks. PayPal may be funded from a PayPal balance or from a card held inside the PayPal account.

We do not accept cash on delivery, bank transfer, cheque, cryptocurrency or payment on account. Each of those either cannot be reconciled automatically or leaves the order unsecured.

If you would prefer to pay by a method not listed here, write to support@elowenonline.shop before ordering and we will give you a definite answer rather than leaving the attempt to fail at the payment step.

All accepted methods are processed through the same provider, so the security position described further down applies equally to each of them.

Short answer: any card issued on those four networks, or PayPal.

Card details are entered on the processor's hosted page and pass directly to it. PayPal works differently: you are taken to PayPal's own site, authorise the payment there using your balance or a linked card, and return to us with a confirmation.

We never receive your PayPal password or the number of any card linked to your PayPal account, and we never see the card number you type at checkout.

Card payments may be subject to 3-D Secure verification, which is why your bank may ask you to approve a payment inside its own app before the order is accepted.

The site does not offer saved cards. Each order is paid for individually, and no card is retained between orders.

Short answer: authorised when you order, captured in full when the order is dispatched.

A pending authorisation may appear on your statement straight away. That is a hold rather than a completed charge, and it is released if the order is cancelled before dispatch.

The amount confirmed at checkout is the amount charged. Sales tax is calculated from the delivery address and is already included in the figure shown before you confirm.

We add no handling fee, no card surcharge and no currency conversion charge. Any fee applied by your own bank for an international transaction is set by the bank rather than by us.

Where an order is altered before dispatch, the change in value is settled in whichever direction it falls before the parcel goes out.

Short answer: yes. Payments are processed by Stripe, certified to PCI-DSS Level 1, and card data never reaches our systems.

All traffic to the site is encrypted in transit, and the payment step itself is served by the processor over its own secure connection.

A full card number, a security code and a PayPal password are never held by us. What our staff can look up is the card brand and the final four digits, sufficient to tie a payment to an order and no more.

No member of staff will ever ask for a full card number by email. Any message that appears to do so should be treated as fraudulent and reported to support@elowenonline.shop.

If you believe a card has been used without authorisation, contact your bank immediately as well as us, so the card can be stopped while the transaction is reviewed.

Short answer: usually because the bank blocked it, the billing address did not match, or the card limit was reached.

Nothing is charged when a payment is declined, and you can retry straight away with another card or with PayPal.

A pending authorisation created by a failed attempt is released by your bank, normally within a few working days. We cannot speed that up, because the hold sits with the issuer rather than with us.

If the decline makes no sense, send the order reference to support@elowenonline.shop and we will check what the processor reported rather than leaving you to guess.

Where repeated declines occur on the same order, we will contact you rather than allowing the order to sit unresolved.

Short answer: back to the method you paid with, within seven calendar days of the returned item passing inspection.

A card payment is refunded to the same card and a PayPal payment to the same PayPal account. We cannot refund to a different card, a different account or in cash, because the reversal must follow the original transaction.

Your bank then takes its own time to display the credit, commonly three to five working days, and that period sits outside ours.

Where the original card has since been closed, write to support@elowenonline.shop once your bank confirms the closure and we will arrange an alternative.

If a refund was released but has not appeared after ten working days, write in and we will supply the processor's reference number so your bank can trace it.

Short answer: no. We never hold a full card number, a security code or a PayPal password.

Card details are captured on the processor's hosted page and stay there. What returns to us is the result of the transaction, the card brand and the last four digits.

That is enough to match a payment to an order and to answer a query about which card was used, and nothing more.

Because we hold no card data, a breach of our own systems could not expose a card number. The compliance obligation for storing and transmitting card data sits with the processor rather than with us.

If you ask us which card paid for an order, we can tell you the brand and the last four digits, but we cannot retrieve the full number.

Short answer: yes. Write to support@elowenonline.shop with the order reference and we will answer within one working day, Monday to Friday.

Include the date and the amount if you have them to hand, and describe what looks wrong. A short email is usually resolved faster than a formal chargeback.

Where a charge is not recognised at all, contact your bank as well as us, so the card can be monitored while the transaction is investigated.

If a dispute is already open with your bank, tell us the case reference so both enquiries can be answered from the same set of facts.

We confirm the outcome in writing rather than leaving you to interpret a bank statement on your own.