Refund Process

In some cases, payments need to be refunded when making a purchase on Bittylicious. If this is the case, the seller will inform you of this and the reason for it via the trade page. To do this we require details from the buyer as part of our anti money laundering obligations to ensure that funds are being returned to the correct place, as we cannot simply assume that any sort code and account number provided are the correct ones without proof. As such one of the following, or combinations, is required:

• A debit card photo - This needs to be a clear photo showing the name, sort code and account number of the account holder. The long number in the middle should be hidden with a piece of paper or something else physical, we cannot accept digitally altered photos. We need to be able to see the card is intact, so please don't cover the entire top half of the card.
• At least the top part of a recent bank statement showing the name, sort code and account number - We don't need to be able to see transaction history, but we cannot accept screenshots of online banking or statements. We are absolutely fine with uploaded PDF statements that are downloaded from online banking websites (just not "Print to PDF" statements).

These documents should be uploaded to the trade page itself. You will need to enter the account name, sort code and account number, after which you can upload documents directly to the page.

If this is the result of a third party payment, which are not allowed on Bittylicious, the bank card needs to be the one linked to the account that made the payment.

Please also ensure you quote the trade reference to enable us to find the trade quickly, and type the sort code and account number into the message as a check against typos.

Cards not showing the required details (e.g. NatWest, RBS)

Some debit cards, NatWest related ones mainly, do not show the account number on the card itself. In these cases, and if you cannot provide a bank statement, we need a photo of the debit card as above, and additionally one of:

• A pdf bank statement. NatWest allows you to download pdf bank statements via online banking. There's a guide to getting one of these at https://supportcentre.natwest.com/Searchable/913239072/How-do-I-download-a-PDF-statement.htm We cannot accept screenshots or photographs of the screen for this, it needs to be the original pdf document itself
• A photo of a blank cheque matching the sort code, name and account number.
• A bank payslip from your branch showing the same details.

If your card does show both the sort code and account number, we do not need any of the above. Please do not digitally alter the images either, we cannot accept them if they have been changed in some way.

Company Accounts

If the bank account used is a company one, then we need a document explicitly in the company name. If the bank card does not show the company name then we cannot accept it so would need either a full bank statement or blank cheque as above showing the company name and bank account details.

As before we cannot accept screenshots of online banking.

Bank of Ireland

Bank of Ireland cards do not show the account number on the card itself, it's a different and invalid 8 digit number. As such we would need a copy of a bank statement or one of the other documents listed above for a refund in this case.

Other options

Regardless of what is or is not available, we can never accept screenshots of online banking for any part of the process.

In some cases the broker is able to refund the funds directly from their bank account so this may be an option, however it is by no means a guarantee as only a handful of banks allow it. The broker will let you know if this is an option, and if not it would have to be one of the previous options.

How long will the refund take to arrive?

This very much depends on the seller and the time of day as well as how much of the above information you can include in the original email. Not including the sort code and account number will always delay things as we need to do a typo check with you first.

The refund process itself is a manual process on the part of the seller so they will physically need to be at their computers in order to perform it, so the process is unlikely to ever be instant once the email is sent. Similarly if it is late at night and the seller has gone to bed there will also be a delay. We aim to have refunds done within a 24 hour period at the worst, but this can be more if the seller has legitimately gone away. In all cases the coins are still held in escrow so even the seller does not have access to them until the refund is completed so it is always in their best interests to actually refund you.