Returns, Refunds & Cancellation Policy

Apoteca.al
NIPT / NUIS: M61829018H
Returns contact: [email protected]
Support: [email protected]
Phone: +355 69 470 2775
Returns address: Njësia Bashkiake Nr. 10, Rruga e Bogdanëve, Vila 22, Nr. 2, Tiranë, Albania

Last updated: 6 July 2026

1. About this Policy

This Returns, Refunds & Cancellation Policy explains when and how you may cancel an order, withdraw from an online purchase, return products, request a refund, or report faulty, damaged, incorrect, expired or non-conforming products.

This Policy applies to purchases made from Apoteca.al through our website, online store, mobile applications, customer support channels, and other distance-selling channels operated by Apoteca.

This Policy forms part of our Terms & Conditions. It should be read together with our Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, Shipping & Delivery Policy, Loyalty Program Terms and Gift Card Terms.

Nothing in this Policy limits your mandatory rights under Albanian consumer-protection law.

2. Online purchases and the 14-day right of withdrawal

For eligible purchases made at a distance, including online purchases, you may have the statutory right to withdraw from the contract within 14 calendar days without giving a reason.

The withdrawal period starts from the day you, or a person authorized by you who is not the courier, receives the goods.

If your order is delivered in several separate shipments, the withdrawal period starts from the day you, or a person authorized by you, receives the last product, lot or part of the order.

This right applies only where the product qualifies for withdrawal under applicable law and this Policy. Some products are excluded for health, hygiene, safety, personalization, expiry or legal reasons.

3. How to exercise the right of withdrawal

To exercise your right of withdrawal, you must notify us before the 14-day period expires.

You can notify us by contacting:

Email: [email protected]
Phone: +355 69 470 2775

Your notice should include:

your full name;
order number;
contact details;
product or products you wish to return;
date of receipt;
clear statement that you wish to withdraw from the purchase.

You may use any clear statement showing your decision to withdraw. We may also provide an online return form or withdrawal form through the Platform.

You are responsible for proving that you sent the withdrawal notice within the required period.

After receiving your request, we may provide return instructions, a return reference, courier instructions, or confirmation of the return address. Please do not send products back without contacting us first.

4. Returning products after withdrawal

After notifying us of your withdrawal, you must return the products without undue delay and no later than 14 calendar days from the date you notified us of your decision to withdraw.

The deadline is met if you send the products before the 14-day return period expires.

Returned products must be properly packed and protected for transport. You are responsible for any loss, damage or reduction in value caused by poor packaging, unnecessary handling, use, opening, unsealing, testing, damage or incomplete return.

Unless we expressly agree otherwise, you are responsible for arranging the return and keeping proof of postage, courier receipt or tracking information.

5. Return shipping costs

For ordinary change-of-mind returns or withdrawals, you are responsible for the direct cost of returning the products to us, unless Apoteca expressly agrees otherwise in writing.

Apoteca covers reasonable return-shipping costs only where the product delivered to you was:

faulty;
damaged before delivery;
incorrect;
expired;
unsafe;
not in conformity with your order;
otherwise required by law to be returned at our cost.

If you return products without following our instructions, use an unnecessarily expensive delivery method, or return products that do not qualify for return, we may refuse to cover those costs to the extent permitted by law.

6. Condition of returned products

To qualify for a change-of-mind return under the right of withdrawal, products must be returned in a condition that allows us to verify and, where lawful and safe, resell them.

Returned products should be:

unused;
unopened;
unsealed only where opening is legally permitted and does not affect hygiene, safety or resale;
undamaged;
complete;
in original packaging;
with seals, labels, tags, accessories, manuals, leaflets, samples, free gifts and promotional items intact where applicable;
with batch number, expiry date and product identification still visible.

You may handle products only as much as would reasonably be necessary to check their nature, characteristics and functioning, similar to how you would inspect them in a physical shop.

If the product has lost value because of handling beyond what is necessary, we may reduce the refund to reflect the loss in value, to the extent permitted by law.

7. Products excluded from change-of-mind returns

Because Apoteca sells cosmetics, skincare, supplements, sports nutrition, personal-care products, hygiene-sensitive goods, sealed products, medical devices and wellness products, many products cannot be returned after opening, unsealing or use.

Unless the product is faulty, damaged, incorrect, expired, unsafe or not in conformity with the order, the following products are not returnable for change of mind once opened, unsealed, used, tested, damaged, incomplete or made unsuitable for resale:

cosmetics;
skincare products;
make-up;
haircare products;
personal-care products;
hygiene products;
food supplements;
vitamins and minerals;
sports nutrition products;
protein powders, drinks, bars or similar nutrition products;
sealed OTC medical devices;
products with protective seals, hygiene seals, safety seals or tamper-evident packaging;
products that come into contact with skin, hair, mouth, intimate areas or bodily fluids;
products that cannot safely or legally be resold after opening;
products close to expiry, where this was clearly disclosed before purchase;
personalized, custom, special-order or non-standard products;
digital gift-card codes or digital vouchers once issued or redeemed;
products bundled with free gifts, samples, discounted items or promotional benefits unless all required items are returned unused, unopened and complete;
any other products excluded under applicable law.

For health-protection and hygiene reasons, breaking a seal, opening packaging, testing, spraying, applying, tasting, mixing, consuming or otherwise using a product may make it non-returnable for change of mind.

This exclusion does not affect your mandatory rights if the product is faulty, damaged, incorrect, expired, unsafe or not in conformity with the order.

8. No returns for subjective preference after opening

A product is not considered faulty simply because, after opening or use, you do not like its smell, taste, texture, color, consistency, packaging, size, subjective effect or personal suitability.

Subjective preference after opening or use does not qualify for return or refund unless the product is faulty, damaged, incorrect, expired, unsafe, not as described or not in conformity with your order.

Examples that normally do not qualify after opening include:

“I do not like the smell”;
“I do not like the taste”;
“The texture is not what I expected”;
“It did not give me the result I wanted”;
“It does not suit my skin”;
“I changed my mind after trying it.”

This does not limit your rights where the product is defective, unsafe, incorrectly supplied or legally non-conforming.

9. Faulty, damaged, incorrect, expired or non-conforming products

If a product arrives faulty, damaged, incorrect, expired, unsafe or not in conformity with your order, contact us as soon as possible.

You can contact us at:

Email: [email protected]
Support: [email protected]
Phone: +355 69 470 2775

Please include:

order number;
description of the issue;
clear photos or video of the product, packaging, label, batch number, expiry date and delivery packaging where relevant;
whether the package appeared damaged or tampered with on delivery;
your preferred resolution, where applicable.

You should notify us as soon as possible after discovering the issue, preferably within 48 hours for visible delivery damage, missing items, wrong items or damaged packaging. This helps us investigate with the courier or supplier.

Failure to notify us within 48 hours does not automatically remove your mandatory consumer rights, but delay may make it harder to verify the issue, determine whether damage occurred before or after delivery, or claim against the courier or supplier.

Depending on the issue and applicable law, we may offer one or more of the following remedies:

replacement;
repair, where relevant and possible;
missing item delivery;
price reduction;
refund;
store credit, if you agree;
another remedy required by law.

We may require the product to be returned for inspection before confirming the remedy, unless this is not reasonable or not required by law.

Apoteca covers reasonable return-shipping costs where the product is confirmed or reasonably appears to be faulty, damaged before delivery, incorrect, expired, unsafe or not in conformity with the order.

10. Products damaged during delivery

If the delivery package appears visibly damaged, opened, wet, crushed, tampered with or otherwise suspicious, you should, where possible:

take photos before opening;
keep the packaging;
note the issue with the courier if possible;
contact us as soon as possible.

Do not throw away the delivery packaging until the issue is resolved. We may need it to investigate the damage with the courier.

If you accept a visibly damaged package without noting the issue or fail to keep evidence, this may affect our ability to verify the claim, without limiting rights that cannot be limited by law.

11. Refunds for valid withdrawals

For valid withdrawals, we will refund the amount required by law, including the price paid for the returned products and, where legally required, the standard delivery cost paid for the original delivery.

We are not required to refund additional delivery costs if you chose a delivery method more expensive than the standard delivery option offered by Apoteca.

We may withhold the refund until we have received the returned products or until you provide proof that you sent them back, whichever occurs first.

Refunds are normally made using the same payment method used for the original transaction, unless you expressly agree otherwise and no additional fee is charged to you as a result of the refund.

For cash-on-delivery orders, refunds may be made by bank transfer, store credit, gift card or another method agreed with you and permitted by law.

Refunds are calculated based on the amount actually paid for the returned product, taking into account discounts, gift cards, store credit, loyalty points, free gifts, bundles and promotional benefits.

12. Refund timing

Once the return is approved and we have received the returned products or proof of return where applicable, we will process the refund without undue delay and within the timeframe required by law.

Card refunds are processed through the payment provider. The time it takes for the amount to appear in your account may depend on your bank, card issuer or payment provider.

Store credit, gift-card balance or loyalty-point reversals may appear in your Apoteca account after the return is reviewed and processed.

13. Deductions, rejected returns and reduced refunds

We may reduce, refuse or delay a refund to the extent permitted by law where:

the product was opened, unsealed, used, tested or damaged after delivery;
the product is excluded from return for health, hygiene, safety or legal reasons;
the product is incomplete;
labels, seals, packaging, accessories, manuals, leaflets, free gifts or samples are missing;
the batch number, expiry date or product identification is missing or altered;
the product has lost value because of handling beyond what was necessary to inspect it;
the returned product is not the product supplied by Apoteca;
the product appears counterfeit, altered or tampered with;
the return request is fraudulent, abusive or inconsistent with this Policy;
the product was returned outside the required timeframe;
you returned products without following our return process and this caused delay, loss, damage or inability to verify the return.

If a return is rejected, we may offer to send the product back to you at your cost, where lawful and practical. If you do not respond within a reasonable period, we may handle the product as permitted by law.

14. Promotions, bundles, free gifts and samples

If a returned order included a promotion, bundle discount, free gift, sample, loyalty reward, store credit, campaign benefit or other promotional value, the refund may be adjusted to reflect the amount actually paid and the value of any benefit retained.

Where a promotion required the purchase of multiple items, you may need to return all required items to receive the full refund.

If you keep a free gift, sample, promotional item or bundled product that was conditional on the returned purchase, we may deduct its value from the refund to the extent permitted by law.

Any loyalty points, store credit, discount, campaign benefit, free gift, sample or promotional reward earned from a returned order may be cancelled, deducted, reversed or charged back where permitted by law.

15. Loyalty points, store credit and gift cards

If you paid using loyalty points, store credit, gift-card balance, discount code or promotional value, the refund may be made by reversing or reinstating the same benefit, unless required otherwise by law.

If loyalty points were earned from a returned order, those points may be cancelled or deducted.

If a refund would cause a negative loyalty, credit or promotional balance, we may set off the amount against future benefits, refunds, credits or account balances where permitted by law.

Gift-card purchases and digital gift-card codes may be non-refundable once issued, delivered, redeemed or partially used, except where required by law.

16. Order cancellation before dispatch

You may request cancellation of an order before it is dispatched.

To request cancellation, contact us as soon as possible at:

Email: [email protected]
Phone: +355 69 470 2775

We will try to stop the order where possible. However, cancellation before dispatch is not guaranteed if the order has already been packed, handed to the courier, processed for delivery, fiscalized, or otherwise moved too far in the fulfilment process.

If cancellation is accepted before dispatch, we will refund any payment taken, subject to applicable law and payment-processing timing.

If the order has already been dispatched, you may still have the right of withdrawal for eligible products, subject to this Policy.

17. Refused delivery, failed delivery and cash on delivery

If you refuse delivery, are unreachable, provide incorrect contact or address information, fail to collect the order, or repeatedly fail to complete cash-on-delivery orders, we may:

cancel the order;
charge or deduct reasonable delivery and return costs where permitted by law;
restrict future cash-on-delivery orders;
require prepayment for future orders;
suspend or close your account where there is abuse or repeated misuse.

This does not limit your mandatory consumer rights, but it protects Apoteca from fake orders, repeated refusals and misuse of cash-on-delivery.

18. In-store purchases

The 14-day distance-selling withdrawal right generally applies to eligible distance purchases, such as online purchases. It does not automatically apply to purchases made directly in our physical boutique.

For in-store purchases, returns or exchanges for change of mind may be offered at Apoteca’s discretion and subject to any conditions displayed in-store, on the receipt, or agreed at the time of purchase.

Faulty, damaged, unsafe, incorrect or non-conforming products remain subject to your mandatory consumer rights.

19. Account deletion and open orders

If you request account deletion while an order, return, refund, complaint, chargeback, product-safety issue or legal matter is in progress, we may complete the relevant process first.

The 30-day recovery window and deletion process are described in our Privacy Policy.

Legally required order, fiscal, accounting, product-safety, fraud-prevention and dispute records may be retained even after your personal account data is deleted or anonymized, as permitted or required by law.

20. Abuse of returns and refunds

We may refuse, limit, delay or investigate returns, refunds, promotions, store credit, loyalty benefits, gift cards, cash-on-delivery access or account access where we reasonably suspect:

return abuse;
refund abuse;
fake orders;
repeated cash-on-delivery refusal;
false damage claims;
altered or counterfeit products;
use of products before return;
missing items;
duplicate claims;
promotion abuse;
multiple-account abuse;
fraud or attempted fraud;
breach of our Terms & Conditions.

Where appropriate, we may report suspected fraud or abuse to payment providers, courier partners, authorities or legal advisers.

21. How to return a product

To request a return, contact us first:

Email: [email protected]
Support: [email protected]
Phone: +355 69 470 2775

Please include:

your full name;
order number;
contact details;
product you want to return;
reason for return;
photos or evidence where the product is damaged, incorrect, expired, unsafe or defective.

We will review your request and provide instructions where the return qualifies.

Products sent back without contacting us first, without proof of purchase, without following return instructions, or to the wrong address may be delayed, rejected, lost or returned at your cost.

22. Contact

For cancellations, returns and refunds, contact: