Frequently asked questions
Quick answers, in writing, and a clear line to support for anything else.
What follows is the short-form scan: the questions readers send us most often, grouped by topic. For anything that needs a one-to-one reply, write to support.
About Salaaz
What we are, what we’re not
What is Salaaz?
An open marketplace for independent vendors who can disclose where their goods come from. Every vendor is vetted at three stages: signup, listing, and any variant change. Where a product’s supply-chain stage isn’t disclosed, the ethics score on the product page reflects that.
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How is Salaaz different from other ethical-commerce sites?
Most sites tell you a product is “sustainable” and stop there. Salaaz shows you what was verified, what isn’t, and where the score comes from. Search ranking can’t be bought. There are no urgency mechanics. The cart works as a thinking workspace. Nothing in it pushes you toward checkout.
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Is Salaaz independent?
Yes. Funded by its own revenue: no venture capital, no external investors. The About page explains why that’s a structural choice rather than an ideological one.
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Ethics & disclosure
How scoring and vetting actually work
How is the ethics score calculated?
A weighted total out of 5 across four pillars: materials, labor, supply chain, and environmental. Each pillar is filled by what the vendor disclosed and what Salaaz could verify: invoices, certifications, workshop photos, supplier lists. The Ethics page shows the full method and a working calculator.
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What happens if a vendor can’t disclose a stage?
The stage is marked “not yet disclosed” on the product page, and the score drops to match. We don’t hide gaps. That’s the platform’s point. If the vendor later supplies evidence, the score updates and the audit history shows the change.
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Can vendors pay to rank higher?
No. There is no paid placement on Salaaz. Search ranking is driven by an internal impact score (disclosure depth, platform history, dispute resolution) that vendors can’t buy and don’t see. This is one of the platform’s founding commitments.
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What’s the difference between the ethics score and the impact score?
Ethics score is public: the /5 number on every product page, backed by verified supply-chain disclosure. Impact score is internal: a vendor-level signal that shapes search ranking. The buying flow page explains why they’re kept apart.
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Orders & shipping
Placing, tracking, and receiving
How do I place an order?
Add items to the cart, check out, choose shipping and payment. The cart groups items by vendor: multi-vendor orders ship as separate parcels from each vendor’s own workshop or warehouse. Salaaz has no central fulfilment centre.
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Can I pick my order up instead of having it shipped?
When a maker offers it, yes. The product page says so and shows the city; in the cart you switch that maker on to pickup and the shipping charge for those items disappears. You get the full address, the maker’s arrival notes, and a 6-digit pickup code once your order is marked ready. Each maker in a multi-vendor order is separate, so you can collect from one and have another posted.
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What if I do not collect a pickup order?
We send a reminder after 3 days and a final notice after 5, which names the exact date your order will be cancelled. If it is still uncollected after 7 days the order is cancelled and refunded in full. No maker on Salaaz deducts a handling fee today, and we do not pass the payment-processing fee on to you. Perishable items work differently: because they spoil, the window is much shorter and perishable items in a cancelled order are not refunded. Any non-perishable items in the same pickup are still refunded as usual. Anything perishable is marked as such before you buy it and again in your cart.
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Where do my items ship from?
Direct from the vendor. The product page shows the country of origin and the vendor’s storefront page shows the workshop or warehouse pin on the supply-chain map. Shipping time and cost are calculated from that real address.
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How can I track my order?
Once shipped, the tracking number lands in your account’s Orders tab. The activity log in the account dashboard surfaces order-status changes as they happen, no email-blast required.
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Returns & refunds
When something doesn’t work out
Can I cancel an order after placing it?
Yes, and you don’t need anyone’s approval. You can cancel any part of an order right up until the seller of that part sends it, and the refund is issued straight away. No waiting on the seller, no request to us.
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Can I cancel just one item instead of the whole order?
Yes. You can cancel a single item, some of the quantity of one item, everything from one seller, or the whole order. Your orders page offers each of these separately, so dropping one thing never costs you the rest. An order with several sellers carries on normally for the sellers you keep.
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When is it too late to cancel?
Once a seller has sent your items, they can no longer be cancelled and a return is the route instead. This is judged per seller: if one seller has posted your parcel and another has not, you can still cancel the second. If you cancel at the same moment something is being sent, we’ll tell you and point you at returns.
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What happens to the shipping charge if I cancel one item?
If the seller is still sending you something else, their parcel is still going out, so the shipping stays. When you cancel the last item from a seller nothing is left to post and that seller’s shipping is refunded with it.
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What’s the return window?
You have 30 days from delivery to start a return. If an order is never marked as delivered, the 30 days run from the day it shipped instead. An order that was canceled has nothing to return, because the payment for it has already come back to you. Custom-made and perishable items are excluded, and the listing says so before you buy. The full policy is on the Return policy page.
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What comes back to me when I return something?
If you changed your mind, or the size is wrong, we refund the price of the item and the tax you paid on it. The shipping you paid to have it sent to you is not refunded, and you cover the postage to send it back. If the item arrived damaged, or it is the wrong item, or it does not match how the listing described it, we refund the price, the tax, and the original shipping. The postage to send it back is not your cost. The Return policy sets every case out as a table, including a parcel damaged in transit.
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Who pays the postage to send an item back?
You pay the postage on a change-of-mind return, and we recommend a tracked service because an item lost on the way back without tracking is at your risk. When something was wrong with the order, the postage back is not your cost. Write to support before you send anything back in that case: there is no return label in your account yet, so we arrange it with you directly.
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My parcel arrived damaged. What happens now?
A parcel damaged on its way to you is treated the same as an item that left the workshop damaged, so you get the same full refund either way. Keep the item and the packaging until the case is closed, and send us a photograph of both. The packaging is usually what shows where the damage happened. Open the order in your account and start a return with the damaged reason, or write to support if you would rather talk it through first.
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Is there a restocking or handling fee?
No. We do not take a handling fee out of your refund, and no vendor on Salaaz charges one today. Vendors may be able to set one on change-of-mind returns in future. If that happens, the amount will be shown to you before you confirm the return, so it can never turn up as a surprise deduction afterwards.
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Can I cancel an order instead of returning it?
Canceling is a different thing from returning. Cancel before anything has shipped and everything comes back to you, including the shipping. Once the parcel has been bought from the carrier that shipping is no longer refundable, because it is the money that pays for the delivery.
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How do refunds work?
Refunds process through the original payment method, typically within 5–10 business days of the returned item arriving back at the vendor. Salaaz mediates disputes centrally so the conversation doesn’t happen behind closed doors.
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Who do I contact for a return?
Open a return from the order in your account, or write to support directly. We don’t route returns through private vendor channels: the record stays on the platform.
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Salaaz points
What they are, and what they are not
How do I earn points?
You earn 1 point for every dollar you spend on goods. Shipping and tax do not earn points. Points are added when your payment is taken, not when you place the order, and some makers run periods where you earn more.
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What is a point worth?
100 points are worth $1 when you spend them. Your balance and what it is currently worth are both shown on your points screen.
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Where can I spend them?
Points are not a discount at the checkout. Today they do two things: you can give them to a fund Salaaz is supporting, or spend them asking a maker to disclose more about how something was made. We would rather say plainly what they do than imply a discount that does not exist.
- Giving to a fund. Put your points behind a cause Salaaz is funding. The smallest gift is 500 points, which is $5.
- Asking a maker to share more. Spend 100 points to ask a maker to disclose against one of the four ethics pillars. The points go to the shared fund, never to the maker.
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Do points expire?
Points expire 24 months after you earn them. The oldest are always used first, and your points screen names what is about to expire before it goes, so a balance never quietly shrinks.
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What happens to my points if I return something?
If you are refunded, the points you earned on the refunded goods come back off your balance, in proportion to what was returned. Points earned on the part you kept stay yours.
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Account & privacy
Your data, your settings
Do I need an account to shop?
No, guest checkout is supported. An account adds lists, follow, the activity log, and your purchase history. Notifications are quiet by default; you opt in to what you want to hear from us about.
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What data does Salaaz collect?
The minimum needed to run the platform: identity for the account, addresses for shipping, anonymised browsing to improve search. We don’t sell data, we don’t run advertising auctions. The Privacy policy lists exactly what’s stored and for how long.
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Can I delete my account?
Yes, from Settings → Data & privacy. Deletion is permanent: lists, reviews, and follow record are removed. Order history is retained only as required by tax authorities.
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Selling on Salaaz
Vendor questions
How do I apply to sell on Salaaz?
Read the Vendor guidelines first, then start the vendor registration. Disclosure quality matters more than catalogue size: a single product with full supply-chain evidence beats fifty with vague claims.
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What does the three-stage vetting cover?
Stage 1 (signup): business registration, ownership, supplier list. Stage 2 (listing): per-product disclosure with evidence. Stage 3 (variant change): re-vet every new size, colour, or material. Same checks at every stage; nothing grandfathered in.
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How are fees and payouts structured?
Platform fee is a flat percentage of the sale, taken once the transaction settles: no listing fees, no featured-placement fees. Payouts run on a regular cycle to the vendor’s registered account. Specifics are in the vendor agreement signed at registration.
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