Returns, Refunds, Shipping & Live Arrival Policy

Effective August 2026

MonsteraEtc sells living plants, including rare and collector specimens. Considerable care goes into growing, selecting, photographing, preparing, and packing each plant for shipment. Because plants are living, perishable goods whose condition can change rapidly after delivery, all plant sales are final except as expressly provided in this policy.

Please read this policy before purchasing. By placing an order, the purchaser acknowledges the inherent risks associated with shipping living plants and agrees to the terms below, subject to any rights that cannot legally be waived.

The Plant You Purchase

Whenever a listing identifies a plant as the exact plant pictured, the photographs form an important part of the description of the plant being purchased. Buyers should review all listing photographs and the complete description before ordering.

Natural variation, minor cosmetic imperfections, normal leaf aging, and characteristics clearly visible in the listing photographs are not defects.

If a listing uses representative photographs rather than photographs of the exact plant, this will be indicated or reasonably apparent from the listing, and the plant received may naturally vary in size, coloration, variegation, leaf number, growth pattern, or other individual characteristics.

Questions about a plant's condition, size, identification, coloration, variegation, or other characteristics should be asked before purchase.

All Plant Sales Are Final

Due to their living and perishable nature, plants may not be returned or exchanged simply because a buyer changes their mind, no longer wants the plant, dislikes its appearance, experiences buyer's remorse, finds the plant elsewhere at a different price, or determines after purchase that their growing conditions are unsuitable.

Routine returns and exchanges are not accepted.

Nothing in this policy limits remedies required by applicable law when MonsteraEtc has made a genuine fulfillment error or materially misrepresented an item.

Live Arrival Guarantee — Eligible Expedited Shipping Only

A limited Live Arrival Guarantee is available only when the purchaser selects an eligible one- or two-business-day shipping service offered at checkout.

Eligible services generally include:

• UPS Next Day Air;

• UPS Next Day Air Saver; and

• UPS 2nd Day Air.

A shipping service is eligible based upon the service selected at checkout, not merely the date on which a carrier ultimately delivers the package.

USPS Priority Mail, UPS 3 Day Select, Ground services, and other shipping methods expected to require more than two business days are not covered by the MonsteraEtc Live Arrival Guarantee. Buyers choosing these services accept the additional transit risk associated with shipping living plants over a longer period.

The Live Arrival Guarantee concerns the material health and viability of the plant at the time of delivery. It is not a guarantee that a plant will arrive cosmetically unchanged from its pre-shipment appearance.

What the Live Arrival Guarantee Does Not Cover

Normal effects of packing, transportation, and acclimation are not considered loss of viability. These may include, without limitation:

• temporary wilting or drooping;

• minor leaf tears, creases, bends, or bruising;

• loss or yellowing of an older leaf;

• minor cosmetic discoloration;

• displaced potting media;

• aerial-root damage;

• temporary changes in leaf orientation;

• minor mechanical damage that does not materially threaten the plant's survival; or

• ordinary acclimation stress following shipment.

Plants are living organisms. A healthy plant can look temporarily stressed after spending one or more days inside a shipping box.

The Live Arrival Guarantee also does not cover loss or damage resulting from circumstances outside MonsteraEtc's reasonable control, including:

• carrier delay, mishandling, loss, misrouting, or sorting errors;

• weather or temperature conditions in transit or at the destination;

• incorrect or incomplete addresses supplied by the purchaser;

• address changes or package forwarding;

• delivery holds, vacation holds, intercepts, or customer-requested carrier modifications;

• refusal or inability to accept delivery;

• failure to monitor tracking;

• failure to retrieve the package promptly following delivery;

• packages left outdoors, in mailboxes, parcel lockers, vehicles, mailrooms, reception areas, or other uncontrolled environments after delivery;

• theft or disappearance after carrier-confirmed delivery; or

• acts or events outside MonsteraEtc's reasonable control.

Selection of an expedited service reduces transit time but does not make MonsteraEtc the insurer of the carrier's performance.

Weather and Temperature

The purchaser is responsible for reviewing weather conditions at the destination before ordering and before shipment.

When heat packs, cold protection, insulation, or other weather-protection options are offered, purchasers are responsible for selecting protection appropriate for their destination.

MonsteraEtc may, at its discretion, delay shipment when foreseeable weather conditions create an unreasonable risk to a plant. A shipping delay initiated by MonsteraEtc for plant safety does not constitute failure to fulfill the order.

No packaging method can guarantee the survival of a tropical plant exposed to extreme temperatures.

Delivery Is Time-Sensitive

Customers are responsible for monitoring tracking and arranging for immediate retrieval of live-plant shipments.

For purposes of this policy, delivery occurs when the carrier records the package as delivered at the address provided with the order, including delivery to a parcel locker, mailroom, reception desk, front desk, package room, or other location designated for deliveries at that address.

Once a package has been carrier-confirmed as delivered, damage resulting from subsequent heat, cold, sunlight, theft, delayed retrieval, or other conditions at the delivery location is not covered.

Reporting a Live Arrival Problem

A claim involving the condition of a plant upon arrival must be reported to monsteraetc@gmail.com within two (2) hours of the carrier-recorded delivery time.

The initial report must include clear photographs sufficient to document:

• the exterior of the shipping box, including any visible damage;

• the shipping label;

• the internal packaging as received;

• the entire plant immediately after unpacking; and

• close-up photographs of the specific condition or damage forming the basis of the claim.

Additional photographs or information may be requested when reasonably necessary to evaluate the claim.

The plant, box, shipping materials, labels, and other relevant packaging must be retained until the claim has been resolved.

Failure to report an arrival-condition claim within the required period or failure to provide reasonably requested documentation may prevent MonsteraEtc from determining whether the claimed condition existed at delivery and may therefore make the claim ineligible for the Live Arrival Guarantee.

Do Not Alter a Plant Subject to a Claim

Once an arrival problem has been reported, the purchaser must preserve the plant substantially in the condition in which the claim was made until MonsteraEtc has had a reasonable opportunity to evaluate it.

Unless necessary to prevent immediate additional loss, please do not:

• repot or remove the plant from its shipping medium;

• cut leaves, stems, roots, nodes, or other plant material;

• propagate or divide the plant;

• apply pesticides, fungicides, fertilizers, rooting compounds, disinfectants, or other chemical treatments;

• discard the plant or any portion of it; or

• otherwise materially alter its condition

until MonsteraEtc has responded or provided instructions.

A plant that has been materially altered after delivery may no longer provide reliable evidence of its condition upon arrival.

Available Remedies

Eligibility for the Live Arrival Guarantee does not automatically entitle a purchaser to a particular remedy.

After reviewing the circumstances and documentation, MonsteraEtc will determine the appropriate remedy, if any, based upon the nature and extent of the problem.

Depending upon the circumstances, a remedy may include:

• care or rehabilitation instructions;

• partial store credit;

• full store credit for the affected plant;

• replacement, when an appropriate replacement is available;

• partial refund; or

• refund of the purchase price of the affected plant.

The appropriate remedy will reflect the actual nature and severity of the documented problem.

Shipping charges, expedited-shipping charges, optional weather-protection charges, and other services already provided are ordinarily nonrefundable unless required by law or the refund is necessary to correct a MonsteraEtc fulfillment error.

A cosmetic injury to one portion of an otherwise viable plant does not ordinarily justify reimbursement of the entire purchase price.

Incorrect Items and MonsteraEtc Fulfillment Errors

If MonsteraEtc sends a plant or item other than the one ordered, omits a purchased item, or makes another material fulfillment error, please contact monsteraetc@gmail.com promptly.

I will correct legitimate MonsteraEtc fulfillment errors.

Photographs or return of an incorrectly shipped item may be required. When MonsteraEtc requires return of an item because of its own fulfillment error, MonsteraEtc will provide or reimburse reasonable return shipping as appropriate.

Imported Plants

Imported plants sold through the MonsteraEtc website are held for a minimum of 30 days following importation and are rooted and established prior to shipment unless a listing expressly states otherwise.

Imported tropical plants may retain cosmetic evidence of importation or acclimation even after establishing healthy roots and new growth. Significant existing conditions will be disclosed through the listing description and/or photographs as reasonably appropriate.

Cosmetic damage disclosed or clearly depicted before purchase is not an arrival defect.

Scratch & Dent, Rehab Plants, Nodes and Reduced-Condition Plants

Plants identified as Scratch & Dent, Rehab, Ugly Duckling, Nubbins, Nodes, wet sticks, cuttings, unrooted material, or otherwise sold in a reduced or developmental condition are offered with the understanding that they involve greater horticultural risk.

Such material may have cosmetic damage, missing or damaged foliage, previous import stress, previous pest damage, limited or developing roots, recent propagation, or other disclosed conditions.

Buyers purchasing these plants are expected to be comfortable with rehabilitation, rooting, propagation, and the additional care such material may require.

These plants are sold AS-IS with respect to the condition disclosed or depicted at the time of sale.

Unless expressly stated otherwise in the listing, MonsteraEtc does not guarantee that a reduced-condition plant, node, cutting, or propagation will:

• establish or retain roots;

• activate a growth point;

• produce a new shoot or leaf;

• retain existing foliage;

• successfully rehabilitate; or

• survive after delivery.

Refunds, replacements, or credits will not be provided because of a condition or risk that was disclosed, photographed, or inherent in the type of plant material purchased.

This provision does not excuse an actual MonsteraEtc fulfillment error.

Plant Care After Delivery

Responsibility for the plant's growing environment transfers to the purchaser following delivery.

The purchaser is responsible for providing appropriate temperature, humidity, light, water, substrate, nutrition, pest management, and acclimation appropriate to the plant.

MonsteraEtc cannot guarantee how a plant will respond to conditions in another grower's care and does not guarantee continued survival, rooting, growth, variegation, coloration, leaf retention, flowering, or other future development after delivery.

Advice provided by MonsteraEtc after delivery is offered as horticultural assistance and does not create or extend a guarantee.

Variegated Plants

Variegation is biological and may change as a plant grows.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, the appearance of variegation at the time of sale is not a guarantee that future leaves will maintain the same amount, pattern, color, or distribution of variegation.

Reversion, increased variegation, decreased variegation, sectoral changes, and other changes in subsequent growth may occur naturally and are not grounds for a refund.

Pest Policy

MonsteraEtc maintains and treats its collection with the goal of shipping healthy plants. Nevertheless, plants are biological material, and no grower can reasonably guarantee that a living plant is permanently or microscopically free of every insect, mite, egg, spore, or other organism.

Buyers should follow appropriate quarantine and inspection practices when introducing any new plant into an established collection.

A substantial active infestation evident immediately upon arrival should be documented and reported under the same arrival-claim procedure described above.

Pest issues first reported after the arrival-claim period cannot reliably establish the condition of the plant at delivery and are not covered by the Live Arrival Guarantee.

Shipping Insurance

When shipping insurance or third-party package protection is available, it is strongly recommended for rare, expensive, or irreplaceable plants.

Carrier or third-party insurance may provide protection for circumstances that are specifically excluded from the MonsteraEtc Live Arrival Guarantee, including certain losses or damage occurring while a shipment is in carrier custody.

Coverage is governed by the terms of the carrier or insurance provider, not by MonsteraEtc.

When reasonably possible, MonsteraEtc will provide documentation needed for a legitimate shipping claim. Assistance with a carrier or insurance claim does not constitute acceptance of liability by MonsteraEtc.

Authorized Returns

There is no automatic right to return a live plant merely because a refund, replacement, credit, or other remedy has been requested.

MonsteraEtc may require return of the original plant or item before issuing a refund, replacement, credit, or other financial remedy.

When a purchaser seeks a discretionary remedy and MonsteraEtc requires the merchandise returned, return shipping is ordinarily the purchaser's responsibility unless the return results from a MonsteraEtc fulfillment error or applicable law requires otherwise.

The item must be returned according to the instructions provided and substantially in the condition represented in the claim.

Failure or refusal to return an item when reasonably required as part of a claim may prevent MonsteraEtc from verifying the claim and may result in denial of a discretionary remedy.

Return authorization itself does not guarantee a refund or other remedy.

Unauthorized returns may be refused.

Order Cancellations

Orders may begin processing shortly after purchase.

Cancellation requests are not guaranteed and must be received before the order has been packed, a shipping label has been purchased, or the shipment has been transferred to the carrier.

Once an order has shipped, it cannot be canceled.

Decorative Items and Accessories

Decorative pots, cachepots, display containers, stakes, moss poles, backgrounds, props, and other accessories appearing in photographs are not included with a plant unless the listing expressly states that they are included.

Plants may be shipped bare-root, semi-bare-root, in sphagnum, or in another appropriate shipping medium when MonsteraEtc determines that doing so will reduce weight or protect the plant during transportation.

Fraudulent or Abusive Claims

MonsteraEtc reserves the right to maintain photographs, order records, packing information, shipment records, correspondence, and other documentation reasonably related to transactions and claims.

Claims will be evaluated using the available documentation, including the listing and pre-shipment photographs, customer-provided photographs, tracking information, carrier records, and communications concerning the order.

Providing false, materially altered, misleading, or inconsistent information in support of a claim may result in denial of any discretionary remedy and may be documented in responding to a payment dispute, carrier claim, insurer inquiry, or other lawful investigation.

Nothing in this provision restricts a purchaser from exercising legitimate rights provided by applicable law or their payment provider.

Agreement to These Terms

By purchasing from MonsteraEtc, the purchaser acknowledges that:

plants are living and perishable; shipping living plants involves unavoidable biological and transportation risks; the condition and photographs in the listing should be reviewed before purchase; longer shipping methods carry additional risk; and the limited MonsteraEtc Live Arrival Guarantee is available only under the conditions stated above.

These policies are intended to establish clear expectations for both MonsteraEtc and its customers while allowing legitimate problems to be addressed fairly.