Returns & Exchanges Policy
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Sometimes a doormat is too wide for the door, a flag’s colour looks different against your siding, or the birthday sign arrives the week after the party. This page explains how returns and exchanges work at Gift Meadow: how long you have, what you can send back, how to start, who pays the postage (we do) and what happens once your parcel reaches us. The money side — how much comes back and when — has its own page, the Refund Policy.
Returns in brief
- Time to return: 60 days from the day your order is delivered.
- What can come back: every product we sell, personalised pieces included.
- Return postage: free — we send you a return label, even if you simply changed your mind.
- Exchanges: for another size or colour of the same design, or swapped for something else.
- Refund timing: sent within 7 days of your return reaching us.
- Store credit: available instead of a refund, and it never expires.
- How to start: email [email protected]; we reply within 24 hours on business days.
1. Sixty days, counted from delivery
You have 60 days from the delivery date to tell us you would like to return or exchange something. The clock starts when the parcel reaches the address on the order, not when you placed it, so a flag ordered in March for a May birthday still has its full 60 days after it arrives. You only need to contact us within the 60 days to start the return; we then send the label and the instructions.
If you received a Gift Meadow piece as a present, you can start the return yourself. Tell us the name on the parcel and roughly when it arrived, and we will find the order. We can offer store credit in your name, or the refund can go back to the person who paid — we will ask which they prefer.
2. What you can send back
Everything in the shop can be returned within 60 days: garden flags, house flags, doormats, yard signs, the flag stand, mailbox covers, pillows, the hanging porch sign, aprons, coasters and the flag-and-mat gift set. That includes personalised items — a family-name flag, a monogram mat, a grandkids’ names flag, a house-number sign and a wedding-date doormat.
What we ask depends on why it is coming back:
- You changed your mind, or the size or colour is wrong for your space: please send it back unused — a doormat that has not been walked on, a flag that has not been hung outside — with any parts that came with it (for example both pieces of a set).
- It arrived damaged, faulty or not as shown: it can come back in any condition. You had to unpack it to see the problem, and that is fine. Often you will not need to send it back at all — see section 6.
- We printed the wrong words or sent the wrong item: same as above, in any condition, and we put it right at our cost.
A note on personalised pieces: because a flag with your family name cannot be sold to anyone else, returned personalised items are not resold. We still accept them within the 60 days, because we would rather you are happy with what is on your porch.
3. How to start a return or exchange
- Email [email protected] (or use Submit a Ticket and pick “Return or exchange”). Include your order number, which item or items are coming back, and whether you would like an exchange, store credit or a refund.
- If the item is damaged or wrong, attach two or three clear photos: the whole item, a close-up of the problem and the shipping label.
- Within 24 hours on business days we reply with your return approval, the return address and a free return label.
- Pack the item — a flag can be folded, a mat rolled with the printed side out, a sign kept flat between two pieces of cardboard — attach the label and drop it off with the carrier named on the label.
- Keep the drop-off receipt until we confirm the return has arrived.
Please do not post anything back before we have replied: a parcel without a return label or order number takes much longer to match to your order.
4. Who pays the return postage
We do. Every approved return gets a free return label from us, whatever the reason — a damaged sign, a doormat that turned out too big, or a flag you simply decided you did not want. There are no restocking fees and nothing is deducted for the label. If for some reason we cannot provide a label for your location, we will agree another way with you before you send anything, so that you are not out of pocket.
5. Exchanges
Exchanging is the easiest way to fix a size or colour problem. Common examples from our customers:
- A 36 × 24 in doormat that is too wide for an apartment door, swapped for the 24 × 16 in size.
- A Garden 12 × 18 in flag that looked small on a big porch post, swapped for the House 28 × 40 in size.
- A Navy striped mat that disappeared against a dark door, swapped for Buttercup.
Tell us what you would like instead when you start the return. If the new item costs more, we send you a payment request for the difference only after you agree; if it costs less, we refund the difference. For a personalised piece, tell us the exact wording you want on the new one — we print it as typed, so please check the spelling once more. If you would rather choose something completely different, we can treat it as a return plus a new order, or issue store credit that never expires.
6. Damaged, faulty or wrong items
Parcels travel a long way, and now and then something goes wrong. If something arrives damaged, has a print fault, or shows wording different from what you typed in the boxes on the product page, email us with photos. In most of these cases you will not need to send the item back: we send a free replacement or give you a full refund, your choice. If we do need the item back — for example to look at a print fault — the return label is free.
When the problem is wording, we compare the printed text with the text saved on your order. If the print matches what was typed (for example a name typed as “Kailey” when it should have been “Kaylee”), it counts as a change-of-mind return, which is still free within 60 days; we can also print a corrected piece as a new order. If the print does not match what was typed, it is our mistake and we fix it at our cost.
Photos you send us for a claim are used only to sort out your order and are deleted 30 days after delivery of the order or its replacement.
7. What happens when your return arrives
When your parcel reaches us we check it against your return request and email you to confirm. Then:
- Refund: sent to your original payment method within 7 days of the return reaching us. The Refund Policy explains amounts and timing in detail.
- Exchange: the new item goes into preparation (1–3 business days) and ships free, with the usual 7–14 business days in transit.
- Store credit: added to your account or sent as a code, with no expiry date.
8. Orders that have not shipped yet
If your order has not left us, there is nothing to return. Within 24 hours of ordering you can cancel it or change the size, colour, address or personalisation free of charge. See Cancel or Change an Order.
9. Returns from Canada, Australia and New Zealand
The same 60 days and the same free return label apply to all four countries we ship to. International return parcels can take a little longer to reach us, so the 7-day refund timing starts when the parcel arrives, not when you drop it off. Keep your drop-off receipt; if the parcel seems stuck, send us the receipt and we will follow it up.
10. A few real-life examples
The mat that was too wide
Maria ordered the Daisy Row Welcome doormat in 36 × 24 in for her apartment. It covered the neighbour’s threshold too. She emailed us on day 12, received a free label the next morning, and chose the 24 × 16 in size as an exchange. The difference in price was refunded within 7 days of her parcel reaching us.
The gift that was a duplicate
A newly married couple received two wedding-date doormats from two friends. One friend asked us for a return 40 days after delivery; we sent a free label, and she chose store credit for a future gift.
The year that was wrong
A buyer typed “Est. 2016” instead of “Est. 2006” on a family-name flag and noticed only when it arrived. The print matched what was typed, so this was a change-of-mind return: free label, refund within 7 days of arrival, and she placed a new order with the right year.
11. Packing a return, product by product
The original packaging is welcome but not required. What matters is that the item reaches us in the same shape it left you, so we can see clearly whether there is a problem to fix.
| Product | How to pack it |
|---|---|
| Garden or house flag | Fold it loosely along its original folds and place it in a padded envelope or a small box. |
| Doormat | Roll it with the printed side facing out and tape the roll; a bag or box over the roll keeps the label dry. |
| Yard sign or hanging porch sign | Keep it flat between two pieces of cardboard, and pack any stake separately so it cannot scratch the face. |
| Flag stand | Wrap the pointed end so it cannot poke through the box. |
| Pillow, apron, coasters, mailbox cover | Any sturdy envelope or small box works; keep the coasters together as a set of four. |
| Flag & doormat gift set | Return both pieces together if you are returning the set; if only one piece is faulty, see section 6. |
12. Partial returns and sets
You do not have to return a whole order. If you bought a family-name flag, a stand and a doormat and only the doormat is the wrong size, return just the doormat. The gift set is priced as a pair, so if you return one piece of a set for a change-of-mind reason, we refund the difference between the set price and the single price of the piece you keep, or we can simply take the whole set back. If one piece of a set arrived damaged, we replace that piece alone.
13. Help with a return
Email [email protected] with your order number and we will reply within 24 hours on business days. For quick answers, try the FAQs; for delivery questions, read Shipping & Delivery; and to choose a better size the second time round, see the Size Guide.
Gift Meadow · 32 Azalea Court, Trenton, NJ 08648, US.