Terms of Service

The Hat Ninja provides personal-shopping, package-receiving, temporary-storage, consolidation, packing, and international parcel-forwarding services from Japan.

Depending on your request, we either:

• Receive products you have purchased directly from a retailer or other seller; or
• Purchase specified products on your behalf after you approve our quotation.

We arrange delivery through independent shipping companies. We are not the carrier or the manufacturer of the products.

These Terms apply to services requested through our app, website, or other communications where these Terms have been provided and accepted.

Nothing in these Terms excludes rights or remedies that cannot lawfully be excluded.

You must provide accurate and complete information, including your name, delivery address, telephone number, and any information required for delivery or customs clearance.

You are responsible for:

• Keeping your login credentials secure.
• Checking product specifications, sizes, colours, quantities, and quotations before approval.
• Using the receiving address and customer identification instructions we provide.
• Registering incoming deliveries and tracking numbers accurately.
• Monitoring messages, approval requests, and payment deadlines.
• Ensuring the products may lawfully be purchased, exported, and imported into the destination country.

Your customer ID remains unchanged even if your name or delivery address changes.

You must be legally able to enter into this agreement or act through an authorized parent, guardian, or representative.

When you purchase from a retailer or another seller yourself, your purchase contract is with that seller.

You remain responsible for the purchase, including product selection, seller payment, and requests concerning missing items, incorrect goods, defects, authenticity, or returns.

We will reasonably assist by providing photographs, receipt information, or other evidence available to us. Assistance does not constitute a guarantee that the seller will accept a return or provide compensation.

For purchases made on your behalf, we provide a quotation identifying the requested item and the amount payable.

Your approval authorizes us to purchase the specified item at the approved price. Our quoted item price includes our purchasing service unless expressly stated otherwise. International shipping is quoted separately.

Each item may be approved separately. We may purchase approved items as they become available without waiting for every item in a request to be available.

Availability is not guaranteed until the purchase is completed.

We will obtain your approval before purchasing a substitute or charging more than the approved price.

Approval may be recorded through the app or through written communications, including screenshots of approval given elsewhere.

Submitting a request does not guarantee availability or successful purchase. Unavailable requests may remain open until we close them. You may ask us to close an outstanding request.

Because we may act promptly after approval, purchase requests cannot be cancelled automatically through the app. Contact us immediately if you wish to change or withdraw a request.

Once we have purchased an approved item, cancellation or return generally depends on the retailer’s policy and whether the purchase can be reversed.

We do not offer change-of-mind returns or exchanges at our own expense.

Where we agree to assist with an eligible return, you are responsible for reasonably incurred and disclosed return shipping, retailer charges, and additional services, unless the return results from our error or applicable law requires otherwise.

Any cancellation charge will reflect the services performed and applicable recoverable costs, subject to legal limits. We will not charge twice for the same loss.

Your statutory cancellation or other mandatory rights remain unaffected.

Applicable charges may include:

• Approved personal-shopping prices.
• Receiving and handling fees.
• International shipping.
• Agreed additional packing or other services.
• Any disclosed payment-processing charge.
• Other costs you expressly approve.

For customer-paid purchases from Japanese retailers, our standard handling fee is US$5 for each ¥5,000 of the full receipt total, rounded up to the next bracket.

The receipt total includes tax and domestic shipping. For example, a total of ¥42,000 produces a US$45 handling fee.

This fee is calculated once per order, even if the retailer delivers that order in several packages.

An amount extracted automatically from a receipt is provisional until confirmed by us. We may request evidence of a discounted purchase price or manually verify the value using an identified reference.

We will show applicable charges before you approve the relevant purchase or shipping payment.

Your account uses its designated payment currency.

Where conversion is necessary, the applicable rate and converted amount are recorded when the relevant charge or quote is confirmed.

Confirmed handling fees remain fixed. Confirmed shipping quotes remain fixed during their stated validity period.

Exchange rates may differ from those used by your bank or payment provider. You are responsible for any separate conversion or transfer charges imposed by your provider.

We will identify whether a rate is a published reference rate or a manually entered rate.

We may request a deposit before making purchases on your behalf. The amount and requirement are determined individually and communicated to you.

A deposit is a payment toward your account, not an additional service fee.

The confirmed credited amount is shown in your account. Any adjustment for an actual payment shortfall will be recorded and explained.

Deposits normally remain held during partial shipments and are applied at the final checkout that settles your remaining relevant purchases and stored items.

If a requested purchase cannot be completed, we may retain the deposit for another purchase with your agreement or return the unused balance on request, less any properly payable and itemized amounts.

A deposit is not automatically forfeited merely because an item becomes unavailable.

Available payment methods and instructions are displayed in the app or provided directly by us.

Wise is our preferred payment method. We do not add a Hat Ninja payment-method surcharge for Wise, although your provider may impose its own charges.

If PayPal is offered, any applicable processing charge will be disclosed before payment and applied only where permitted by the applicable rules and law.

Selecting “I have sent payment” does not confirm that funds have been received. We confirm payments after reconciliation.

We may hold purchases or dispatch pending payment. Any outstanding difference, credit, or waiver will be recorded separately.

If you believe a charge is incorrect, contact us promptly so we can investigate. These Terms do not remove your lawful payment-dispute rights.

You authorize us to open incoming packages, photograph their contents, and perform a reasonable visual check for forwarding purposes.

Our inspection is not a professional authentication, technical test, or guarantee against concealed defects. We may be unable to identify damage or discrepancies without additional information.

We will exercise reasonable care while handling and storing your items.

If we identify a discrepancy or other issue, we may place the affected order on hold until it is resolved.

Storage is ordinarily free for up to one year from the relevant arrival date. We may send reminders while items remain held.

Any storage charges after that period must be communicated in advance, including their amount and start date. No unspecified storage charge applies automatically under these Terms.

We will not treat goods as abandoned or dispose of them merely because a reminder was unanswered. Any such action requires appropriate notice and compliance with applicable law.

At your request, we may combine products into one or more outgoing boxes or divide an order into separate shipments.

Packing arrangements depend on the goods’ dimensions, weight, condition, and reasonable protection requirements.

Tell us before quotation if you require original packaging or special protection.

We will not remove a shoe box or other requested product packaging without authorization. Outer transit packaging may be replaced as reasonably needed for forwarding.

We will use reasonable care in packing. Requests to reduce packaging do not authorize packing that we consider unsuitable for safe shipment.

You select the items and available shipping service before requesting a quote.

A confirmed shipping quote is normally valid for 24 hours, unless otherwise stated. Changes to the selected items, destination, service, or packing arrangement may require a replacement quote.

An expired unpaid quote does not remove your products from storage.

If you report that payment has already been sent, the selected items remain reserved while we reconcile it. Late payments against cancelled or expired quotes require manual review.

You may request a partial shipment. Unselected products remain held.

For personal-shopping purchases, the checkout collects the outstanding product charges for the selected items.

For customer-paid Japanese retailer orders, the entire outstanding order-level handling fee is collected with the first partial shipment. That fee is not charged again when the remaining items ship.

We provide tracking information for each outgoing parcel shipped through our service.

A shipment may consist of several boxes, each with its own tracking number and dispatch status.

Payment confirmation or creation of a shipping label does not mean the parcel has physically left our possession.

Once goods have been handed to the carrier, delivery timing and tracking updates depend on the carrier and relevant customs authorities.

Delivery estimates are estimates unless an express guarantee has been separately agreed.

After payment, contact us immediately about any address error. We cannot guarantee that an address can be corrected after dispatch. Additional carrier charges resulting from customer-supplied errors are your responsibility where properly payable.

Subject to mandatory law and our responsibility for our own conduct, you bear the risk of loss, damage, delay, or theft arising during carriage after we properly hand the parcel to the selected carrier.

The Hat Ninja does not reimburse damage or loss caused solely by an independent shipping company where we have properly performed our own purchasing, handling, packing, and dispatch obligations.

We do not guarantee a carrier’s performance or promise compensation beyond any applicable carrier or insurance recovery.

This provision does not excuse damage caused or contributed to by our own failure to exercise reasonable care, such as inadequate packing, shipping the wrong item, or using an address different from the one agreed.

If a parcel is damaged, delayed, lost, or marked delivered but not received, contact us promptly through the app or the contact details above.

We will reasonably assist with tracing, evidence collection, and a carrier investigation or claim where available.

You must cooperate by supplying information reasonably needed, which may include:

• Photographs of the products and damage.
• Photographs of the shipping label, outer box, and internal packaging.
• A description of the issue.
• Delivery information and relevant correspondence.

Keep the products, box, and packaging until the carrier confirms they are no longer required.

Carrier deadlines may apply. Notify us as soon as reasonably possible so we can help meet those deadlines. A failure to provide evidence or preserve packaging may affect the carrier’s decision.

An investigation does not guarantee compensation, a replacement, or a refund from The Hat Ninja.

Where compensation is recovered for your goods, we will account to you for it and pass on the amount payable to you. Any proposed deductions must have a lawful, disclosed basis.

Our dispatch photographs may support an investigation but do not conclusively determine responsibility.

Do not assume that shipping includes insurance for the full purchase price, collector value, or replacement value.

Any carrier liability limits, declared-value protection, or optional insurance depend on the selected service and applicable terms.

Ask us before approving shipping if you need additional cover. Where available, we will explain the option and any additional cost.

We do not guarantee that a carrier or insurer will accept a claim.

All information supplied for customs or insurance must be accurate. We may refuse requests for false declarations.

You are responsible for checking whether goods may be imported into your destination and for supplying accurate information required for clearance.

Unless expressly included in your quotation, destination duties, taxes, brokerage charges, and other import charges are your responsibility.

Customs inspections and government decisions may cause delay, additional charges, return, or seizure beyond our control.

If a shipment is returned or incurs additional costs because of inaccurate information you supplied, refusal to pay import charges, or failure to collect the parcel, you are responsible for the resulting reasonable and documented costs, subject to applicable law.

This does not make you responsible for costs caused by our own error.

We generally do not refund service fees for services already properly performed.

Examples include completed purchasing assistance, receiving and handling, inspection, consolidation, packing, and shipment arrangement.

Approved product purchases and shipping charges already committed to third parties are generally non-refundable unless the relevant retailer or carrier accepts cancellation, provides reimbursement, or applicable law requires another outcome.

We do not provide an automatic refund merely because:

• You change your mind.
• An approved size, colour, or product does not suit your preference.
• A retailer refuses an eligible change-of-mind return.
• Delivery takes longer than expected.
• A carrier causes loss or damage for which we are not responsible.
• Import duties or taxes are higher than expected.

However:

• Unused funds are not automatically treated as earned service fees.
• Duplicate or incorrect charges will be corrected.
• Recoverable retailer or carrier refunds attributable to you will be accounted for.
• Appropriate remedies remain available where we fail to provide the agreed service or where required by law.

We will identify the basis for any amount retained.

We are responsible for performing the services we agree to provide with reasonable care and skill.

We are not responsible for a retailer’s or carrier’s independent acts merely because we assisted with the purchase or arranged the shipment.

Responsibility depends on the cause of the loss and applicable law. These Terms do not give us sole authority to decide whether we are legally liable.

Nothing excludes or limits liability for fraud, intentional misconduct, gross negligence, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

We may place an account or transaction on hold where reasonably necessary to investigate suspected fraud, an unresolved payment dispute, prohibited goods, or a material breach of these Terms.

A hold may prevent new purchases, checkouts, or dispatch while the issue is reviewed.

A dispute alone does not establish fraud. We will provide a reasonable opportunity to communicate and resolve the issue where appropriate.

Any decision to stop providing services does not automatically forfeit your goods, unused funds, or statutory rights.

Keep your contact details current and review pending actions in the app.

Turning off optional notifications does not cancel payment deadlines or approval requirements.

Order messages, attachments, approvals, and financial corrections form part of the transaction record. Sent messages cannot ordinarily be edited or deleted through the app. Corrections are recorded separately.

Personal information is handled under our separate Privacy Policy and applicable law.

We may update these Terms for future transactions.

Each published version will show its effective date. We will provide notice and obtain renewed acceptance where appropriate or legally required.

Changes will not retrospectively remove rights relating to existing transactions.

These Terms are governed by the laws of Japan, subject to any mandatory protections that apply to you.

Please contact us first with any concern so we can attempt a practical resolution.

If a dispute cannot be resolved, jurisdiction will be determined under applicable law. Nothing in these Terms removes access to a court or remedy that you are legally entitled to use.

By accepting these Terms and submitting an order, approving a purchase, or requesting shipment, you acknowledge that:

• The Hat Ninja provides purchasing and forwarding services.
• Approved purchases may be acted on promptly.
• Completed service fees are generally non-refundable.
• Carrier-related risks and compensation depend on the circumstances, service terms, and applicable law.
• We will reasonably assist with shipping problems but do not guarantee a carrier’s performance or claim outcome.
• Your mandatory legal rights remain unaffected.