Looking for advice on consumer rights issue with overseas seller and Clearpay

firewings

Hi all, I’m hoping for some advice as I feel like I’m going round in circles.

I placed an order with Lunafide on 21 December 2025 using Clearpay.

When the item arrived at the Royal Mail sorting office, I was asked to pay customs charges that were not made clear at the time of purchase, so I refused delivery on 16 January 2026. The parcel was returned via Royal Mail, and tracking confirms it was delivered back to the company on 20 February 2026.

Lunafide also confirmed in writing that a refund would be processed once they received the returned parcel. Despite this, they have now refused to issue a refund and have kept both the item and my money.

I contacted Clearpay after the second instalment to explain I wouldn’t be receiving the item and asked them to stop payments. They paused payments temporarily but then took the remaining instalments anyway.

So far I have:

• Been back and forth with Lunafide
• Raised a dispute with Clearpay (refused)
• Submitted a formal complaint to Clearpay
• Contacted Citizens Advice- they can't deal with overseas sellers
• UK Small Claims Court- they can't deal with overseas sellers
• UK Financial Ombudsman for Clearpay- they can't do anything with an unregulated lender
• Requested a chargeback via my bank (currently under review)
• Reported the matter to UK consumer authorities

I have full evidence including Royal Mail tracking, emails confirming return and refund, and correspondence with both parties.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation involving Clearpay and an overseas retailer?
Is there anything else I should be doing at this stage?

Thanks in advance — this has been incredibly frustrating.

SiliconChip

You'd need to take legal action against Lunafide in their jurisdiction, which according to their Terms of Service is the USA. Unfortunately that's not particularly helpful as you need to know in which State they are based, and I couldn't find that in a quick search of their website.

Exodi

I checked their shipping policy and it doesn't hide this fact:

HOW DO CUSTOMS FEES APPLY TO INTERNATIONAL PACKAGES?

All taxes, duties, and customs fees are the responsibility of the recipient of the package. Contact your local customs office for more information regarding your country's custom policies. Any Packages returned due to customs fee not paid, will be refunded minus the cost of shipping.

 

If you decline to pay these duties and taxes due to the carrier upon delivery of your order, the package may be considered abandoned, destroyed, or returned to our distribution centre. Under these circumstances, we, unfortunately, cannot consider requests for refunds or replacement shipments.

https://lunafide.com/pages/shipping-policy

Admittedly the first and second paragraphs seem to be at odds with each other.

I'd also say it's pretty common knowledge (but I guess I may be more informed than most as I export goods at work), I'm always mindful from purchasing from overseas for this very reason. I think you would encounter this even with big platforms like eBay (I believe they collect tax at checkout below £135, but above that and it the VAT/duties would be collected on delivery like you encountered)?

I'm not sure what we can really suggest that you haven't done already. Your biggest hurdle is that it is an overseas seller, as you have found.

What was the value of the shipment? I'm guessing it's a lot for you to contact Lunafide, Clearpay, Citizens Advice, small claims court, the Ombudsman, your bank and the UK consumer authorities.

user1977

Their privacy policy ends with an address in Delaware and they also are listed in the Delaware companies registry.

Where did you think they were based, given their website prices all seem to be in US Dollars?

They even give this helpful warning about import duties (which they don't need to!):

Undervalued

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6663386/looking-for-advice-on-consumer-rights-issue-with-overseas-seller-and-clearpay

You may well have a valid case against them in the US courts, if you have evidence that they agreed to refund once the parcel was returned, which you say you have evidence that it was.

How easy it is to pursue that in the US courts from the UK, I have no idea. Also if the US equivalent of the UK small claims procedures is similar to ours then actually extracting payment, assuming you win your case, maybe another big hurdle to overcome!

You don't say how much money is involved?

I fear getting involved in unsecured credit to make an overseas purchase and then not understanding the customs costs (which as user1977 has shown was clearly set out) will be an expensive lesson.

Be careful not to throw good money after bad.

born_again

Headquarters

2035 Sunset Lake Rd Ste B2, Newark, Dela...

Seems to be their address.

Any chargeback would be against Clearpay (if that who the debit is to) & they would be well within their rights to reject, as all they do is move money, not provide goods.

If they did not reject, then again you could be looking at legal action by them to claim funds back.

Although would be surprised if bank said no, due to above.

Sadly end of the day, item should not have been refused at point of delivery. Without checking that extra charge was not due.