Terms and conditions

Please note: this is a plain-language summary of how we trade, prepared for review by the business's attorney. Where anything here conflicts with South African law, the law applies.

These terms govern your use of ivanasofia.co.za and every order placed on it. Please read them with our privacy policy, delivery page and returns page, which form part of them.

1. Who we are and how to reach us

This website is operated by Ivana Sofia, a South African fragrance manufacturer trading from 57 Cayman Road, Eikenhof, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 1872. That address is our place of business and our production facility. It is not a retail outlet and is not open to the public.

Email hello@ivanasofia.co.za or telephone 011 012 3156, Monday to Friday between 9am and 4pm. If you need our registration particulars, ask us and we will provide them. This section is given in compliance with section 43 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002.

We sell eau de parfum fragrances in 30ml, 50ml and 100ml bottles, made by us. Prices and full descriptions appear on each product page and in the shop.

2. Orders and acceptance

When you place an order you are making an offer to buy. A contract comes into existence only when we confirm dispatch of the goods to you. Until then we may decline the order, in whole or in part, for example if an item is out of stock, if we cannot verify the payment, or if the delivery address falls outside our courier network.

We take care with the site, but errors happen. If a price or description is obviously wrong, we may cancel the affected order and refund you in full rather than supply on those terms, as section 23(9) of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 permits. We will tell you before we do.

3. Prices and VAT

All prices are in South African rand and include value-added tax where VAT applies, as the Consumer Protection Act requires for consumer pricing. The price beside a product is the price you pay. Delivery is quoted separately at checkout before you pay, and orders of R750 or more are delivered free. We may change prices, but never after accepting your order.

4. Payment

Payment is taken by card or EFT through PayFast, a South African payment provider. You are taken to PayFast's secure environment to complete payment, and your card details are entered there rather than on our site. We do not see, handle or store your card number.

We dispatch only once payment has cleared. An unpaid order is cancelled automatically after a short period.

5. Delivery

We deliver door to door anywhere in South Africa by courier. Timeframes, the dispatch cutoff and what happens when nobody is home are on the delivery page, which forms part of these terms. Those timeframes are estimates rather than guarantees, since the courier network is not under our control.

Risk in the goods passes to you on delivery. We do not offer collection, as our premises are a factory rather than a shop.

6. Cancellation, cooling off and returns

Because you are buying electronically, section 44 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act gives you seven days from delivery to cancel without reason and without penalty. You return the goods at your own cost and we refund what you paid within 30 days of the cancellation.

Separately, our own policy allows 30 days from delivery to return any fragrance that is unopened and unused in its original box. An opened bottle cannot be accepted on a change of mind, for reasons of hygiene.

Your rights in respect of goods that are defective, unsafe or not as described are unaffected by any of this. Section 56 of the Consumer Protection Act gives you six months from delivery to return such goods and to choose a refund, a replacement or a repair, and we carry the cost of returning them. The returns page explains the process.

7. Gift vouchers

Gift vouchers are sold in any amount from R100, delivered by email, and may be spent on anything we sell. In line with section 63 of the Consumer Protection Act, a voucher stays valid for three years from the date of issue, and any unused value within that period remains yours.

Vouchers cannot be exchanged for cash and are not refundable. A voucher used against an order that is later refunded is reinstated to its original value and expiry date. Treat the code like cash, since we cannot replace one that reaches the wrong person.

8. Reviews and anything you post

We publish customer reviews, including unflattering ones, because a review section with only praise in it is worth nothing to anybody. We do not edit the substance of a review.

When you submit a review or any other content you confirm that it is your own honest experience, that it is not unlawful, defamatory or offensive, and that it does not infringe anyone else's rights. You grant us permission to publish and display it on the site and in our marketing, alongside your first name and town. We may decline or remove content that breaks these rules, and we may verify that a reviewer bought the product.

9. Intellectual property

The Ivana Sofia name, logo, product names, photography, text and site design belong to us and are protected by law. You may not reproduce them commercially without our written permission. Reading, sharing a link and printing a page for your own use are welcome.

Third-party trademarks

Designer fragrance names and brand names that appear on this site are the trademarks of their respective owners. We use them descriptively and in good faith, for the sole purpose of indicating the scent character our own original compositions were inspired by, so that customers can understand what a fragrance smells like.

Ivana Sofia is not affiliated with, endorsed by, licensed by or connected to any of those brands in any way. Our fragrances are our own formulations, sold under our own name, and they are not the products of those houses.

10. Limitation of liability

We supply our fragrances with reasonable care and skill. To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss arising from the use of this site or the goods.

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes any liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded, including our liability under section 61 of the Consumer Protection Act for harm caused by unsafe or defective goods, or liability for fraud or gross negligence.

Fragrance is applied to skin, and a small number of people react to fragrance materials. If your skin is sensitive, test a little on the inside of your forearm first, and stop using a product that irritates it.

11. Privacy

How we handle your personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 is set out in our privacy policy, and the cookies we use are listed on the cookies page.

12. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. The version published here when you place an order governs that order, so a later change never reaches backwards into a purchase already made.

13. Governing law

These terms, and any dispute arising from them or from an order placed on this site, are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa and are subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of South Africa.

If something goes wrong, please tell us first, as almost everything is resolved by an email and a little goodwill. You may also refer a consumer complaint to the National Consumer Commission.