Terms &
Conditions

Welcome to Aroha Bears & Friends. These terms apply whenever you shop with us or use our website. By placing an order, you agree to these terms. Please read them carefully.

We've written them in plain English. Nothing in these terms takes away any rights you have under the New Zealand Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 or the Fair Trading Act 1986. If anything here appears to conflict with those laws, the law wins.

1. About us

Aroha Bears & Friends is an online business based in Christchurch, New Zealand, specialising in vintage, collectible and pre-owned bears and soft toys.

We do not accept visitors, appointments, in-person browsing, or customer collections. All orders are shipped.

Contact: hello@arohabears.com

2. Our bears

Every bear listed on our site is a one-of-a-kind, pre-owned item. Most are vintage or antique. Some show gentle wear that reflects a well-loved life; some have been carefully restored. We describe each bear as honestly as we can and photograph any flaws so you can see exactly what you're adopting.

Where we mention a maker (e.g. Steiff, Merrythought) or an era (e.g. 1950s, mid-century), this is our best estimate based on the bear's features, construction and materials. Unless a bear comes with original tags or provenance documents, please treat maker and era as educated estimates, not certified attributions.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, no valuation, authenticity certificate or investment guarantee is provided.

Colours, textures and details may look slightly different on your screen compared to the bear in person. We take large, well-lit photos to reduce this, but small variations are normal for photography of vintage textiles.

3. One-off stock

Because every bear is unique, once a bear is sold it's gone. We mark bears as "Reserved" while a payment is being processed and "Adopted" once the payment has completed. You cannot order the same bear twice.

4. Pricing

• All prices are in New Zealand Dollars (NZD) and include GST where applicable.
• Prices shown at the moment you place your order are the prices you pay.
• Shipping is calculated separately and shown before you pay.
• Free shipping applies to New Zealand orders of NZ$300 or more.
• We reserve the right to correct obvious pricing errors before we accept your order. If we do, we'll contact you first — you can choose to continue at the corrected price or cancel for a full refund.

5. Placing an order

When you click "Reserve & pay with PayPal" and complete payment, you're making an offer to buy that bear. Your order is accepted once we send you the order confirmation email.

We may decline or cancel an order (and refund you in full) if:

• The bear has already sold to someone else at the same moment
• We spot a description or pricing error
• We can't verify the shipping address
• We reasonably suspect the order is fraudulent

6. Payment

We use PayPal to process payments. You can pay with a PayPal account or, on most PayPal pages, with a debit or credit card without opening an account.

Your payment details go directly to PayPal — we never see your card or bank details.

If your payment is declined, your order won't proceed and the bear stays available.

7. Shipping

Full shipping details are on our Shipping & Returns page. In summary:

• We ship worldwide. New Zealand shipping is tracked and usually arrives within 2–5 working days after despatch.
• We aim to despatch within 3 working days of your order being paid.
• We'll email you a tracking number when your bear is on the way.
• International orders may be subject to customs duties, import taxes or other fees in the destination country. These are your responsibility, not ours.
• Delivery timeframes are estimates. Once a parcel is with the courier, we can't control the exact delivery date, though we'll help track it down if it goes astray.

8. Returns, faults and your consumer rights

Under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993, our bears must:

• Match the description we've given
• Be of acceptable quality taking into account their age, price and description as vintage or pre-owned goods
• Be fit for the purpose you told us about

If a bear arrives and doesn't match what we described, or has a fault we didn't disclose, please contact us as soon as reasonably practicable after receiving your order at hello@arohabears.com with photos and a description. We will work with you on a remedy — this may be a repair, a replacement (where possible), or a refund, depending on what's fair under the law.

We do not offer refunds for change of mind, because each bear is one-of-a-kind and we describe and photograph them in detail before you buy. This does not affect your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act.

Bears returned to us must be sent back in the same condition they arrived, in appropriate packaging. Return shipping is at our cost only where a Consumer Guarantees Act remedy applies.

9. Vintage character is not a fault

Bears may show signs of age including light fur loss, faded fabric, minor stitching repairs, replaced pads, gentle scent of storage, or small marks. These are part of a vintage bear's story, not manufacturing defects, and are noted and photographed in each listing. They are not grounds for return.

Each bear has earned its own unique character over many years. These signs of a life well lived are considered part of the bear's history rather than defects.

10. Our conservation philosophy

We believe these bears are small pieces of history. Wherever possible we preserve original materials, stitching and character. Any cleaning or conservation work is carried out sympathetically and is intended to stabilise and preserve the bear rather than make it appear new. Where repairs or conservation work have been undertaken, these will be described honestly within the individual listing.

11. Intellectual property

All content on this site — photographs, product descriptions, "My Story" backstories, page copy, logos and design — is owned by Aroha Bears & Friends or used with permission. You're welcome to view it and share individual product links, but please don't reproduce, republish or use our content commercially without asking us first.

12. Using this website

You agree not to:

• Interfere with the site's security or availability
• Attempt to access parts of the site you don't have permission to see
• Use automated tools to scrape our photos, listings or customer data
• Submit false information through our forms

We may suspend or block access if these terms are seriously breached.

13. Newsletter and Bear Finding Service

Signing up is entirely optional. You can unsubscribe any time by emailing us or clicking the unsubscribe link. The Bear Finding Service is a best-efforts service — we can't guarantee we'll find your bear, and it isn't a paid commitment.

14. Our liability

We take care of every bear as if it were our own. However, to the extent permitted by law:

• We are not liable for indirect, consequential or incidental losses (for example, lost time or inconvenience)
• Our total liability for any claim relating to your order is limited to the amount you paid for that order

Nothing in these terms limits your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993, the Fair Trading Act 1986 or any other law that cannot legally be excluded. If you are buying as a consumer (rather than for business), these laws apply and this section does not reduce them.

15. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of New Zealand. Any dispute will be handled by the courts of New Zealand.

16. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms occasionally. The "Last updated" date shows the current version. Orders are governed by the terms that were in effect at the time you placed them.

17. Contact

Aroha Bears & Friends
Christchurch, New Zealand
Email: hello@arohabears.com