Returns and Refunds Policy

At Tea Life, we want you to love your tea — but if for any reason you're not satisfied, our returns policy has you covered.

We accept returns and replacements for the following product conditions:

  • New (unused and in original condition)

  • Slightly used

  • Defective

You are welcome to request a refund or exchange within 90 days of purchase within Australia, as long as you provide proof of purchase.

Key Return Conditions:

  • Returns are accepted even if the product is not defective, provided it is either new or slightly used.

  • Refunds will be processed using the original payment method.

  • Delivery fees are non-refundable.

  • Refunds typically take 9–14 business days to appear in your nominated account, excluding any unforeseen delays.

How to Return

You can return items:

  • In-store or

  • By mail to our warehouse:
    2/3 Kurrajong Rd, North St Marys, NSW, 2760
    (Returns by appointment only during business hours)

This return policy applies to Australian customers.

International Return and Refunds Policy

At Tea Life, we are proud to offer international shipping to many countries around the world so customers everywhere can enjoy our teas. However, due to the unpredictable nature of international postal systems, we are unfortunately unable to guarantee delivery once an order leaves Australia.

Important Information for International Customers:

  • Once your order has been dispatched, it becomes the responsibility of your country’s local postal or customs service.

  • While we provide tracking for most international shipments, delivery times may vary widely and can be affected by customs delays, local postal handling, or other factors beyond our control.

  • Tea Life does not offer refunds, replacements, or credits for international orders that are lost, delayed, or not received.

Before You Order Internationally:

We strongly recommend checking your local import regulations and postal reliability before placing an international order. Some countries may have restrictions on tea imports or experience inconsistent delivery performance.

By placing an international order with Tea Life, you acknowledge and accept these risks.

We appreciate your understanding and thank you for supporting our Australian business.

With the above being said, we see an over 99% success rate for international deliveries and without issue.

Changed Your Mind?

Not vibing with the taste or simply changed your mind? No worries — contact us and we’ll do our best to sort out a solution that suits you.

Hi! My name is Toby and whether you're a first time customer wanting to know more about Tea Life or a long time customer, thank you for taking the time to read about this journey.

It will be a very simplified version and difficult to communicate properly the highs and lows, the challenges and milestones - but I will do my best.

In 2015, Tea Life was founded in an apartment in Hurstville, Sydney with all orders and stock held at that location. These were the days of hand written pre paid postage bags, a $300 printer printing tea labels applied by hand and tea being weighed and placed into each bag by hand, per order.

A very hands on and slow beginning that I think is necessary for an owner to truly understand their own business at a base level.

Around 2017, with orders slowly increasing, I felt safe enough to move into a shared warehouse in Kingsgrove where I started to think about better systems for order fulfillment and tea storage. The increased space was amazing and thought I had all of the space I would ever need, but this soon filled up and began looking for my own warehouse around 2019. I also have some staff now!

In 2019, I found an affordable warehouse to rent in Marrickville and also purchased a packing machine to help take some burden off staff. This machine turned out to be not that great at packing tea and was the start of a long and expensive battle in trying to find the right one through trial and error. It did the job for the most part but was far from easy.

Soon after, Covid hit - and online sales went through the roof, being one of the luckier business at the time perhaps due to the nature of the product, Tea Life flourished during this time and after a long period of saving was finally able to...

Purchase a warehouse in St Marys, NSW in 2022. From here I was finally able to invest properly in Tea Life, such as air conditioning, roller shutters, forklift, scissorlift, and finally (although I'll probably regret saying this) as much space as I need.

From very humble beginnings hand packing tea in my apartment, to becoming one of the top tea companies in Australia and with more plans for the future, thank you for being a part of this journey!

Timeline

2015

Hurstville Origins

I should have taken more images at this time, but I never thought I would need them or be writing a history tree going this far back. So.. here is an image of the outside of the apartment instead.

I would walk daily with a large bag to drop to the post office in Westfield, these days all pickups are done by the courier which is much better!

2017

Kingsgrove Warehouse

The move, while scary, was a necessary one. Yet again, I have no images so here's another one from the outside via google maps. I'll have images soon, I promise.

Around this time, a proper business structure started to emerge and while still a bit messy, we still got orders out in time.

2021

Ultimo Cafe

I didn't have much room above to mention it, but I opened a cafe in Ultimo for a year or so. The design, vibe, and feedback was amazing but sadly the rent was a bit high, the space was too large, and was difficult to maintain a stable workflow between this and the online business so closed down after a year.

I learned a lot from this so may try again later if I feel it's safe! (stay tuned)

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