How can we help?

You can browse and fill your basket without one, but you do need an account to check out. Don't worry about losing anything: your basket waits while you sign in or register, and you come straight back to it. Your addresses and order history live in that account, so next time is quicker.

Yes, four of them, to the address on your account: one when we have your order, one when your payment comes through, one when it leaves us (with the tracking number if there is one) and one if it is ever cancelled. If a message hasn't arrived, check your spam or junk folder first. Everything in those emails is also on your orders, which is always the version to trust.

Not from your account, we're afraid: once an order is placed, what's in it and where it's going are fixed so that nothing can go wrong between paying and packing. If you've made a slip, contact us straight away with your order number. If it hasn't been dispatched yet we can cancel it and refund you in full, and you simply order again the way you meant to.

It depends how far along it is:

• Not paid yet — just don't complete payment. It shows as Cancelled, and the stock we were holding for you is released.
• Paid, not yet dispatched — contact us right away with your order number. If we can stop it before it leaves, we cancel it and refund you in full, delivery included.
• Already on its way — you still have 7 days from delivery to change your mind under our returns policy.

Your orders lists every order you've placed, with what was in it, what you paid, and where it has got to: awaiting payment, being prepared, on its way, delivered or cancelled.

Payment is taken by our payment provider on its own secure page: you're taken there to pay and brought straight back here afterwards. The payment methods on offer are listed on that page at checkout. We never see or store your card details.

Yes. Your card details go to the payment provider, never to us, and every page on the store is encrypted (the padlock in your browser). If anything about a payment page ever looks wrong, close it and contact us before paying.

Yes and yes. Every price is in South African rand and already includes VAT, so the price on the product is the price that goes into your basket. Your order summary shows VAT as included rather than adding it at the end.

Yes. Every order gets an invoice as soon as your payment is received: open the order in your orders and choose Download invoice for a PDF you can keep or forward to your accounts department. It is a tax invoice showing the VAT included in what you paid. An order that has not been paid for has no invoice yet.

Nothing is charged. The order you started shows as Cancelled under your orders and you get an email saying so; anything we were holding for you goes back into stock and your basket is restored exactly as it was, so you can try again. If money did leave your account, contact us with the order number and we'll trace it against the payment reference.

Courier delivery to your door is priced at checkout from your address and the size of your order, so you see the exact cost once you enter where it's going. You see the cost in your order summary before you pay, and there's no surprise charge afterwards.

Only when a promotion says so. When one applies, delivery shows in your order summary as Free before you pay, not as a refund afterwards.

Anywhere in South Africa, by tracked courier to a street address. We can't deliver to a PO Box, and we don't ship outside the country yet.

Usually 2–5 working days. Most orders are collected from our suppliers before they ship, so the time depends on where the stock is and where you are, and it's an estimate rather than a promise. The moment your parcel leaves, you get an email with its tracking number, and from then on you can watch it move under your orders. If something is taking longer than it should, contact us with the order number and we'll chase it. The details are on our delivery page.

Open your orders and choose the one you want. Once it's been dispatched, the tracking number is on that page (and in the dispatch email).

The courier needs someone at the address to receive and sign for the parcel, and will use the phone number on your order to reach you. If a delivery fails because nobody was there or the address was wrong, contact us and we'll arrange another attempt; a repeat attempt can carry a charge, which we'll tell you about before it happens.

Not from your account once the order is placed. Contact us straight away with the order number: if it hasn't been dispatched we'll cancel and refund it so you can reorder to the right address, and if it's already on its way we'll see what the courier can do.

Not just yet. Collection from a locker or counter shows at checkout as "Soon" and will switch on once our courier's pickup points are connected. For now every order is delivered to your door.

Yes. You have 7 days from delivery to tell us you're returning something, no reason needed. Send it back complete and undamaged, in its original packaging, and we refund the price you paid. The one cost that is yours is the courier back to us, which is what the law allows. A few things can't come back once opened, such as software licences and sealed hygiene items; they're listed in our returns policy.

Tell us within 7 days of delivery, with your order number and a photo if you can; it usually saves a collection. We arrange and pay for the collection, and you choose between a replacement and a full refund, delivery included. Please check your parcel when it arrives and say something as soon as anything looks off.

For 6 months from delivery the Consumer Protection Act puts the choice in your hands: repair, replacement or refund, and the choice is yours, not ours. After that, most products carry a manufacturer's or supplier's warranty, printed on the product page, which usually means repair or replacement by the manufacturer or its repair agent. Either way, start by contacting us with the order number and what's wrong.

Faults in the product itself. It doesn't cover accidental or liquid damage, misuse or unauthorised repair, power-surge damage, normal wear, consumables and batteries past their life, or software and data problems. The warranty on each product is shown on its page, next to the brand and SKU.

• Our mistake or a fault (damaged, wrong, missing, defective): we collect, at our cost.
• Changed your mind: you send it back to us and pay the courier.

We refund as soon as the return has been checked, and always within 30 days of your cancellation, to the same card or account you paid with. Your bank can take a few working days to show it after we've sent it. We don't refund to a different account or in cash.

1. Sign in, open the order under My account → Orders and choose Return items.
2. Pick the items and how many, tell us why, and add photos if something is damaged, wrong or faulty.
3. We email you whether it's approved and whether to send it back or have it ready for our courier, with a reference for the parcel.
4. Pack it securely, in its original packaging if you still have it. You can follow it under My account → Returns.

Back it up and, where you can, sign out and reset the device before it goes. Repairs and replacements often mean the storage is wiped or replaced, and we can't recover files from a returned device.

Right here: our returns and refunds policy, with your rights under the Consumer Protection Act and the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act set out in full.

It's out of stock. We'd rather tell you that on the product page than take your money and let you find out afterwards, so an item with nothing available can't be added to a basket or checked out.

Yes. It comes from our stock records, which are updated from our suppliers through the day, and it's checked again when you check out, so the last one can't be sold twice while you're paying.

We can't always say: it depends on when our suppliers get it. Stock updates through the day, so check the product page again, or tap the heart to keep it on your wishlist and see at a glance when it's back.

At checkout, under Promo code. Apply it and your order summary updates on the spot; one code per order, and it's checked again when you pay.

The checkout tells you why, in plain words. The usual reasons:

• the offer has ended, or hasn't started yet;
• your order is under the minimum spend for it;
• nothing in your basket qualifies (it may be for a particular brand or department);
• it can't be combined with an offer already on your basket;
• it's been used as many times as it allows, or you've used it already.

Under Deals in the department menu: everything with a reduced price right now, with the old price shown beside the new one.

Your name and phone number are under your profile. Your email address is the key to your account, so it can't be changed there; contact us and we'll do it for you once we've made sure it's you.

Yes. Your addresses holds as many as you need and lets you set a default, which is the one checkout offers first.

Use Forgot password on the sign-in screen and we'll email you a link to set a new one. It only works once, and if you didn't ask for it, you can ignore it.

Yes. Choose Continue with Google on the sign-in screen. If you already have an account with the same email address, you land in it, orders and all. Google tells us only your name and email address, never your Google password. Signing out of Techcel Shop does not sign you out of Google, so on a shared computer sign out of Google too. Team accounts sign in with their password.

Ticked, you stay signed in on that device for 30 days instead of 12 hours. Leave it unticked on a shared or public computer. Signing out, changing your password or a suspension ends the session on every device straight away.

Tap the heart on any product to keep it on your wishlist. You'll need to be signed in so it follows you between devices; a guest who taps the heart is offered sign-in first.

Email us from the address on your account and ask. Under POPIA you can ask what we hold, have it corrected, or have it deleted; we keep only what the law makes us keep, such as the records of completed orders. It's all set out in our privacy policy.

We use it to take your order, deliver it and help you afterwards, and we share only what a job needs: your address with the courier, your payment with the payment provider. We don't sell it. The full picture, including who we share it with and why, is in our privacy policy.

No, never. Payment happens on the payment provider's secure page; your card number doesn't pass through our site or sit in our systems.

The essential ones keep you signed in and remember your basket; the store doesn't work without them. We also count visits ourselves, anonymously, with no cookie and nothing that identifies you. Remembering your visits on this device (and with them how you found us when you order or sign up, and a copy of a cart you fill without signing in), and measuring our ads, only happen if you chose “Accept all” on the cookie bar. To change your mind, use “Cookie settings” at the foot of any page; the detail is in our privacy policy.