Terms and Conditions — Payment, Delivery, and Refund Policy
Inspect Home
Last updated: [insert date]
Important note before you publish this: This draft is written from strong industry-standard seller-protective language, pulled from established container sellers’ published terms. It is not a substitute for review by a licensed attorney in Maryland. Before this goes live, have a lawyer confirm it complies with Maryland consumer protection law, UCC Article 2 (sale of goods), and any card-network (Visa/Mastercard) merchant requirements tied to your payment processor.
1. Payment Terms
1.1 Full payment — including container price, delivery cost, and applicable sales tax — is due at the time of order unless a financing or installment plan has been explicitly confirmed at checkout.
1.2 We accept Visa, Mastercard, and other major cards through our PCI DSS-compliant payment processor. Card information is never stored on our servers.
1.3 High-risk or high-value transactions may require additional verification (3D Secure, one-time passcode, or ID verification) before an order is processed. This may delay confirmation and is not considered a delay caused by Inspect Home.
1.4 If paying by wire transfer or ACH, your order will not be processed or scheduled until payment is confirmed, which may take 1–3 business days.
1.5 For installment or financing plans, failure to complete scheduled payments may result in delivery delay, order hold, or cancellation, at Inspect Home’s discretion.
1.6 A 6% (or your applicable state rate) sales tax applies to all orders, calculated based on the delivery address at checkout.
2. Order Confirmation
2.1 An order is not considered confirmed until payment has cleared and a written order confirmation has been sent to the email address provided at checkout.
2.2 It is the customer’s responsibility to review the order confirmation and notify Inspect Home immediately of any discrepancy in container size, condition grade, quantity, or delivery address.
3. Delivery Policy
3.1 Estimated delivery timeframes will be provided at checkout or in your order confirmation. These are estimates, not guarantees, and actual delivery dates may vary based on depot inventory, delivery distance, and site accessibility.
3.2 The customer is responsible for ensuring the delivery site is flat, cleared, and accessible for a delivery truck and trailer. Additional charges resulting from site conditions that delay or obstruct delivery (e.g., a truck getting stuck, inadequate turning space, obstructed access) are the customer’s responsibility and will be billed directly.
3.3 Someone authorized to accept delivery must be present at the scheduled delivery window. Failed delivery attempts due to no one being present may incur a re-delivery fee.
4. Customs and Port of Baltimore Delays
(This section addresses the specific risk you flagged — containers or shipments that are held for inspection or documentation review at the Port of Baltimore.)
4.1 Some inventory sourced through the Port of Baltimore may be subject to customs inspection, documentation review, or a customs broker hold before release for delivery. These delays are outside Inspect Home’s control and are not considered a breach of this agreement.
4.2 If your order is delayed due to a customs or port hold, Inspect Home will notify you as soon as we become aware of the hold and provide a revised estimated delivery date in writing.
4.3 If a customs or port hold extends the delivery timeline beyond 30 calendar days from the original estimated delivery date, the customer may request a status update and revised timeline in writing.
4.4 If a customs or port hold extends beyond 60 calendar days from the original estimated delivery date, the customer may elect to:
(a) continue waiting for release and delivery, with no additional charge, or
(b) cancel the order and receive a full refund of the container price (delivery fees already incurred, if any, are non-refundable).
4.5 Inspect Home will make commercially reasonable efforts to resolve customs and broker holds promptly but cannot guarantee a specific resolution date, as these matters are governed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the customer’s or seller’s designated customs broker, not by Inspect Home directly.
5. Undeliverable or Failed Deliveries
5.1 If Inspect Home is unable to deliver an order due to circumstances within our control (e.g., depot error, incorrect inventory allocation), the customer will be offered a choice of a replacement unit, a rescheduled delivery, or a full refund including delivery fees.
5.2 If Inspect Home is unable to deliver due to circumstances outside our control (customs hold, carrier disruption, severe weather, site inaccessibility, force majeure — see Section 9), the customer will be notified and offered the options described in Section 4 once the applicable hold period has elapsed.
6. Cancellations
6.1 Orders canceled more than 24 hours before the scheduled delivery date will be refunded the full container price. Delivery fees already paid are non-refundable if delivery logistics have already been arranged.
6.2 Orders canceled within 24 hours of the scheduled delivery date, or after the container has been dispatched, are subject to a cancellation fee of $100 per container to cover logistics and re-routing costs.
6.3 Orders that have already been loaded, dispatched, or delivered are treated as a return request and are subject to the Returns & Refunds policy in Section 7, not the cancellation policy.
7. Returns and Refunds
7.1 Inspect Home offers a 30-day satisfaction window for standard, unmodified containers, and a 45-day window for modified or custom-built units (e.g., tiny homes, office conversions), beginning on the date of delivery.
7.2 To initiate a return, the customer must contact Inspect Home with order details and photos of the container’s current condition, and obtain a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) before shipping or scheduling pickup of the returned unit.
7.3 Returned containers must be in substantially the same condition as delivered — unmodified, uncut, unpainted, and not repurposed — except where the return is due to a defect or damage present at delivery.
7.4 A restocking fee of 10–20% may apply to non-defective returns to cover inspection, re-certification, and redeployment costs.
7.5 Return shipping/delivery costs are the customer’s responsibility unless the return is due to an error by Inspect Home or the container was delivered damaged or materially different from what was ordered.
7.6 Customers must report defective, damaged, or incorrect containers within 72 hours of delivery to qualify for full replacement or refund coverage. Claims made after 72 hours will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis but may not qualify for full coverage.
7.7 Approved refunds are issued to the original payment method within 5–10 business days of approval, though your bank or card issuer may take longer to post the credit.
8. Custom, Modified, or Specially Configured Units
8.1 Tiny homes, office conversions, and other custom-built units may not be eligible for cancellation once fabrication or modification has begun. Any applicable charges already incurred will be deducted from a refund, if one is approved.
9. Force Majeure
9.1 Inspect Home is not liable for delay or failure to perform due to causes beyond our reasonable control, including but not limited to: customs or port holds, acts of God, severe weather, labor disputes, carrier disruptions, government action, or global supply chain disruptions.
10. Limitation of Liability
10.1 Inspect Home’s liability for any claim related to an order — including delay, damage, or non-delivery — is limited to the amount paid for the container in question. Inspect Home is not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, including lost business, lost use, or costs associated with project delays caused by container delivery timing.
11. Governing Law
11.1 These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of the State of Maryland, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any disputes shall be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Maryland.
12. Contact
For questions about an order, payment, delivery, or this policy, contact Inspect Home at [insert support email] or [insert phone number].
Before publishing, confirm with an attorney:
Maryland-specific consumer protection disclosures (cooling-off period rules, if any apply to your sale type)
Whether your $100 cancellation fee and 10–20% restocking fee comply with Maryland law
Whether Section 10’s liability cap is enforceable as written in your state
Your payment processor’s (Stripe/PayPal/etc.) required merchant terms language, which sometimes must be included verbatim