Frequently asked questions

Seeds and other shop products are normally dispatched on Mondays after payment lands. Delivery usually takes 1–3 business days inside Austria and 3–7 business days EU-wide; these are non-binding carrier estimates.

Cuttings exception: live cuttings are cut to order and need rooting time, so they ship about 2–3 weeks after payment is received.

The list of shop shipping countries (with the free-shipping threshold) is on Prices & shipping; shipping fees are shown at checkout. Auction seed packs ship either directly from AlpenHigh, to the same countries as the shop, or — where a pack is routed to a fulfilment partner — on that partner's own carrier with its own country list, which can include countries the shop does not deliver to. Either way the auction page checks your delivery country before you bid.

On the order detail page under My orders. Once the parcel is dispatched it shows the dispatch date and, where available, the carrier and the tracking number with a link to follow it.

First check the tracking on the order detail page: parcels sometimes sit still for a few days before moving again.

Delivered to your address. If the parcel still has not arrived 21 days after the dispatch date, a "Package didn't arrive?" section appears on the order detail page with a "Report missing package" button. Use it rather than email — the report carries the carrier and tracking number automatically. Before those 21 days are up, the page names the date on which that section appears.

Sent to a pickup point. The parcel is waiting for you at the branch (bring photo ID), and the order is marked delivered when you collect it. If the branch has no parcel for you, the same "Package didn't arrive?" section appears on the order page 21 days after dispatch — use it there too. If the parcel is damaged, email office@alpenhigh.eu and we will take it up with the carrier.

Cryptocurrency via Plisio, our crypto-payments provider. Also SEPA bank transfer (use the order number as the wire reference). Private customers can also pay with cash by letter (see below). If you hold store credit (a gift-card balance or a paid-out credit note), you can pay with it: directly where it covers the order total in full, or apply part of it and pay the rest with one of the other payment methods. We don't operate a card-payment integration.

Yes, private customers (not business accounts) can pay with cash sent by letter. At checkout you receive our postal address, the exact amount, and a payment sheet (PDF) carrying the reference — print it and enclose it with the cash in the letter so we can reliably match your payment (no printer? a slip of paper with the reference works too). Please always send the cash as a tracked or registered letter and keep the postal receipt as your proof of postage. We mark the order paid once the cash arrives. A refund of a cash payment is made by bank transfer to an account you provide.

You buy a gift card like any other shop product. It then appears under Account → Gift cards, where you can add it to your store-credit balance, gift it to someone by email, or print it as a voucher. A code from a printed voucher is redeemed under Account → Wallet. The balance pays for orders at checkout (see the payment methods above) — except for buying another gift card, which needs one of the other payment methods.

As soon as payment lands. SEPA usually takes 1–2 business days. A crypto payment finalises after confirmation on the relevant blockchain. A cash letter is processed once it reaches us. If an order stays unpaid, it is automatically cancelled after 30 days. Statutory claims are unaffected.

The rate depends on your delivery address and your account type, so it can differ between two orders. Deliveries inside Austria carry the Austrian rate. For a delivery to another EU country, either your delivery country's rate applies (EU distance-selling rules, OSS) or the Austrian rate still does, as long as our EU distance sales stay below the €10,000 threshold. If you order as a business with a valid, verified VAT ID from another EU country, we show no VAT (reverse charge) and you account for the tax yourself; while signed in, shop prices are shown to you net of VAT and charged exactly as shown. Deliveries outside the EU carry no VAT; your country's customs duties and import charges may still apply. The specific reason is stated next to the tax rows at checkout, on your order page and on the invoice.

Sellers list seed packs, you place your maximum bid. Anti-snipe automatically extends the auction if a bid lands in the last 2 minutes. After the auction ends you're notified and can pay.

Seeds only. No cuttings or other products. Cuttings are offered exclusively by AlpenHigh itself.

Live plant cuttings. They are cut to order and need rooting time, so they ship about 2–3 weeks after payment is received. Because they're perishable, you explicitly waive your right of withdrawal at checkout under FAGG §18 Abs. 1 Z 4. They cannot be returned, but you can request a refund as a goodwill gesture, which our team decides on. Make sure of what you're ordering before you submit.

14 days from delivery under FAGG §11. Full details in the withdrawal notice. The post-delivery withdrawal-return option appears once your order shows as delivered; if it still reads "shipped" after you've received it, use the "I received my order" button on the order page (or email office@alpenhigh.eu). Exception: live cuttings (see above); see the withdrawal notice for the full statutory exception list.

Yes. We ship only to the delivery address saved on your (email-verified) account, and need the account for order fulfilment + the seven-year invoice retention required by Austrian commercial law.

Use Forgot password on the sign-in page. We email a link to your account address; it is valid for one hour and works only once. The link takes you straight to setting a new password. If you are still signed in, change it under Account → Security.

Because most passkeys (Windows Hello, Touch ID, a security key) live on the one device that created them. Two ways forward: add a passkey for your phone or password manager under Account → Security — your browser shows a QR code, and that passkey then works on every device — or sign in on the new device with a recovery code; right after that we ask you to add a passkey for it, without needing a second code.

If you still have one of the two, sign in with it and manage your passkeys under Account → Security; there you can also generate a fresh set of recovery codes at any time (the old ones stop working). If you lost both, email office@alpenhigh.eu and reference the email address on your account: for security, the second factor can never be removed through an email link — Forgot password leaves it untouched. We verify your request and reset the second factor; afterwards you set up a new passkey. For seller and partner accounts two-factor sign-in is mandatory and cannot be switched off.

Under Account → Change email. You confirm with your current password (and your passkey, if you have one enrolled). We send a confirmation link to the NEW address, valid for one hour, and a notification to the previous one. If the change was not you, the link in that notification reverses it for another seven days.

Under Account → Delete account. Your profile, saved addresses and login are removed once nothing on your account is still open. While an order is in progress, a refund or withdrawal is open, a listing is active, or paid store credit is still on the account, we cannot delete it yet (Art 17(3) GDPR); the delete page shows you up front what is still open. The name and delivery/billing address frozen on each order stay on file for seven years for tax reasons, so those invoice records are not erased.

More in Privacy.

Open the order from Account → Orders:

• Awaiting payment — use the "Cancel order" button. The order is cancelled immediately; no email needed.
• Paid, not yet shipped (shop orders) — use the "Cancel order and refund me" form. Pick a reason and submit; the credit note is issued straight away and without any further review. We initiate the payout without undue delay and within the statutory 14 days at the latest; for crypto payments, from the moment you give us your payout address. For a crypto payment, your confirmation email carries a link where you enter the wallet address to receive the refund (same coin and blockchain you paid with); for SEPA payments the credit note is issued immediately and our team initiates the bank transfer — after that it typically takes 1–3 business days to arrive. Orders containing live cuttings can no longer be self-cancelled after payment — the cuttings are cut specifically for your order; only a goodwill refund (decided by our team) remains.
• Paid auction wins — use the "Request withdrawal" button. Auction settlements are reviewed by our team (FAGG 14-day right of withdrawal).
• Already shipped — return via the post-delivery withdrawal flow detailed in the withdrawal notice.

Self-refund is capped at 3 orders per 30 days. Once that's used up, the in-app self-refund is exhausted; the order page then asks you to email office@alpenhigh.eu for any further refund on that order.

Yes — within the same country, as long as no shipping label has been created for the order and it is not on its way yet. Open the order under Account → Orders and click "Change delivery address" next to the delivery address: you pick another saved address (or add a new one), a different pickup point if you like, and we confirm the new address by email. Your shipping fee stays the same. This applies to shop orders as well as to won seed packs and bundles (there for every pack at once).

A different country is not possible, because tax and price were fixed for the delivery country — that needs a new order. Cancel an unpaid order for free on the order page for that; unpaid orders are automatically cancelled after 30 days anyway if you do nothing; statutory claims are unaffected. For a paid shop order that has not shipped, the "Cancel order and refund me" form refunds you directly; for a won seed pack the withdrawal is the only way. Exception: orders with live cuttings can no longer be self-cancelled after payment, because the cuttings are cut specifically for your order; only a goodwill refund is possible here.

Once the shipping label has been created or the parcel has been packed, the address can no longer be changed by yourself — please write to us at office@alpenhigh.eu then. One exception: if the parcel came back to us undelivered, the order page reopens the address change so you can correct it yourself before we send it out again.

On the order page (Account → Orders) a "Pay again" section appears after a failed crypto attempt, with a "Pay now" button that starts a fresh payment: you can re-use crypto or switch to another method offered there. For SEPA transfers the reference and bank details remain on the order page; you can re-execute the transfer as long as the order is still open (see the automatic cancellation after 30 days). Cash travels at your own risk: if a cash letter does not reach us, the order counts as unpaid and you can pay it again. So always send cash as a tracked or registered letter and keep the postal receipt (see Terms).

The invoice is issued when your order is dispatched — its invoice date is the dispatch date (a gift-card order is invoiced right after payment). From then on, open the order from Account → Orders: there you can download the invoice as a PDF at any time, or have it re-sent to you by email. You don't need to contact support for it.

It depends on the order, from Account → Orders:

• Paid, not yet shipped (shop orders): use the "Cancel order and refund me" form. The credit note is issued straight away and without any review by our team; we refund the money to the same payment channel within 14 days, usually much sooner (capped at 3 orders per 30 days). For crypto payments that period runs from the moment you give us your payout address.
• Paid auction wins, or an already-delivered order — use the "Request withdrawal" button. The request reaches our team immediately; once the goods arrive and are inspected (or, for an auction win not yet shipped, on acknowledgement) we refund within 14 days to the same payment channel. You do not need to give a reason within the 14-day window.

Exception for cash: cash payments are refunded exclusively by bank transfer (SEPA). Exception for crypto: nothing moves automatically — your refund email carries a link where you enter a payout address (same coin and blockchain you paid with), and the same-coin withdrawal is only issued after you do. Exception for live cuttings: they can no longer be self-cancelled after payment (cut specifically for your order); only a goodwill refund decided by our team remains. Details + cutting exceptions: withdrawal notice.

Bids are binding declarations under § 861 ABGB and cannot be unilaterally retracted. In special cases (obvious typo, technical mis-entry) open a ticket at office@alpenhigh.eu with the auction id and your reasoning. We look at the case and decide individually, especially while the bid has not yet won.

Seller payouts are settled in a monthly batch; the run starts on the 1st of each month. A lot enters a run once two things are true: the buyer's payment has landed, and the 14-day withdrawal period on the order has ended. That period starts on delivery, not on payment, and runs longer for an order collected from a pickup branch. If the period is still open on the run date, the lot is settled automatically in the next run — there is nothing for you to do. If your seller account is suspended, or where there is a well-founded suspicion of abuse, we can hold a payout back until the case is settled. The payout page under Seller → Payouts shows each payout, its status, and the orders it covers.

A payout can be held back for three ordinary reasons: the buyer's payment has not been received (or has been reversed), the withdrawal period is still running (or a withdrawal is open), or a refund on an earlier order left an open balance that is netted off the next payout. All three are visible on the payout detail page or your seller dashboard — you do not need to write to us to find out which applies.

Fulfilment partners: your settlement runs on the cadence agreed for your account (weekly, monthly or quarterly) and is generated automatically shortly after that period closes. It normally arrives with a self-billed credit note (Gutschrift) covering the same period; if your VAT ID could not be re-validated in time, the Gutschrift follows automatically a little later.

Every listing is reviewed before it goes live. A rejection always carries a reason, shown on the listing under Seller → Listings. The usual reasons are an incomplete or unclear description, photos that do not show the actual lot, or a category that cannot be auctioned — cuttings are sold through the shop, never at auction, because they perish too quickly. Correct the listing and submit it again. A single rejection has no consequences for your account; for repeated or abusive submissions we reserve the right to take action, up to suspending the account.

Once a listing is approved you get a QR label to attach to the package. The package has to be physically received at the address printed on your label — our warehouse, or the fulfilment partner's, depending on the seed pack — before the auction can start. If it has not been scanned in within 21 days of approval, the listing is automatically set to "not arrived" so it stops blocking the rest of a series.

That is a status, not a penalty. If the package is still on its way, or was delayed in transit, write to office@alpenhigh.eu — we can extend the deadline or reinstate the lot once it turns up. A lot in a series that never arrives is simply skipped; the remaining lots carry on.

You do not have to write your own invoice, we issue it for you. Please check it when it arrives and keep it on file; declaring your income remains your responsibility. Austrian tax law needs an invoice from you to us for the commission split, so AlpenHigh generates it on your behalf on the cadence you pick under Seller → Invoice settings (manual, weekly, monthly or yearly). Weekly, monthly and yearly periods are finalised 7 days after the period closes. The manual cadence has no fixed period: one open invoice is finalised once the auto-deadline you set on the same settings page has passed since your latest paid order, and each new paid order pushes that deadline forward. In every case you get a copy by email, and it counts as accepted after 14 days if you do not dispute it.

You cannot upload your own PDF, and you do not need to: the generated document is the one our accounting books. If something on it is wrong, use the dispute button on the invoice — do not email a corrected version, because a disputed invoice is regenerated from corrected data rather than replaced by hand.

Whatever actually applies to you, under Seller → Invoice settings: Private person (no VAT), or Registered business (with VAT number) with your rate and your VAT number. If you sell as a business that charges no VAT, for example under the Austrian small-business exemption, choose Private person: the credit note then shows no VAT either. If you are registered outside Austria but inside the EU and your VAT number validates, we issue the credit note reverse-charged at 0 % and account for the Austrian VAT as the recipient. Your own reporting and filing duties in your country, such as the EC Sales List, are unaffected. This is not tax advice.

Seller → Dashboard shows your pending balance, and Seller → Payouts lists every settled payout with the orders behind it. Fulfilment partners have the same pair under Partner → Dashboard.