Frequently asked questions

Seeds and other shop products are dispatched on Mondays after payment lands. Delivery inside Austria is typically 1–3 business days, EU-wide 3–7 business days.

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, the carrier and — where the carrier provides one — 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, and a parcel sent to a pickup point is waiting for you there (bring photo ID). If it still has not arrived 21 days after the dispatch date, a "Package didn't arrive?" button appears on the order detail page. 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 button appears.

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 where it covers the order total in full. 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 reference to enclose. Please always send the cash as a tracked or registered letter and enter the tracking number on your order page so the letter can be traced. 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.

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. Any unpaid order is automatically cancelled after 30 days.

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. 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.

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. 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 refund is processed straight away. 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 go through admin review (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.

No — the shipping address is frozen the moment the order is placed. If the destination is wrong (typo, you moved, you picked the wrong saved address) please cancel the order and place a new one with the correct address.

Cancelling is free at any pre-payment stage from the order page (Account → Orders); unpaid orders are automatically cancelled after 30 days if you do nothing. For a paid shop order that hasn't shipped, the same "Cancel order and refund me" form gets you a refund directly — re-order with the correct address afterwards. 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.

On the order page (Account → Orders) a "Pay again" button appears after a failed crypto attempt and lets you start 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 any time. We accept no liability for cash sent untracked that does not reach us; always send cash tracked (see Terms).

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 refund is processed straight away, with no review by our team and no 14-day wait (capped at 3 orders per 30 days).
• 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 review case-by-case, especially while the bid has not yet won.

Seller payouts are settled in a weekly batch covering the previous calendar week. A lot is included once the buyer's payment has landed, so a lot paid this week is normally in the following week's batch. We do not wait for the buyer's withdrawal period: if a buyer withdraws later, the refund is netted off a later payout. The payout page under Seller → Payouts shows each payout, its status, and the orders it covers.

A payout can be held back for two ordinary reasons: the buyer's payment has not been received (or has been reversed), or a refund on an earlier order left an open balance that is netted off the next payout. Both are visible on the payout detail page — 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 the first time the sweep runs 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 on a later run.

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 rejection does not count against you.

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.

Nothing — we issue it for you. 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 → Invoices → 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 → Invoices → Settings: Kleinunternehmer if you use the Austrian small-business exemption (no VAT shown), or regular with your rate and your VAT number. If you are registered outside Austria but inside the EU and your VAT number validates, the credit note we issue you is reverse-charged at 0 % and we account for the tax — you do not need to do anything extra for that beyond entering the number.

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.