How It Works & Terms
LETTERS BY POETICWAX
Terms and conditions of the Letters by PoeticWax monthly subscription · Effective 1 October 2026 · Version 1.0
The key terms at a glance
This summary is part of the terms. The full terms follow it.
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What you get |
One box a month. Every box contains a hand-poured candle in a scent made for that month, a poem card, a self-care practice, a small gift and a real-life story from one of our members. What they are each month is a surprise. Members also get our community online, and events in three cities every three months (tickets sold separately, cancel free up to 14 days before). |
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Hand-poured |
Every candle is poured by hand, so colour, texture and the set of the wax vary. That is what a hand-poured candle is, and you agree to receive them that way. Anything that stops a candle burning safely or properly is a fault and we replace or refund it. |
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Price |
R595 a month, including courier delivery to any address in South Africa. We are not registered for VAT, so no VAT is charged. There are no sign-up fees and no cancellation fees. |
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Price increases |
The price goes up by 10% a year, from the payment on 25 October each year. The first increase is on 25 October 2027. We email you at least 30 days before each one. |
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How you pay |
By debit or credit card, through our payment provider Payfast. Your card is saved securely by Payfast and charged each month. |
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When you pay |
Your first payment is taken when you subscribe. After that, you pay on the 25th of every month, or on the next business day if the 25th falls on a weekend or public holiday. |
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When your box ships |
Between the 1st and the 7th of every month. |
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Skip, pause or cancel |
Do it by 23:59 on the 20th and you won’t be charged on the 25th or sent the next box. |
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Minimum term |
None. The subscription runs month to month and you can cancel at any time, from your account page or by emailing cancellations@poeticwax.co.za. |
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Changed your mind? |
You have a 7-day cooling-off right. Cancel within 7 days of receiving a box, send it back, and we’ll refund you in full. You only pay the return courier. |
1 Who we are and what these terms cover
1.1 Letters by PoeticWax is run by Poetic Studio (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2023/107704/07, trading as Poetic Wax and Letters by PoeticWax (“we”, “us”, “our”). Our address is 50 Avalon Road, Modderfontein, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 1609.
1.2 These terms apply between us and the person who subscribes (“you”). They cover the Letters by PoeticWax monthly subscription bought on our website. They do not apply to one-off purchases from the Poetic Wax shop.
1.3 Your agreement with us starts once you have completed checkout, your first payment has gone through, and you have received our confirmation email.
1.4 You can read these terms at any time from the link at the bottom of every page of our website. Your account page keeps a record of your orders, payments and tracking numbers.
1.5 Nothing in these terms takes away any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (CPA) or the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 (ECTA). If any clause seems to, your legal right wins.
2 Who can subscribe
2.1 You must be 18 or older and able to enter into a binding agreement.
2.2 We deliver to South African addresses only. We need a working mobile number for the courier.
2.3 The card you use must be in your own name, or you must have the cardholder’s permission to use it.
2.4 Each month we make a limited number of boxes. When a month is full, new sign-ups join the next available month or a waiting list. If we ever take a payment and then cannot supply the box, we will tell you straight away and refund you in full within 30 days.
3 What’s in the box
3.1 Every box contains a hand-poured candle in a scent made for that month, a poem card, a self-care practice for the month, a small gift, and a real-life inspirational story from one of our members. The exact scent, gift and story change every month and are kept a surprise. That is the point of the box, so you can’t choose the scent or the items.
3.2 Every candle is poured by hand. Colour, surface texture, the way the wax sets and the look of the top vary from candle to candle, and a candle may frost, bloom or set slightly unevenly. Scent strength varies too, with the season, the size of your room and your own sense of smell. These are characteristics of a small-batch hand-poured soy candle, not faults, and by subscribing you agree to receive the candles in that condition. Anything that stops a candle burning safely or properly is a fault, and our Returns and Refunds Policy covers it in full.
3.3 Allergies. When you sign up, please tell us about any fragrance allergies or sensitivities. You can update this at any time. We check each month’s scent against what you have told us, and where that month’s scent isn’t right for you we curate a different fragrance for your box. We can only check for what you tell us.
3.4 If we can’t get an item we planned to include, we will replace it with something of the same or greater value.
3.5 Photos on our website and social media show what a box looks like. Your box will be different.
3.6 Member stories. Members can send us a real-life story to be considered for a future box. We only print a story with the writer’s written permission, under the name they choose (a first name or a pen name is fine), and we may shorten or lightly edit it. You can withdraw your permission until we tell you the story has gone to print.
3.7 Anonymous pen pals. Founding members can join our pen pal service, which pairs members who want to write to each other. Joining is optional. You write under a pen name and send your letters through us, and we forward them. We never give your real name, address or contact details to your pen pal. Please don’t include them in your letters either. We may hold back a letter that breaks this rule or is abusive. You can leave the service at any time.
3.8 The members’ community. Every subscriber can join our online community, where members share their own photographs and words. We decide what goes up: we may approve, decline, edit or remove a post so that the space stays kind and true to the brand. Your post stays yours, and by posting it you give us permission to keep using and resharing it, with credit, on our website and social media, including after you leave. Only post what is yours to post — if you post someone else’s photograph, words or music, that is on you, not on us. We may remove a post, or a member, where the space is being used to harm someone. You can leave the community at any time and still keep your subscription.
3.9 Member events. Every three months we host an event in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. Events are optional and are not included in your subscription: tickets are sold separately, members hear about them first, and founding members get up to 50% off. Tickets are limited. You can cancel a ticket up to 14 days before the event for a full refund. After that we keep 50% of the ticket price, because the venue, the materials and the catering are already booked and paid for. You can send someone else in your place at any time at no charge — just tell us their name. If we cancel or move an event, you choose a refund or a place at the next one. Cities and dates can change, and we will email you if they do. We sometimes photograph events for our website and social media; tell us on the day if you would rather not appear and we will leave you out.
3.10 Hot wax at events. Some events involve pouring hot wax, open flame and fragrance oils. When you book you will be asked to confirm that you have read the safety instructions we send with your ticket, that you will follow them and the venue’s rules on the day, and that you will tell us beforehand about any allergy, medical condition or pregnancy that our team should know about. Anyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult who books for them.
4 Price
4.1 The subscription costs R595 a month. This includes packaging and courier delivery to your South African address.
4.2 Poetic Studio (Pty) Ltd is not registered for VAT, so no VAT is charged. If we have to register for VAT in future, we will give you notice under clause 4.4 before any price change.
4.3 Annual increase. The price goes up by 10% once a year, rounded to the nearest R5. The first increase applies to the payment on 25 October 2027, and after that to the payment on 25 October each year. From today’s price that is R595 a month now, R655 from the 25 October 2027 payment, and R720 from the 25 October 2028 payment. We will email you at least 30 days before each increase, and you can cancel before it applies at no cost.
4.4 Other price changes. We may also change the price at other times, for example if our costs change. We will email you at least 30 days before the first payment at the new price, and you can cancel before then at no cost.
5 How payment works
5.1 Card payments. You pay by debit or credit card through our payment provider PayFast. PayFast stores your card securely. We never see or store your card number. By subscribing, you authorise us to charge your saved card R595 a month on the dates set out in this clause.
5.2 Your first payment of R595 is taken at checkout. It pays for your first box.
5.3 Monthly payments. After that, your card is charged R595 on the 25th of each month. Your next payment is on the 25th of the month in which your first box is dispatched. Your welcome email confirms the exact date of your first box and of your next payment.
5.4 Weekends and public holidays. If the 25th falls on a weekend or public holiday, the payment runs on the next business day.
5.5 Each payment pays for the next box. A payment on the 25th pays for the box dispatched between the 1st and 7th of the next month.
5.6 The payment appears on your statement as a PayFast payment to Poetic Wax.
5.7 If a payment fails. We will try again on each of the next two days, usually the 26th and 27th. We will email you each time with a link to update your card. If all three attempts fail, we suspend your subscription and don’t pack a box for you that month. You can restart at any time from your account page. We don’t charge a fee for a failed payment. We will also email you 30 days before your saved card expires.
5.8 Disputing a payment. Please speak to us first at subscriptions@poeticwax.co.za. Most questions about a payment are about the date or the amount, and we can usually sort them out the same day. If you dispute a card payment with your bank after we have dispatched your box, we may ask you to return the box unused or pay for it, and we may suspend your subscription until the account is settled. This doesn’t limit your right to dispute a payment you did not authorise.
6 When you’re billed and when your box ships
Every month runs on the same timetable:
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What happens |
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Around the 17th |
We email a reminder with a preview of the coming month’s theme and a link to skip. |
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20th, 23:59 |
Last moment to skip, pause or cancel before the next payment. |
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25th, 23:59 |
Last moment to sign up for next month’s box, or to change your delivery address, phone number or email address for it. |
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25th |
Monthly payment (next business day if the 25th is a weekend or public holiday). |
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1st to 7th |
Boxes are packed and dispatched. You get an email with the courier’s name and your tracking number when your box leaves. |
6.1 Subscribing on or before the 25th. Your first box is in the dispatch between the 1st and 7th of the next month.
6.2 Subscribing after the 25th. Your first box is in the dispatch after that. If you subscribe just after the 25th, your first box can therefore arrive up to about six weeks later. By subscribing, you agree to this delivery timetable in place of the 30-day delivery period in section 46 of ECTA.
6.3 Festive season. Couriers slow down in December and January, so we may bring the cut-off, payment or dispatch dates forward for those months. We will email you at least 7 days before any date changes.
6.4 Delivery. Courier delivery usually takes a few business days after dispatch. Delivery times are the courier’s estimates, not guarantees. Please make sure someone can receive the box and that your address and mobile number are correct. If the courier returns a box to us because the address was wrong or incomplete, we will contact you. Re-delivery costs the courier fee of R120. If you are away when a box is due, tell us before the 20th and we will hold it, send it to another address, or skip the month for you.
6.5 If your box hasn’t arrived by the 15th of the month, let us know. If a box is lost in transit, we will send a replacement or refund you, whichever you prefer.
6.6 The box becomes your property, and your responsibility, once it is delivered.
7 Managing your subscription
7.1 From your account page you can, at any time and without emailing us:
- see your next payment date and your next dispatch date;
- skip the coming month;
- pause for one, two or three months;
- change your delivery address, mobile number and email address;
- update the card you pay with;
- see your past orders and tracking numbers; and
- cancel.
7.2 Skip a month. Skip by 23:59 on the 20th. You won’t be charged on the 25th and you won’t get a box that month. Your subscription starts again by itself the following month.
7.3 Pause. Pause for one, two or three months by 23:59 on the 20th. Your subscription restarts by itself when the pause ends, and we will email you before your next payment.
7.4 Delivery details. Changes to your address, mobile number or email address made by 23:59 on the 25th apply to the next box.
7.5 Your card. You can update your card at any time. Changes made by 23:59 on the 25th apply to that month’s payment.
8 Cancelling
8.1 You can cancel at any time. There is no minimum term, no notice period and no cancellation fee.
8.2 How to cancel. Use the Cancel button on your account page, or email cancellations@poeticwax.co.za. If you email, your cancellation takes effect when we receive your email. Our automatic reply will offer you a skip or a pause instead, but you don’t have to do anything else. We will confirm your cancellation within one business day.
8.3 Timing. If you cancel by 23:59 on the 20th, you won’t be charged again. If you cancel after the 20th, that month’s boxes are already being made, so the payment on the 25th still goes ahead and you will receive that box. No further payments are taken after that. You can still use your 7-day cooling-off right on that box (clause 9).
8.4 Cancelling with us stops all future charges to your saved card. You don’t need to contact your bank. Our cancellation email confirms that no further payments will be taken and tells you which box will be your last.
8.5 If we need to end your subscription. We may end your subscription on 7 days’ notice by email if you seriously or repeatedly break these terms. We may also do so if we stop offering Letters by PoeticWax. If we end it, we will refund you in full for any box you have paid for but not received.
9 Your 7-day cooling-off right
9.1 Under section 44 of ECTA, you may cancel without giving a reason and without penalty within 7 days of receiving a box.
9.2 We will refund what you paid for that box in full within 30 days of the day you cancel. The only thing we may deduct is the direct cost of returning the box to us.
9.3 Using your cooling-off right also cancels your subscription, unless you tell us you want to keep it.
9.4 Our Returns and Refunds Policy explains how to return a box. It forms part of these terms.
10 Faulty, damaged or missing items
10.1 Everything we send must be safe, of good quality, free of defects and able to do what it is meant to do (section 55 of the CPA). If an item fails this test within six months of delivery, you may return it at our cost. You then choose whether we replace it or refund you (section 56 of the CPA).
10.2 If a box arrives damaged, or something is wrong or missing, please send us photos as soon as you can, ideally within 7 days. This lets us claim from the courier. We will replace or refund at our cost.
10.3 Please tell us within 7 days if a box arrives damaged, and photograph it before you use anything in it. That is what lets us claim from the courier. Telling us later does not take away your six-month warranty for faulty goods, but it does make damage in transit much harder to prove.
10.4 A scent you don’t love is not a defect. You can still return the box under your cooling-off right (clause 9). The Returns and Refunds Policy sets out the details.
11 Candle safety
A candle is an open flame. Please read the label on every candle and follow these instructions:
- Never leave a burning candle unattended, and never fall asleep with one burning.
- Keep candles away from children, pets, curtains, paper, draughts and anything that can catch fire.
- Burn on a stable, heat-resistant surface. The vessel gets hot, so don’t touch or move a lit candle.
- Trim the wick to about 5 mm before each burn.
- Burn for no more than 4 hours at a time. Stop when about 1 cm of wax is left.
- Put out the flame if it flickers repeatedly, smokes or gets too high. Let the candle cool, trim the wick and check for draughts before relighting.
- Use candles in a ventilated room. Stop using a candle if its fragrance irritates you.
12 Our responsibility to you
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PLEASE READ THIS CLAUSE CAREFULLY. IT LIMITS OUR RESPONSIBILITY. 12.1 We are responsible for loss or harm caused by our failure to meet these terms, by our negligence, or by unsafe or defective goods we supplied, as the CPA provides. 12.2 As far as the law allows, we are not responsible for:
12.3 For anything other than death, injury or harm caused by unsafe or defective goods, our total liability to you is limited to what you have paid us in the 12 months before the claim. 12.4 Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for gross negligence, for death or injury caused by our negligence, or under section 61 of the CPA. Nor does it limit any right you have under the CPA or ECTA that the law does not allow to be limited. 12.5 At checkout you will be asked to confirm that clause 3.2 (hand-poured candles), clause 5 (payment), clause 8 (cancelling) and clause 12 (this clause) were brought to your attention and that you accept them, as section 49 of the CPA requires. |
13 Your personal information
13.1 We collect and use your personal information only as our Privacy Notice explains, in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA).
13.2 We send you service emails about your subscription, such as payment, dispatch, skip reminders and cancellation confirmations. These are part of the service. We only send marketing if you have agreed to receive it, and every marketing message lets you unsubscribe.
14 Changes to these terms
14.1 We may update these terms. For a change that affects you, we will email you at least 30 days before it applies, and you can cancel before then at no cost. The date and version at the top show which terms are current.
14.2 Changes to price follow clauses 4.3 and 4.4. Changes to festive-season dates follow clause 6.3.
15 Complaints and disputes
15.1 Please tell us first, at subscriptions@poeticwax.co.za or on 081 554 3122. We will reply within two business days and aim to resolve the issue within ten business days.
15.2 Please let those ten business days run before you take it further. The Consumer Goods and Services Ombud will ask whether you gave us a chance to put it right, and so will a court.
15.3 If we can’t resolve it, you may take your complaint to the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud (CGSO), free of charge. Call 0860 000 272, email info@cgso.org.za or go to www.cgso.org.za. You may also approach the National Consumer Commission. For privacy complaints, see our Privacy Notice.
16 General
16.1 South African law governs these terms.
16.2 If a court finds any clause invalid, the rest of the terms still apply.
16.3 We send notices to the email address on your account. You can send notices to subscriptions@poeticwax.co.za. We accept service of legal documents at 50 Avalon Road, Modderfontein, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 1609.
16.4 If we don’t enforce a right straight away, we have not given it up.
16.5 Where a dispute is heard. You and we agree that the Magistrate’s Court nearest to our head office may hear any dispute between us, even where the amount is above that court’s normal limit, as section 45 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act allows. You may still take a complaint to the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud, the National Consumer Commission or the Information Regulator, and nothing here stops you going to a higher court instead.
16.6 What is ours. The Poetic Wax and Letters by PoeticWax names and logos, our website, our photographs, our poem cards and written material, our packaging artwork, and our candle recipes and fragrance formulations, are ours. Buying a box gives you the box — it does not give you the right to copy, reproduce or sell our written material or artwork, or to use our names or logos, without our written permission.
16.7 Things outside our control. If something outside our reasonable control stops us doing what these terms say — a courier failure, a fire, a flood, a strike, a supplier failure, a change in the law, or an extended power failure our backup can’t cover — we will tell you, and we are not in breach while it lasts. If it lasts more than 30 days, either of us can cancel and we refund you for any box you have paid for and not received.
17 Contact us
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Company |
Poetic Studio (Pty) Ltd · Registration number 2023/107704/07 |
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Address |
50 Avalon Road, Modderfontein, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 1609 |
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Subscriptions |
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Cancellations |
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Phone and WhatsApp |
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Website |