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Return to shopThese terms cover every order placed on ancestorbank.com: paper in the post, talismans in a box, and names carried to a temple furnace in Hebei. They are written to be read, not to be survived.
1. What we sell, and what we do not
AncestorBank sells joss paper and ancestor money, hand-painted five element talismans, and a service: we write a petition for your ancestor, carry it to the Temple of the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak, burn it with paper money, and send you the footage.
This is a cultural practice. It is not a religious sacrament, not a medical treatment, not financial advice, and not a mechanism for producing money, health, luck or any other outcome. We perform the ritual correctly — the paper, the petition, the seal, the chanting — and that is the entire product. No result is promised, implied or guaranteed, and none should be expected.
2. Who can order
You must be at least 18 years old, or the age of majority where you live, and able to enter a contract. If you order on behalf of someone else, you confirm you have their permission to give us their name and address. By placing an order you accept these terms and our Privacy Policy.
3. Orders and acceptance
An order is an offer. It is accepted when we send the confirmation email — not when you click pay. We may decline an order and refund it in full if:
- the item is out of stock and cannot be made in time for the burn date you asked for;
- the petition asks for something prohibited under section 6;
- the order looks fraudulent, or comes from someone who has charged back a previous order;
- a price or description on the site was obviously wrong — for example a $333 product listed at $3.33.
If we decline, we tell you why. We never keep money for an order we are not going to fulfil.
You can change the ancestor’s name, the wording of the petition, or the shipping address up to 48 hours before the scheduled burn by emailing us. After that the petition has been copied by hand and sealed.
4. Prices, currency and taxes
All prices are in US dollars. Shipping is a flat $5.95 worldwide, free over $75. Import duty or VAT charged at your border is your responsibility and is collected by the carrier, not by us. US sales tax is added at checkout where we are required to collect it.
We may change prices at any time, but never after you have paid: the price on your confirmation email is the price of that order.
5. Payment
We accept PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Payment is taken at the time of order. We do not store card numbers — the payment provider handles that, and we receive only a transaction reference.
If a payment is reversed or disputed while an order is in progress, we pause the order and email you. If it is not resolved within 14 days, we cancel the order and the burn does not take place.
6. What can go on a petition
A petition is fifty words, written by us on your behalf and read aloud by a monk. Almost everything people send is a version of “look after them” or “let this go well.” There are three things we will not write:
- Harm to a living person. No curses, no requests that someone be hurt, fail, or be brought low. If a petition names a living third party and asks for their misfortune, we decline the order and refund it.
- Anything illegal. No requests framed around a crime, and no use of the service to intimidate someone.
- Content that is not yours to send. Do not submit another living person’s private information.
We do not edit petitions for style. If the wording is unclear, we ask before the sheet is copied.
7. Burn dates and scheduling
Burns happen on the 1st and 15th of the lunar month, the temple’s standing days for the dead. Names must reach the temple two days before. Orders that arrive later roll to the next burn day, and we tell you which date your ancestor is booked for.
The $77 Ancestor Bundle lets you pick an auspicious date from the almanac (择吉日) instead of a standing day. If the temple is closed — weather, maintenance, a festival closure — the burn moves to the next available day, or you can take a refund. We never silently drop a date.
8. Burn Club membership
The Burn Club is $333 for fifty-two weekly burns over twelve months, paid once. It does not auto-renew; nothing is charged at the end of the year unless you order again.
- Each week includes one full pack of paper, an altar offering, incense, and the monk’s chanting — the same ritual as the $33 tier, not the stripped base burn.
- One free five element talisman is included with the membership. It is posted once, at the start.
- You may change the ancestor’s name or the wording of the petition in any month, at no cost, by replying to the monthly letter.
- Membership can be paused for up to eight weeks in a year; the schedule shifts so all fifty-two burns are still delivered.
- After the year ends, the bound petition book is posted to you. It is included in the price.
- Cancellation and refunds follow the Returns & Exchanges policy: full refund within 7 days before the first burn, pro-rata at $6.41 per unused week afterwards, less the talisman if it has shipped.
9. Talismans
Each talisman is hand-painted in a single continuous stroke and set in a brass frame. Two pieces are never identical, and small differences in the brushwork, the enamel edge or the frame are part of the object.
The colour is the element of a birth year, counted from 立春 in early February rather than 1 January, on the sixty-year nayin cycle. Give us a birth year and we match it; choose a colour yourself and we paint that one. This is a cultural correspondence, not a diagnosis, a medical device, or a guarantee of protection. It is an object to hang by a door, put in a car, or keep in a wallet.
10. Proof of burn
Every temple order includes a video from the brazier, a photograph of the sealed petition, and a photograph of the ash, sent by email within five days of the burn. The video is filmed at the furnace, not staged afterwards.
Proof is for you. You may share it with family. You may not sell it, license it, use it in advertising, or present it as evidence of a result we did not promise.
11. Delivery, returns and refunds
Physical orders are dispatched within 1–2 business days and ship tracked; transit times are on the shipping page. Returns, cancellations and refunds are governed by the Returns & Exchanges policy, which forms part of these terms. In short: 30 days on unopened physical goods, 48 hours before a burn for service orders, and a free redo if we get a name or a date wrong.
12. Intellectual property
The text, photographs, video, layout and code on this site belong to AncestorBank or are used with permission. You may not copy the site’s content into another shop, or use our photographs to sell someone else’s paper. Linking to a page is always fine.
The petition you write is yours. By sending it, you give us permission to copy it onto the formal sheet, read it at the temple, and keep a scan as described in the privacy policy — nothing more.
13. No guarantee, and limits on liability
We promise to perform the ritual as described, to post what we say we will post, and to answer you when something goes wrong. We do not promise an outcome, because no one can.
To the fullest extent the law allows, our total liability for any order is limited to the amount you paid for it. We are not liable for indirect or consequential losses — lost profits, lost opportunities, or distress said to follow from an outcome the service never promised. Nothing in these terms excludes rights you have under consumer law in your own country, including your right to a refund for a service not performed.
14. Governing law and disputes
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. If there is a dispute, email us first — nearly everything is settled in one exchange. If it cannot be, the courts of California have jurisdiction, and consumer-protection rights you hold where you live are unaffected.
15. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms; the date at the top changes when we do. The terms that apply to your order are the ones in force when you placed it. If a change is material, we email customers with an order in the last twelve months rather than relying on you to check the page.
If any clause is found unenforceable, the rest stays in force.
16. Contact
Email info@ancestorbank.com for anything: an order, a refund, a name that needs correcting, or a question about the practice itself. One business day, usually less.
Related pages
A cultural ritual, not a promise. No outcome is guaranteed, and no cash value is implied.