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Recall refunds in seconds

Snap the product made safe. AI checks it. PayPal pays you.

0 of 46 paid wrongly on photos with a known answer. How it was measured

Try a photoIs it recalled? Snap the label

In the headline: the CPSC’s photo for recall 26125, a hair dryer with its cord cut in half.

Many recallsask for a photo

A recalled bike helmet seen from inside, with both chin straps cut off and laid above it on white paper.
Recall 25007: the CPSC’s example of a photo the firm accepts, the helmet’s straps cut off. Photo: CPSC.

Since January 2024, 447 of 1,239 US product recalls refund an owner who sends a photo of the product made safe, and the number grows each year: 54 in 2024, 151 in 2025 and 242 so far in 2026.

How long a photo refund takes: as each page states it, and Remedy as measured in the PayPal sandbox
WaitWhat the page says, whose page, and when
10 to 15 business days“Once your registration is confirmed, your refund will be issued via check within 10-15 business days.” Real Time Results, a recall administrator's claim portal (Cuisinart grill recall), read November 8, 2026.
4 to 6 weeks“Please allow 4 to 6 weeks.” Deale International's own recall page (CasaClean steam cleaner), dated July 17, 2025, read November 8, 2026.
No time statedPayPal or a gift card: “You will receive your refund fastest using PayPal”, with an email confirmation in 48 to 72 hours. Merkury Innovations' own recall page (Hot + Cool fan), recall dated June 11, 2026; page read November 8, 2026.
16 to 19 secondsRemedy, in the PayPal sandbox: from approval to a PayPal payout reaching the owner, 12 runs. PayPal marked the refund to the original PayPal purchase COMPLETED at once; PayPal says a refund takes 3 to 5 business days to reach the buyer.
What is at stake

Those refunds come to $471.1 million at the lowest stated prices, and $261.2 million to $442.8 million of it goes unclaimed, at the CPSC’s 44.55% correction rate and at its figure of about 6 in 100 products that come back. The two largest recalls, 24309 and 25394, are $184.0 million of the $471.1 million (39.1%), and the median recall offers $68,000. How it was counted

  • “Consumers will be asked to cut the pajamas in half and email a photo of the destroyed pajama set…”
    Recall 27045
Why reaching owners directly matters

Reaching owners directly is what works: about 50% of products are corrected when the firm contacts its buyers, against 6% after a press release (OECD, 2018). Across 338 CPSC recalls from 2001 to 2013, the share of recalled products corrected was 11.4% higher on average when the firm offered a full remedy (a free repair, exchange or refund) instead of a partial one, all else equal (Raithel, Hock and Mafael, 2024).

By the CPSC’s own measure, its average correction rate across recalls was 44.55% in FY2025, against its 43% target (CPSC performance report, FY2025). In April 2026 the agency asked the public how to catch artificially generated destruction photos and coordinated claims without adding burdens for real owners (CPSC request for information on recall claims, April 2026). Firms already pay photo-proof refunds by PayPal: a June 2026 recall page offers PayPal or a gift card and calls PayPal fastest (a firm's June 2026 recall page), while a 2025 page asks owners to allow 4 to 6 weeks (a 2025 photo-refund page). Every finding, with what Remedy does about it

The same helmet and its cut straps inside a kitchen trash can.
The second photo it asks for: helmet and straps in the trash. Photo: CPSC.

Three ideas behind every refund

  1. Each firm that joins makes every other firm safer.

    Replayed in code, the pattern on the CPSC's 2026 docket, one device filing over 400 claims: 400 altered copies of one claimed photo, filed at two sample firms, and the pool held 308 before any model call. Code asked for a new photo on 14 more, and the 78 that went on to the model step are all phone screenshots, which the own-photo check reads for a screen. None was paid. Every claim photo is matched by two 64-bit hashes against the 1,779 pictures published with every recall and every photo already claimed at any firm, before any model call. Firms share only hashes, never a photo. One photo, two firms

  2. A payout nobody accepts becomes a task.

    When PayPal's webhook says a payout is waiting to be accepted, a re-notice appears in the firm's recall plan, live and linked to its payout batch, so the refund still reaches its owner. The recall plan

  3. The refund goes back the way it was paid.

    Inside PayPal's 180-day refund window, Remedy refunds the original PayPal purchase. After it, a PayPal payout to an email or phone, or Venmo. Plain code picks the route and the amount. Buy, claim and get it back

  1. First the recall is read.

    The official remedy becomes a checklist: what to cut or mark, and what the photo must show.

  2. Then you snap a photo.

    On your phone, in under a minute. No account needed.

  3. Then the photo is verified.

    Claude reads the photo; plain code decides the payout and the amount. Unclear cases get two AI reviewers, then a person.

  4. Then PayPal pays you.

    To your PayPal or Venmo. Inside 180 days of a PayPal purchase, straight back to how you paid.

Search every recall

Type what you bought. Every recall since 2024, read as a checklist.

See a photo become a refund

Start with Brightline’s sample charger: verified, then refunded through PayPal. A check takes about 11 s; about 22 s when the two reviewers look.

Try a photo

Your photo

Sample recall BH-2026-01: Brightline Home 65W laptop chargers

19.5 sthis recorded run

Brightline's sample charger, cord cut. Public-domain photos of one charger, before and after its cord was cut (Dmitry G, Wikimedia Commons). Sample recall; fictional.

  1. Right productConfirmed by two reviewersTwo AI reviewers looked closer and confirmed it, each citing what it saw in the photo.
    The photo check’s own score

    The photo check scored 0.80, under the 0.85 pass mark, and said: “We could not confirm this is the exact recalled product.”

    C1, score 0.80: Claude vision match score 0.8 (pass at 0.85, unclear from 0.5). Strain relief texture, case profile, ferrite bead and barrel plug match the official images. No printed brand, label or model number is readable to confirm the exact product, so score stays below 0.9.
  2. Made safePassedThe photo shows the product made safe.C2: cut_cord: confirmed, confidence 0.9. At left center, the cord is severed at its strain relief collar where it attaches to the case, with stranded bare wires and a white insulated wire sticking out of the cut end. The opened case is at right.
  3. Your own photoPassedThis is a new photo of the product.C3, score 0.92: Claude: camera_photo (confidence 0.92; signs: none). Real hand, natural shadows, shallow focus and a casual tabletop setting with no screen or print artifacts. dHash 337bfb9f4e7f3e0f; nearest official 24 bits, nearest earlier claim none (reused at 10 or less).
  4. Within the recallPassedNo model or lot number is needed for this recall.C4: The proof rule asks for no model, lot or date code, and nothing read conflicts with the recall.
  5. Claim limitsPassedThis claim is within the limit for one purchase.C5: Payee claim 1 of 1 unit purchased; recall claim 1 of 1200 units.
  6. Not already refundedPassedNo PayPal purchase linked.C6: No capture is linked, so there is no earlier PayPal refund or dispute to check.

Verified

Both reviewers found the recalled charger with its cord cut. Code checked their evidence and the amount, and verified it.

How long each step took

This recorded run took 19.5 s: the photo check 8.4 s and the two reviewers 11.0 s, and the checks in code the rest. Across the recorded live runs a check takes about 11 s; about 22 s when the two reviewers look.

Recorded with: Brightline Home's sample recall BH-2026-01, refund $34.99, auto-approve cap $50.00. One live Claude Opus 5.5 run recorded 2026-11-08 ($0.1158), replayed here.

Refund $34.99 back through PayPal, sent at once

Under Brightline's $50.00 auto-approve cap, so no person is needed.

How the refund is sent

Bought with PayPal, it goes back to that purchase: PayPal marked it COMPLETED at once, and says a refund takes 3 to 5 business days to reach the buyer. Otherwise it is a payout to an email or phone, which reached SUCCESS in 16 to 19 s.

Buy the charger in the sandbox and claim it

Photo: Dmitry G, Wikimedia Commons, public domain; brand marks removed for this sample. Sample recall; fictional. A recorded run of Remedy’s real verifier; nothing here calls the AI.

A bigger share every year

From the CPSC Recalls API, pulled Nov 5, 2026. How we counted

1,239
US consumer product recalls from Jan 4, 2024 to Nov 5, 2026, from the CPSC
447
of them refund an owner for a photo of the product made safe
36.1
percent of all recalls in that time
242
of those in 2026 so far, up from 54 in 2024
80.9
percent of recalls cover fewer than 50,000 units: mostly small firms
0
recalls mention PayPal or Venmo anywhere in the remedy

Every tool has one job

Tools

How each one is wired, with its files

For developers

Add verify-and-refund to any recall page. One API call, or our MCP server for AI agents.

Get an API keyRead the docs

A real answer, from this recall’s stored rule 
POST /api/v1/proof-rule
{ "recall_number": "27056" }

200 OK
{ "data": { "rule": {
      "photo_required": true,
      "actions": ["write_recalled"],
      "marker_text": "recalled",
      "must_show": ["whole_product", "marking"],
      "remedy": "full_refund",
      "steps": [
        "Write recalled on the power bank in permanent marker.",
        "Take a photo of the power bank showing the writing."
      ]
    } } }

Questions

Do I need an account?

No. Open the link from your recall notice, follow the checklist, and snap a photo. You only enter where to send the refund.

Where does the money go?

To your PayPal or Venmo, or, if you bought with PayPal in the last 180 days, straight back to how you paid. This demo runs in PayPal's sandbox.

How is the photo checked?

Remedy checks that it shows the recalled product, that it has been made safe as the recall asks, and that it is your own photo. Unclear photos get two AI reviewers and then a person at the firm.

Who pays the refund?

The recalling company, from its own PayPal account. Remedy never holds the money. In this demo every refund comes from a PayPal sandbox account, so no real money moves: Remedy's own on real CPSC recalls, standing in for the recalling firm, and the sample firm's on its fictional sample recalls.

Is this connected to the CPSC?

Remedy uses the CPSC's public recall data. It is an independent tool, not affiliated with the CPSC or any recalling firm.

Refunds, in seconds

Pick a recall, snap a photo, and watch the sandbox payout arrive.

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