FAQs
When can I collect my paint?
We have thousands of unique items in store. As you can imagine, it can sometimes take us a little while to locate your exact items. Tins are sometimes accidentally mis-shelved and prove tricky to find. If you have bought paint online, please either:
a. Give us 24 hours to locate your item on the shelf, OR
b. Wait for our "Ready for pickup" notification to arrive, OR
c. Give us a call to check that we've located your items
before visiting us in store.
If you're in a big rush and we're not open on the day you need paint, give us a call before you place your order and we'll try to accommodate early pickup. Custom colour mixing may add an extra day.
Can you deliver my paint?
We may be able to arrange delivery (to a Sydney address or interstate) provided:
a. You are buying paint off the shelf (not needing custom mixing), and
b. Your order value is over $100 before shipping, and
c. Your paint is contained one or more plastic tubs, or can easily be placed inside a plastic tub, due to the high risk of tins becoming damaged in transit and leaking paint.
If your order meets all of the criteria above, please send us a message enquiring about shipping prior to placing your order. As a guide, shipping one or two 15 litre tubs of paint to a capital city address (Sydney or elsewhere) cost around $40 at August 2025. Shipping to a regional location cost twice as much.
How much paint will I need?
This one is tricky. We've got some information to help you figure this out on the "DIY tips" page of our website.
Can you sell me a smaller quantity of a listed type of paint?
Yes we can. If you can see a listing for paint you want, but there's too large a quantity, send us an email saying how much of the tin or tub you want. The minimum quantity we will split off from a larger tin is 1 litre. We usually have empty tins or tubs that we can decant paint into and we'll create a listing for the smaller amount you want so you just pay for what you need. If you have your own container we'll probably offer you a discount because you've saved us the time of washing out an empty tin or tub.
If you would prefer your paint to be poured into a new tin, add "Empty 4L tin" to your cart before you check out.
Can you tint paint to the colour I want?
The short answer is "yes". Please read the process on the “Pricing and Custom Orders” page of our website.
Can I mix my own paints to get a colour and sheen level I'm after?
Yes, you can, provided you're mixing interior water-based paints with interior water-based paints or mixing exterior water-based paints with exterior water-based paints. You can also combine solvent-based paints of the same type.
It is also possible to mix paints of different sheen levels to get a sheen that is mid-way between the two. If you do this, be mindful that if you need more paint than you originally bought, it's going to be hard to exactly match the unique sheen level from your first batch when you mix up more paint.
We hope it goes without saying that you cannot mix oil-based and water-based paints.
Do you sell bathroom and kitchen paint?
The difference between ordinary interior paint and bathroom/kitchen paint is the addition of an anti-mould agent, and we sell this additive.
You can pick any paint you like (water-based or solvent-based) and add it to your cart, then search "mould" using the search tool at the top right of the page and add the 1L quantity of anti-mould additive.
When you reach checkout, make sure you adjust the number of anti-mould additive items to match the volume of paint you need treated. For example, if you want to treat a 4 litre tin of paint, buy 4 units of anti-mould additive.
If you are buying more than one kind of paint, please leave a note at checkout saying which paint you want treated with the anti-mould additive. If you forget to leave a message we'll get in touch to clarify this.
If you want to buy the anti-mould additive to paint you have at home, bring a small container with you. The ratio is 5ml of additive per litre of paint.
Help! I didn't buy enough paint for my project! What do I do?
We cannot create a fresh batch that is an exact match for a particular colour, and we have heard that other paint stores can't do better than us if the colour isn't a standard computer-tinted shade.
If you think haven't got enough paint to complete your project, please either make sure you finish one section before you run out of paint, or complete one whole coat with the original batch then buy more from us for the second coat. The colour difference won’t be noticeable if you use a new batch of the custom colour for a second coat.
Please bring us a wet sample of your custom colour. Even a dribble of wet paint will make our job easier and your colour match closer.
What if I arrive to collect my paint purchased online, and realise I don't like the colour in real life?
When you collect your paint, please check that you're happy with the colour by looking at the swatch on the label. If you take it home with you, we won't necessarily agree to a refund if you want to return it.
We know that colours can look different in real life to how they look online, so if you arrive at our store and don't like the shade, we'll offer you options on the spot of:
-
a swap for another colour on the shelf, or
-
adjustment of the colour by mixing the original colour with another colour (or colours) at a charge of $15 per mix (there may be a delay of up to 2 days for this service), or
- a full refund.
Most of our customers who have wanted to change their colour have opted for the colour adjustment. All have been happy with the adjusted colour we've mixed for them.
Please be aware that it can take a few days for our payment provider (Shopify) to process a refund. We can't speed up that process.
What if there is something wrong with the paint?
If you get home and discover that we've missed lumps in the paint during quality assurance, or it smells odd, please bring it back. We'll offer you a full refund, or if you prefer we can exchange your paint. We want you to have a good experience with our paint!
What if I change my mind about the colour after I've bought paint from you, or realise I've bought too much paint?
We do not provide refunds or store credit for:
- custom mixed paint, or
- bulk mixed paint.
The time we invest in custom mixing and bulk mixing is more than the value of the paint itself, and there is no way of us recovering that time once it's been invested.
If you bought paint off the shelf (i.e. it wasn't mixed for you) and you take it home then decide that you want a different colour, or you realise you bought too much, we will issue store credit for the returned tin or tub provided the paint is returned in completely untouched condition. The credit value will be your purchase price less a $7 restocking fee.
If you have used part of the tin or tub, you are welcome to donate the paint back to us, but we do not provide store credit.
Can I trust that the paint is good quality?
We believe so! We trust that the paint inside a tin or tub is what's on the label, but we also check that the consistency is what we're expecting based on the type of paint. We occasionally judge that paint has been watered down for spraying, in which case we send the paint to Paintback instead of trying to sell it.
95% of the paint we have in stock is Dulux product. We have a small amount of Resene, Wattyl, White Knight, Taubmans, Berger Gold, Porters Paints, and British Paints. The brand of paint is noted on the product listing. Resene, White Knight, and Porters are all considered to be premium paints, as are the top line Wattyl products.
The exact type of paint will be described in the listing, so you know what you're getting. We don't mix brands of paint unless you have agreed we will do this to achieve a tricky custom colour.
Why do you charge money for your paint when you get it for free?
Circle Paints has substantial overheads - principally rent, paint transport, and cataloging costs - which it needs to recoup. The price of our paint is as cheap as we can make it while still remaining viable. We are currently run by a group of fabulous volunteers.