Shipping, handling, and sales tax

 

 

Shipping address: Please check before ordering that your address in PayPal is current to make sure that your order is shipped to the correct address.

 

US Customers:

During PayPal checkout, you can select either USPS Priority mail or USPS Express shipping and handling. Rates for Priority start at $6.75 for orders up to $50. Shipping charges increase in increments of $3 for each additional $50 of merchandise.

 

Sales tax is automatically added to North Carolina orders.

 

International customers:

 

Shipping with the US Postal Service

1. On checking out, the default option for shipping is USPS Priority. If your order total is less than $50, we ship in a flat-rate Priority envelope. Note that this is not a tracked service. S&H for flat-rate Priority is $25 ($21 for Canada).

2. If you prefer a tracked service, change the shipping method to USPS Express or contact us for an alternative.

For order totals of $50 or greater, you have two shipping options in the PayPal shopping cart:

1. Priority International--Note that this is not the flat-rate service mentioned above. You can track the shipment online. Estimated transit time is 6-10 business days. S&H for Priority International starts at $45 ($30 for Canada).
2. Express International--You can track the shipment online. Estimated transit times are 3-5 business days. S&H for Express International starts at $45 ($36 for Canada).

The above shipping times are not guaranteed, because shipments can be held up by the Customs office of the destination country to await payment of duty or VAT. It's wise for customers to watch the tracking information to see when the shipment reaches Customs. If the shipment remains in Customs for more than a few days, contact Customs or your post office to find out the reason.

 

If you need date-certain delivery, we can ship by USPS Global Express Guaranteed (GXG). The USPS contracts with FedEx for this service. FedEx acts as a broker to expedite moving your shipment through Customs. Transit times are 1-3 business days. The rates for GXG are much higher than for USPS Express. By the way, the same is true for other brokered services such as provided by UPS and DHL. If you need rapid, guaranteed service, contact us for rates.

 

When we ship your items, we attach a Customs form and in some cases an invoice as required by postal regulations. On the Customs form, we identify the contents as merchandise. We don't honor requests to list the contents as a gift. This would put both the customer and us in violation of postal regulations of both the US and the destination country.

 

Payment of duty, value-added taxes, and handling that are assessed by the destination country are the responsibility of the customer. Many countries have a threshold value for commercial shipments below which taxes and handling charges are not assessed. Check your own country's Customs regulations for this information.

 

In the event that you think a shipment is lost, check with your Customs office to find out if they're holding the package for payment of taxes. If not, contact us. We can initiate an official request to the US Postal Service to locate the package. Once we make the request, it can take a 2 weeks to receive an answer. At that time, if the USPS has determined that the package is lost, we can initiate a claim and refund your purchase.