SHIPPING POLICIES

United States Shipping Policy:

For United States customers, orders are shipped within one business day. We make our best effort to ship orders received by 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time on the day that they are received. However, due to fluctuations in the volume of orders, we cannot guarantee same day shipment. Please note that when you select a faster shipment method, you are paying for a shorter transit time, not for expediting the preparation of your package. Your shipping choices include USPS Priority Mail®, USPS Express Mail®, and most UPS options. Orders include insurance for your protection as well as ours. Normal delivery for Priority Mail is 2-3 days, and automatically includes Saturday delivery at no extra charge.

In addition to your initial order confirmation email, you will receive tracking information via email when the shipping label is printed. As stated above, orders will ship within one business day. Please allow one business day from the time the label is printed for tracking numbers to become active. We also ask that you read all the information contained within these email notifications before contacting us with questions about your order.

Please note that our shopping cart allows "real time" shipping calculation. After adding items to the shopping cart and entering your shipping address, your shipping choices and their respective costs will be displayed.

Orders Outside the United States:

For those living outside of the United States, your package will normally be shipped within one business day. Following weekends with a high order volume, an additional day may be required. Your shipping choices are listed below. Some of these services may not be available to certain countries. Please read the information below to be certain what each respective shipping option offers as far as tracking, insurance, and transit time before making your selection:

UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE® (USPS®) OPTIONS:

First Class Mail International® does not include insurance and DOES NOT PROVIDE TRACKING. USPS claimed normal transit time for FCMI is 7-21 days, but it often takes up to a month and sometimes even longer.

Priority Mail International® includes insurance and tracking. Normal transit time for PMI is about 10 business days.

Express Mail International® includes insurance and tracking. Normal transit time for EMI is about 6 business days, although it is sometimes no faster than Priority Mail International.

BRAZIL, GERMANY and AUSTRIA: Sorry, but First Class Mail International is no longer offered as an option for these countries. Only options with tracking are available. Over the last couple of years we have been very surprised and disappointed with the number of packages sent to these countries with perfectly good addresses (as supplied by our customers) returned to us. Oftentimes, we receive these returned packages MONTHS after we have shipped them. Priority Mail International, which includes tracking, has been much more reliable. For those in Brazil, please be aware that your own government will charge you customs fees of around 50% of invoice value. We have no control over this. Naturally, if we did, we would abolish this outrageous practice.

UNITED PARCEL SERVICE® (UPS®) OPTIONS:

We no longer offer UPS shipping options outside the United States. This is due to UPS's ridiculous policy of not allowing access to shipping rate calculation software to any company that offers shipping from competing carriers. Because of this policy, we are unable to accurately estimate shipping rates for UPS. Therefore, due to the unwillingness of UPS to compete with other carriers for your business, we have excluded them entirely.

NOTES FOR ALL SHIPMENTS:

The respective transit times begin when the package has actually been accepted by the postal service, NOT at the time your order is placed. Once the package arrives in your country, any time spent in customs is not included in the stated transit time. First Class Mail International® does not provide the ability to track the shipment.

In addition to your initial order confirmation email, you will receive tracking information via email when the shipping label is printed. Remember that First Class Mail International® does not provide tracking. Please allow one business day from the time the label is printed for tracking numbers to become active. We also ask that you read all the information contained within these email notifications before contacting us with questions about your order.