Our Shipping Fees for Distillation Kits and items containing Glassware,
Also: International shipping, refunds, insurance, breakage, etc
Payment methods accepted: Paypal, Master card and Visa, and Cashier's checks or Money orders get instant shipment upon receipt*. Credit Cards: For domestic shipments unless previously arranged, and for all international shipments, we WILL NOT ship to an address that is different from your credit card billing address. Personal and business checks may be held for 10 business days to clear before we will ship
WE SHIP ONLY AFTER FULL PAYMENT IS RECEIVED, sorry no exceptions. We have no problem with you making payments until full payment is made, then we will ship the item. WE DO NOT SHIP COD.
*NOTE: Although we try very hard to be prompt in shipment and are normally very fast, sometimes things just happen that make us a bit late. Officially, we reserve the right to take up to 7 business days from receipt of payment to ship your item Please take this into account especially if requesting express shipment methods.
In an effort to get your items delivered safely, we ship glass-containing packages via UPS only within the USA lower 48 states
We ship via UPS ONLY WITHIN THE CONTINENTAL USA To Alaska, Hawaii and Canada we ship via USPS priority mail. For international shipments of distillation kits we use USPS EMS global express If the package contains glassware and is over 30 pounds, oversize, or both, we charge $20 packing fee plus actual UPS or postal fees Instead of having you pay for insurance (which is useless because shipping services don't gracefully honor insurance claims for glass items) we make good use of high quality packing materials and extra heavy boxes. In the event anything breaks during shipping, we replace it at our expense (see below).
INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING
PLEASE NOTE: Due to post office size restrictions, some of our items are too large for single box postal shipments to Europe and other countries, and so the shipment must be broken up into TWO or more boxes Please take this into account when purchasing large items for overseas shipment. Usually the second box will cost you $60 to $80 in additional postal fees.
NOTE: We ship international only using "priority mail" and "express mail", because tracking is not avaliable on any less-expensive postal services (airmail, surface, etc). We will NOT ship internationally via these non-trackable methods.
CUSTOMS FEES, DUTIES AND IMPORT TAXES
Please note that some countries may charge Customs entry fees, import duties and/or taxes upon your purchase entering your country. We have no control over this and also no way to predict whether you might be charged these fees or not. These fees are in addition to the price of the item and what you paid us to ship it to you, are levied by your country and have nothing to do with us or the price of transportation. It is up to you to find out if these fees might apply to your purchase and decide if you are willing to pay them. This is your responsibility- Our standard refund policies below apply if you decide to return a package because these fees have been applied and you refuse to pay them.
WARRANTY, DAMAGES and REFUNDS
We warrant that our distillation products will arrive to you intact and in proper working condition, and we also warrant all parts for a 90 day period, excluding damage or breakage due to mishap or misuse on the customer's part. You have 10 (TEN) calender days from receipt of your product to report missing or broken items. After ten days we can no longer honor requests for shipping-damaged or missing parts.
In the event that the shipper breaks a glass item We will, at our option, either replace or repair any broken glass items at our expense, and we may ask that the broken items be returned to us -well packed- no matter how badly they might be broken. We will pay the cost of shipping of the replacement parts to you. We will reimburse you for your return shipping at POSTAL ground rates only (this is because some customers have shipped things back via next-day-air, or through services like Kinkos, whos shipping fees can cost more than the item is worth which we will not pay for)
You must report the damage to us within ten days, including an emailed photo of the damage. We will then give you further instructions, and replace the part at our expense.
ALSO PLEASE NOTE that we will only send ONE warranty replacement package at our expense i.e. if you report a broken flask on a Monday and we ship you a replacement, then the following Wednesday you report a broken condenser, etc, the second item(s) WILL NOT be covered by warranty. YOU MUST report ALL defective items at one time, within the ten day period, for them to be covered by our -gets there intact- shipping warranty. {WHY? because if there is an issue we try to rectify it immediately by shipping quickly, to keep you happy. It is not reasonable to make us send you two or three packages, day after day, as you take your time finding things that may be wrong.}
SHIPPER- DAMAGED ITEMS:
If you choose to make a damage claim with the shipper, we will work with you to help in any way we can. Please note that if a damage claim is paid by UPS, they have the right to take the item for disposal. If the damage is found by the shipper to be due to poor packaging on our part, we will refund your item price but not the shipping fees, when the item is returned to us. You must pay the return shipping fees unless other arrangements are made with us first. (This may sound strange, but in instances where, for example, the item is heavy, worth $5 and the shipping costs are $75, we cannot cover the shipping fees)
PURCHASE REFUNDS: Ebay returns are not accepted, per our ebay ad.
Our policy for NON-ebay items:
If you decide you just don't want the item for whatever reason, and you HAVE NOT OPENED THE BOX OR USED THE ITEM OR KIT, we will make the refund ONLY in the same manner as it was origionally paid...ie if you paid by check you will receive a check, or if you paid via Paypal, we will refund you, via Paypal. We will refund you, minus shipping costs and restocking fees, as follows :
(1) The item (or complete kit in the case of sets) must be returned to us TRACKABLY in the carrier's system within ten calender days of it's "delivered" date, as shown by UPS or USPS tracking, in the same condition it was when we shipped it to you, unused, with the original packing and box. You MUST email us first for return authorization.
(2) If the box has been opened and resealed by anyone (including Customs) we charge a 15% restocking fee which is calculated from the total you paid us (item total not including shipping).
Ê ÊÊ ÊIf the box has been unopenedÊ when it returns, we will deduct our restocking fee of 10% from your refund and we will also deduct the original shipping fees from your refund
(3) You are financially responsible for all return shipping, and it MUST be shipped back via the same method and carrier that it was shipped to you. NO OTHER CARRIER or SHIPPING METHOD is acceptable. .
Also, if the package has been opened and resealed, and anything is broken during any part of the trip, you are responsible for any replacement fees and/or UPS insurance claims. We will deduct the replacement price of any items broken from your refund, and it will be up to you to recover those fees from UPS.
(4) For reasons that should be obvious, WE DO NOT GIVE REFUNDS ON NEW GLASSWARE OR ESSENTIAL OIL DISTILLER SYSTEMS THAT HAVE BEEN USED- if we find that any of the parts of a new item or kit were used, we will return the entire item or kit to you at your expense and a refund will not be given.
(5) INTERNATIONAL RETURNS: If the item is shipped back to us for refund and we have to pay customs import duties to receive the item, these fees will be deducted from your refund.
(6) Refunds will be processed within 30 calender days of receipt of returned goods.
UPGRADES: If you wish to return a new unused kit so that you can upgrade to a larger or different kit, we will issue you a credit towards the upgrade, for the kit price you paid us less shipping, when we receive and inspect the returned kit. It MUST be returned to us in the same condition it was when we shipped it to you, with the original packing and box. You are responsible for all return shipping, and it MUST be shipped back via UPS. NO OTHER CARRIER is acceptable.
Note: While the above refund/return policies may seem a bit "stiff" on our part, you have to realize that when dealing with laboratory glassware, we must take the entire kit apart, thoroughly inspect each piece and then run each glass piece through the annealing kiln to be absolutely sure it is 100% clean, because even though you may have "never opened the box", there is no way we can really tell, so we have to do it the hard way. Then we have to reinspect & repack everything in new boxes before we can ship it to another customer... it's a lot of work....
DUMB GOOFS on our part:
If, for example, we do something really stupid like ship you the wrong item, we will either replace it with the correct one (if we can locate it) or refund you 100% including shipping, when we receive the incorrect item back in the same condition it was when we shipped it to you. We pay for all shipping in this situation.
If you have any further questions about our policies, please write to us at nightsongs@cox.net BEFORE making your purchase, so we can work it out in advance.
Ê