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1) Product Availability: We can't guarantee that all products are always available. Most of the products are in stock, but our stock changes daily. If you order an item it will usually be available within 1-3 days depending on the item ordered. Large or very eloquent figurines are usually made when ordered and available to be shipped within 1-3 days depending on design. You will be notified if an item has to be made to fill your order and the time frame involved so that you may contact your customer. It usually only takes 1-3 days to make and ship an item that is not in stock
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2) Drop Ship fee: None.
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3) Our Roles & Liabilities: To a drop shipping customer, we assume two roles: A) as a supplier and B) as a third party shipping agent.
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We'll explain:
A) As a supplier: We sell you product at wholesale rates and you resell it to somebody else at retail rates and you pay us. This is all very straightforward and typical.
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B) As a third party shipping agent: Since instead of shipping the product to you and you sending it to your customer, we are required to drop ship it to your customer, we assume a new role: third party shipping agent. This new role is independent of our role as a supplier. All we do in this role is to ship a package for you as a service the same way that if you go to the Post Office to get the same service. We need to make this point very clear because sometimes customers blur the line between the two roles and want us to assume liabilities in areas where is not our business. Your customer that you ask us to drop ship to, it's precisely that, your customer. It's not our customer and we don't get involved in whatever problems may occur between you and them, such as product returns, refused shipments, bad shipping address, etc, etc. To give an example: If your customer decides to return an item for whatever reason (since they have a right to do so), and you used the Post Office to ship it, you don't go back to the Post Office and request a refund of the shipping charges, well, it's the same with us. We were requested to provide a shipping service and we did that, end of the story. We only assume liability for defective product (has to be truly defective). If there is damage during transportation, we'll do a claim with UPS and issue a replacement or a refund assuming that some guidelines have been met (read the sections on damages and returns).
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4) Shipping: Select your items. Once your order has been processed your credit/Debit card with be charged using the financial information you have provided.
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5) Payment Terms: Orders will not be shipped until paid in full. This also applies to International clients drop shipping to the U.S.
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6) Drop Shipping Customer Support: For questions, drop shipping account set up and general drop shipping support use the forms on the website to contact us. We will answer your questions as quickly as possible.
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7) Suggested Retail Prices: You need to set up retail prices based on your particular need and business model.
We suggest that your retail prices be no less than double your cost as it is done by just about everybody. Your cost being the wholesale price shown on this website or half the retail price.
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8) Cost of a Drop Ship Order: On a typical drop ship order your cost will be: A) the wholesale price of the item, B) The drop Ship fee:None. C) The freight charges to ship the item to your customer's location. That's the whole cost. No other fees apply on a typical drop ship order. The item prices are F.O.B. Jefferson Township, Pennsylvania. F.O.B. meaning "freight on board" refers to the fact that the prices are for merchandise based at our location in Jefferson TWP., PA, and in order to take the item to your customer's location, it will be a freight charge.
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9) Damages: If the product gets damaged during shipping, we'll do a damage claim with the carrier.
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We require that you report the damage to us no longer than 24 hours after the customer receives the package and that the original box with it's packaging materials be saved to repack the package since UPS will pick up the damage parcel to inspect it. Taking too long to report the damage or to no longer have the original box will result in the rejection of the damage claim by UPS which means that we wont be able to issue a refund or credit for the damage product. It's your responsibility to make sure that your customer follows these procedures. Normally, when damaged product gets reported on time, we either reship a replacement item or issue a refund of all charges.
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10) Returns: Your mail order / internet customers usually have a right to return product within 30 days as part of federal guidelines for consumer protection. That means that they can return orders for just about any reason (didn't like it, not as expected, changed my mind, the color doesn't match my walls, etc, etc. These situations are not our responsibility. Once your customer decides to return product, it will be their responsibility to ship it back to us in proper condition. Keep in mind that consumers are often not very skilled at packing, so the chances of getting the product damaged are significant. We recommend that in that situation, you instruct your customer to repack the product carefully. If your customer is not able to ship the package by themselves, UPS has a pick up service. You would need to let us know that you require that service and we'll issue a call tag (there is a UPS call tag fee of $7.75). Usually customers ship the product by themselves. If we receive the returned product in proper conditions, we'll refund the product price. The freight charges and the drop ship fee are not refundable.
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We'll accept product returns liability only if the product is defective. We'll determine that the product is defective only after we inspect it after it comes back. Customers saying that they didn't like it or overly picky customers that want perfection for a few dollars are not part of our definition of defective. Defective means something that it's clearly wrong to most people. Keep in mind that this happens very rarely.
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11) Post Office Shipments: We'll do shipments via Post Office only to Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and some international destinations via priority mail international or express mail. Post Office shipments to Puerto Rico and other countries require a copy of your invoice to your customer as per U.S. Customs requirements. Please email this at the time of placing your order.
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12) International Shipments: Same as #11 and...
We require Drop Ship Customers to submit their invoice to be enclosed in the box for several reasons:
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13) we are acting on behalf of you and want to fill out the customs paperwork to your value specifications.
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14) we ship packages for many different customers who have special requirements; having our customers provide the invoice as a default ensures we fulfill your requests; we need a single procedure for all customers.
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15) it is prudent to also put an address inside the box in case the exterior paperwork becomes detached or unreadable; this helps ensure delivery.
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16) we send the items by Priority Mail which are essentially not trackable; by enclosing an invoice, this minimizes the delays in delivery due to customs questions;
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Yes, we are aware that the package will be accepted by the post office without a commercial document. But UPS does not accept packages without them -- so we chose to standardize for all shipments this way. We are taking every measure to make sure that your customer receives the package in as expedient a fashion as possible.
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17) Air Shipments: Sorry but we do not do over night or next day air at this time. We hope to in the near future.
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18) Shipping Time: The time that we take to ship an order varies depending on our work load and the size of the order but it's usually within 1 or 3 days if the item is in stock, although it can take longer. Once we ship an item by UPS Ground, it will take up to 5-6 business days to reach destination depending on the location. The day of shipping doesn't get counted as one of the shipping days. Click this link for delivery time zones for UPS.
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Arrival dates are not guaranteed by UPS or any other carrier unless it is a second or next day air shipments which are very expensive. Occasionally a package can take an extra day.
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19) Address verification: It's important that you make sure that the shipping address is accurate. If the address is wrong or has spelling errors, UPS will charge an address correction fee of $8.00 which we reserve the right to charge you. A wrong address can also delay the delivery of the box or it can get the box delivered to the wrong address with the consequent loss of the product, etc, etc. It's a good idea to verify the accuracy of the address with the Post Office website or UPS.
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20) Shipping to APO's ( you will need to contact us for shipping costs) and P.O. Boxes: Shipping to military locations overseas (APO's) will be done via Post Office Priority Mail. Shipments to P.O. Boxes in the continental 48 states can't be done. UPS requires an actual street address.
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21) How to place a drop ship order: Place the order online on our website and enter your customer's information as the shipping address. We do not put any of our paperwork in the box so your customer will not see wholesale prices. After the order ships, we'll e-mail you an invoice with the box tracking information. We don't accept drop ship orders via the phone since we don't want to make spelling mistakes and we need a record of the original request that we can go back to in case of complications. Once the order ships, we'll send you an e-mail with the box tracking number.
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22) Sales tax rules: At this time we do not charge sales tax for shipments in Pennsylvania. The states may change this policy in the future.
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Special Note:
Please make sure your email address is listed correctly on the order form.
For those of you who have spam filters in place, please make sure you permit email from the domain crystalmountaincreations.us to be delivered or we will not be able to contact you and you may not receive your order confirmation or order tracking information email.
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Crystal Mountain Creations
27 River Street, Wakeman, OH 44889-9474
Wholesale to the trade only.
Page updated 2/28/2009
