Shipping Information

Domestic vs International Shipping

We are based in the United States.  Our items have a large range of size.  Some of our items are set up to automatically allow shipping to Canada and/or Europe while others are set up to only allow a purchase from within the United States.  If you are located outside of the US and are interested in one of our items that is not enabled for shipping to your location, please contact us.  We often make one-time adjustments to listings to enable international shipping if we can agree on a shipping price.

Shipping Charges

We charge a flat rate for shipping and packaging on all items.  This charge is typically calculated as an estimate of the cost of postage, plus the cost of packaging materials.  This method utilizes the law of averages:  Sometimes the shipping charge is slightly higher than the cost of postage plus materials and sometimes it is slightly lower depending on the location of the buyer and other factors.  We do this for simplicity purposes and we do not try to make a profit on the shipping.  Our shipping and handling charge is always clearly posted for our buyers to easily discern their total expense.

Combined Shipping Charges

We support combined shipping!  If you are purchasing more than one item from us, please contact us, or request an invoice to be emailed to you, and we will gladly combine shipping charges to save you money.  For larger bulk orders, we prefer to quote you one bulk discounted price for the purchase and the shipping, so please contact us for volume and bulk pricing for large orders.  Please see our volume discount page for more information on bulk pricing (all sales must be completed through eBay if the item was found on eBay).

Handling time

Our stellar feedback is filled with customers who comment on how quickly they receive their items.  Quick shipping is something we strive for.  Still, there are rare problems that occur that are not always in our control, therefore, we do not guarantee any delivery dates.  We use a combination of drop-shipping arrangements with US-based manufacturers, and direct shipping from our location.  For items at our location, we ship 99% of our items within 72 business hours (usually 24-48 hours) from the date that the payment is verified.  For items that are drop-shipped directly from the suppliers (typically larger globes and wall maps), 99% of items are shipped within 1-4 days of your payment.  All of our suppliers are very good at shipping quickly and consistently.

* In rare cases, we may be out of the office for a few days, in which case, we will place a vacation notice on our store and in all of our listings, and we will attend to your orders and questions as soon as we return.*

Why do we drop-ship some items? 

Because it saves you money.  Large globes and wall maps can be expensive to ship.  By drop-shipping these larger items, we are eliminating the wholesale transit of the items from the manufacturers to us so that the item only has to be shipped once--straight from the manufacturer to you.  This cuts our overhead expenses way down and allows us to pass on those savings to our customers!  We work very closely with our manufacturers to ensure that they ship timely and package professionally.  They are all located here in the United States and are legitimate manufacturers.  We don't use fake wholesalers based out of China.

Confirmed address required for PayPal payments on items of $250.00 or more

We gladly accept Paypal and mailed payments for all of our items.  If using PayPal for a purchase of $250.00 or more, we require you to have a confirmed address in the PayPal system.  PayPal requires this in order for the seller to be protected against fraudulent buyers.  We know that 99.9% of buyers are honest, but we still must protect our business against those few bad apples out there.  We hope you understand.  If you don't want to, or can't, confirm your address with PayPal, you can send us a money order.

Shipping Methods

We generally use the best method available in terms of transit time and cost.  This is usually USPS First Class or Priority, or UPS Ground.  Our suppliers may occasionally use FedEx as well.

Shipping Insurance

Shipping insurance is included on all purchases of $100.00 or more.  You can request shipping insurance on any item.  We just charge you the pass-through cost for that.  If you would like shipping insurance added to your purchase, please let us know.

Packaging

All of our items are professionally and carefully packaged in quality boxes or envelopes.  Great care is taken to minimize shipping damage.