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Shipping Information

During any FREE SHIPPING promotions, the lowest cost shipping option will be provided to you free of charge! {Usually China Post with tracking. Delivery time can be quite long. All other shipping options are reduced by the amount the lowest cost option would have been.}

Starting in October, 2015 I changed the way we ship here at SmartieParts.{Postal costs were increasing in Canada so rapidly that it was just getting too expensive for service that wasn't very fast and usually didn't have tracking.} We will now use a distribution service for most of our products going forward.{Exceptions are noted on the product page. These will ship from Canada using CanadaPost.} This allows us to offer much wider choice and more cost effective solutions to all of our customers around the world.  Most of you will also enjoy faster total delivery times.{My fellow Canadians, unfortunately, will suffer slower times vs. when I could ship domestically.  US customers will normally experience similar times as before.  All other customers will likely receive their items considerably faster than I was previously able to deliver} Below you'll see a rundown of the options available.{not all options are available to all destinations}

 The most economical option available.{Other than surface mail, which we don't even offer because it can take months.} Slow to many parts of the world, but nothing lost yet.

 Perceived by some as an upgrade to China Post, Hong Kong Post offers similar delivery times and standards. The tracking information is typically more detailed than with China Post.{Regardless of the service, postal level tracking is often not very useful. Often the package will arrive before the tracking gives any clue where it is. Sometimes the tracking information is never updated. It depends on the sending service but also (and perhaps more so) the receiving country. More than anything, postal tracking is meant as a means of tracing if something goes wrong. It is not the same as courier level tracking where you can actually see near-real time updates as the package moves through the system.}

 Many people swear by Swiss Post since stores like HobbyKing started using them. They are quicker at delivery than China and Hong Kong Post, but in my experience so far, they tend to be on the slow-side of their stated estimates (still not bad). In some cases, the package is actually routed through Zürich and this can cause delays when it happens.{In fact, all of the foreign services can route through their base country. Usually they don't, but I think it depends on the destination and how many packages are going that way on that day. If it is less, they route through the base country to fill up the plane.}

 The German reputation for efficiency is well earned. I tend to see the quickest deliveries with this service, although it greatly depends on the destination. In some cases, it routes through Berlin which can cause delays.

The following services are available to select destinations

 This is the recommended service for customers in the USA.  ePacket is a partnership program between China Post and certain international postal systems and is intended to be a pseudo-express service. The value of this service varies, with it being quite inexpensive in some countries and oddly over-priced in others.  {I recommend this service only if it is well priced for your region. It is certainly faster than China and Hong Kong Post, but debatable if it is any faster than the others. Supposedly it has easier customs clearance, but with these low-valued items that shouldn't normally be much of a consideration.}

 Particularly quick to the UK, and a good choice for all destinations where it is offered, Royal Mail is very reliable and swift. Quite expensive to some locations.{I personally would not say it is worth the premium if you see a significant one during checkout, but the choice is always yours.}

 Belgium Post (bpost) is available to very few countries and is not one which I have a lot of experience with. If you choose it, I welcome your feedback.{Probably an excellent choice for those actually in Belgium.}

 Netherlands Post (postnl) is available to very few countries and is not one which I have a lot of experience with. If you choose it, I welcome your feedback.{Probably an excellent choice for those actually in the Netherlands.}

 
 
 
 

We also have access to the major courier companies if you need faster service. Very few customers choose this, and the rates calculations are complex, so we don't offer live rates right now. Instead, you'll see a flat-rate of $40 for express service. It likely won't be that much.{Typically it is between $17 and $25 to most countries} What we'll do is get the rates and times and present you with the options, then refund you the difference based on your choice. Note: If you're choosing this option, then obviously you're in a hurry. If we don't get a response from you quickly then I'll make my best judgement call. Unfortunately, there's no "overnight" so if you're in too much of a rush, you're probably out of luck. {The absolute fastest it can arrive is 3 business days, and that's unlikely. The warehouse needs up to 24 hours to process, the courier company needs up to 24 hours to pick up and sort, and only then it begins its 3 to 7 day journey}

Notes:

  • All items are shipped to the address you provide as your SHIPPING ADDRESS so please be sure it is correct before completing your order.  We cannot be responsible for items shipped to the wrong address due to mistaken entry by the customer.
  • Shipping insurance is included with every order.  Tracking may not be available with every service, but they all have some form of delivery confirmation.
  • PO Boxes and similar are not always a deliverable address for all services.  Please use a proper street address to avoid returned items (which can take an obscene time to complete)
  • For any promotional flat-rate or free shipping offers, we reserve the right to select whatever carrier and service we wish and there may be no tracking information supplied and no promised delivery time.  We also reserve the right to cancel and refund an order if the difference between the actual shipping costs and promotional shipping price is too great, if the customer doesn't wish to pay the difference.  This should only happen in some cases when an unforseen combination of items are ordered at the same time
  • Promotional flat-rate or free shipping offers do not apply to wholesale discounted orders (ie. any order where entering a higher number of units produces a lower per-unit price).

Returns

As a general policy, SmartieParts does not accept returns for non-defective merchandise.  For niche market merchandise such as we sell, it is impractical to have a Wal-mart-esque, all-encompassing returns policy.  With that said, we don't want you to feel stuck either.  Of course, if the product is defective we'll take care of it.  If it just isn't what you expected, please contact us to discuss your concerns.  If your product is defective, please refer to our warranty page.