Ordering & Shipping Policies
Many businesses do NOT disclose their detailed policies. WE BELIEVE IN FULL DISCLOSURE & FAIRNESS for our valued customers. That’s why our policy statements are as detailed as they are.
Review your order carefully & double check all your information & order.
To avoid mistakes, please take time to fully review and double-check all information and items being ordered. If you place the order and realize you omitted something, please call us immediately at 703-801-2565. In some cases, it may be most efficient to CANCEL that order and place a new one.
Order Cancellation: to cancel an order, you must: (1) telephone 703-801-2565 , (2) within 2 hours after placing the order. After that 2-hour period, you order is final with NO refunds, No returns & No exchanges. Read policy ➤
Due to the COVID-19 PANDEMIC & Climate Change Extreme Weather: delivery by specific dates is NOT guaranteed or promised. Despite truly heroic efforts working 24/7 at the risk of Covid-19 infection, ALL shipping services including USPS may still have slow or delayed deliveries; and they no longer ‘guarantee’ deliveries by specific dates. This is due to: (1) employee Covid-19 illness; (2) unprecedented demand for deliveries during the Covid-19 pandemic; (3) fossil fuel-driven, climate change extreme weather disruptions. So we ALERT you to our policies necessitated by these new realities of USA delivery services. Our promise: (1) as quickly as possible & no later than 24 hrs. after you place an order, we will have it packaged, insured and scheduled for pickup by whichever shipping service included with your order [USPS; FedEx; UPS]; (2) we will promptly email you your receipt, shipping & insurance confirmation, and tracking number.
SHIPPING DELAYS, TRACKING PACKAGES & FILING INSURANCE CLAIMS ARE NOT OUR RESPONSIBILITY!
Of course, we have no control over the shippers and the factors determining their delivery schedule. We have no control over whether a shipment is damaged during delivery. When you place an order, please understand the following important points.
(1) You are accepting the possibility of delays in delivery despite our timely processing of your order.
(2) You are agreeing that delivery delays are NOT a valid reason for cancellation, return, or refund of your order.
(3) At NO EXTRA COST TO YOU, we provide insurance covering lost or damaged shipments. You agree it is your responsibility to track you shipment, and to file any necessary insurance claim with the insurance entity for lost or damaged shipments. We are NOT liable for reimbursing, refunding, or replacing any items that may be lost or damaged by the shipping company.
If your item is shipped by Priority Mail, be aware of these USPS Priority Mail rules:
(1) Priority Mail is NOT considered ‘late’/’delayed delivery’ by USPS until 5 work days after the shipment date. IF you have not received your Priority Mail shipment by the 6th day after it was shipped, you can submit an email to your local post office requesting an investigation of the delivery status.
(2) If USPS reports a package as ‘in transit, but delayed delivery’, USPS will NOT pay an insurance claim on that package until USPS’s investigation reports the package as ‘lost’ or ‘undeliverable’.
(3) USPS also will pay an insurance claim for ship damaged items. If that unfortunately happens, you will be responsible for documenting the damage and filing a claim with USPS consistent with their policies
Here is the link to USPS instructions related to filing claims: https://www.usps.com/help/claims.htm
GENERAL SHIPPING POLICIES.
Free shipping. In most cases, we provide free shipping and free insurance for the shipment. In those cases, we make that clear in the listing and price for that item on the website. If you wish to use a different shipper: call us before you place your order to discuss options and whether additional costs apply.
Where do we sell & ship? We ship only to the USA 50 states
We are delighted to sell to residents of Alaska or Hawaii, but do NOT offer free delivery.
We do NOT sell or ship to USA Territories.
At the present time, we do NOT sell or ship to Canada or other countries.
What shippers do we use?
For jewelry & most other smaller items, we use insured USPS Priority Mail.
For other items, we may offer USPS, Federal Express or UPS options. In such cases, the listed price will also indicate whether shipping is free or will be an extra charge based on size & weight of packed item, zip code, and insurance amounts. When items include FREE FedEx or UPS shipping and insurance, we will state that it is included in the item price.
The following items usually will be shipped by FedEx or UPS: pottery; Navajo weavings; paintings; sculpture.
Time period required to process order & ship.
We try to ship within 24 hours after an order is confirmed. Holidays or high volume periods may be exceptions.
Expedited shipment: please call before placing an order to see if it’s possible & if added costs are involved.
Normal office hours: Monday to Friday, 11am to 7pm [Eastern time zone]; Saturday 12pm-5pm. Shipping normally takes place to avoid weekends whenever possible.
UPS and FedEX ship/deliver normally Monday-Friday. Saturday deliveries have premium costs
USPS generally predicts PriorityMail 2=3 day delivery in the continental USA, including Saturdays. USPS does not consider Priority Mail delivery to be ‘late’ until 5 delivery days after the mailing date, and even then allows up to 15 delivery days additional before considering whether to declare a package as ‘lost’. USPS insurance does NOT cover delivery delays if the item is delivered without being declared ‘lost’.
Tracking shipments. When your order is paid for, confirmed & shipped, we will email you a ‘paid’ invoice with ship & insurance notice, & tracking number. It is YOUR responsibility to track the item and confirm delivery, and YOUR responsibility to file claims for loss or damage during shipment. In that event, we provide you with documentation originating with us: sale receipt; shipping & insurance documentation.
Why We Care & Take Special Steps to Protect Your Purchases During Shipping.
The authentic Native American art items we sell, & that you buy with your hard-earned money, are items you & we treasure. They also represent the artist’s many hours of labor & years devoted to learning & developing artistic skills inherited from their past generations. Having such items lost or damaged in shipment is not only very disappointing, but also represents loss of all the effort expended by the artists in sharing their treasures with us, and loss of your effort in searching for those special treasures. Reality is that these days, shipping can subject items to rough handling & extreme weather conditions that pose a risk of loss or damage.
To minimize those risks, we expend significant time & money in carefully packaging, insuring & shipping these art treasures when you buy them. We willingly reduce our profit margin to try to minimize the potential for your purchased art to be lost or damaged in shipment to you. Please see our detailed description of the packaging materials we use to not only reduce shipment damage, but also protect your health & the health of Mother Earth. Learn More ➤
Shipping & shipping insurance has gotten expensive. Insurers also have adopted somewhat rigorous procedures & documentation requirements to prove lost or damaged items are their responsibility. This is the result of unscrupulous individuals who try to ‘rip-off’ shipping & insurance companies with false claims.
Steps We Take to Minimize the Potential You Receive Damaged Items
You can rest assured: We do NOT sell or ship damaged items. We carefully inspect all items we purchase from Native American artists or their preferred wholesale partners. If we detect damage or defects on new jewelry items, we reject them. Of course, all hand-made jewelry items using natural materials will have minor imperfections because they are hand-made, & natural materials [such as semi-precious stones like turquoise] inherently have minor imperfections. Those minor & subtle imperfections in hand-made items are NOT ‘defects’.
Some artists are more skilled than others & use higher quality, more expensive materials—thus producing finished jewelry art that has fewer hand-made imperfections. The very best Native American artists produce art that is as ‘perfect’ as any hand-made item can be. And their art is accordingly more expensive. All of the Native American arts we offer are from skilled artists, but some are more skilled than others, use rarer or higher quality semi-precious stones, & offer more unique or innovative designs.
To assist you in visualizing any ‘imperfections’, we spend considerable time with high quality photography equipment to provide you with high-quality, detailed photos that enable you to carefully and closely examine the art for any minor imperfections due to natural materials & hand-made processes.
We carefully pack your shipment with non-toxic, earth-friendly, quality materials to minimize potential damage
We provide FREE ship insurance for most items: see individual item listings.
We ship fast & use only trusted shippers: USPS; UPS; FedX.
On some items, we may pay to require an adult signature to verify delivery of your item
In the event of shipment loss or damage: unless noted otherwise, it is your responsibility to document any loss or damage, and file the appropriate claim required by the shipping agency. We will assist you by providing documents originating with us: proof of insurance; purchase receipts; shipping documents.
Insurance against ship damage & loss.
Unless noted otherwise, at no added expense to you, we provide full-value insurance for the item you purchase from us [e.g., jewelry items].
Unless the insurer requires otherwise, YOU have responsibility for filing a claim with the insurance provider and providing the insurer with whatever documentation they require on their deadline. WE do NOT have responsibility for filing an insurance claim or for the final decision or payment by the shipper/insurer. However, we will provide YOU with copies of appropriate documents originating from us [e.g., proof of insurance; sale receipt; shipping documentation]. FYI, insurance agencies usually require the following actions or documentation from you: (1) timely reporting the loss or damage of the shipment, along with tracking information; (2) keeping ALL shipping & packaging materials which the insuring agent or shipper may want to inspect [if you dispose of those items, it may adversely affect your claim]; (3) photographing evidence of damage to the shipping carton or contents; (4) fully cooperating with the carrier and insurer to file appropriate shipping claim forms on their timeframes.
Do NOT return any damaged shipments or merchandise to us—YOU must keep them until told otherwise by the insurance agent/carrier! The claim will be processed between YOU and the carrier/insurance agent. Most insurance agents/carriers also require you to sign an affidavit to verify a legitimate claim.
We have no liability or responsibility if you fail to fully & timely comply with the claim process and the insurance agent. If for whatever reason the insurance entity denies your claim, we do NOT have responsibility for reimbursing you, refunding you, or replacing an item.