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Shipping
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Shipping can be expensive these days, with fuel costs headed higher and higher.
Best way to ship is usually via the US Postal Service, Priority Mail, using their Flat Rate Boxes. We can ship up to 70 lbs. in a Flat Rate Box, although the practical limit is around 50 to 55 lbs. Beyond that, and the boxes tend to self-destruct in contact with the Postal Workers. Flat Rate Boxes are a good deal for small but heavy items. Sometimes we reinforce the bottom of the box with a piece of cardboard or thin plywood, so the box doesn't self-destruct so easily in transit.
Light-weight orders can sometimes be put in Flat Rate Envelopes, with stiff cardboard reinforcement. As a rule of thumb, the smallest quantities of most items will go in a Flat Rate Envelope.
We do whatever it takes to make shipping more cost-effective for the customer.
Our Shipping Calculator is not very sophisticated, and will sometimes charge you too much for shipping, especialyy if you are ordering multiple items. We will refund excess shipping charges after we package your order. The PayPal system makes it easy to do partial refunds.
We have recently removed almost all item-specific shipping charges, the usual culprit in being charged too much for shipping. Leaving it entirely up to the shipping calculator will result in a shipping charge of $5.00 for all Cart contents up to $5.00, an arbitrary amount for many small quantities of inexpensive items that will fit into a Flat Rate Envelope. At $5.00 and more of merchandise, the shipping increases to $9.50, which is the Flat Rate Box rate. There are still some items that have set shipping amounts, mostly the larger and heavier items. The prevailing rule is: We ship the least expensive way, and refund excess shipping, every time.
The shipping costs associated with our checkout system are for shipping within the United States. We are currently trying a PayPal feature which should automatically insert the correct International Priority Flat Rate cost at the time of the transaction, for selected destination countries (See International Shipping.). In the cases where shipments to other destinations will incur additional charges, we will calculate and bill you for them separately. All shipping charges must be paid for in advance of shipment.
We have added a field to the transaction form asking for your telephone number. It is an optional field. A contact phone number is only necessary when we are shipping internationally to a PO Box (US Postal Service requirements), but may also be helpful if we have a question about your order. Most of you can ignore it.
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Payments
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The security of your financial information is something we take very seriously. Because it is important to us, we have chosen to use PayPal to handle our financial transactions. PayPal has one of the most secure transaction gateways on the web, and they are constantly up-grading their level of security.
We never see your bank account or credit card account numbers. These numbers remain within the PayPal system, whether you pay with your PayPal account, or if you use any major credit card.
Your information is safe with Paypal.
There is no cost to the buyer for using Paypal; all transaction fees are borne by the seller, as is the case with any credit card merchant account.
Anyone can use a major credit card through the PayPal checkout system, whether they have a Paypal account or not. If you don't already have a PayPal account, PayPal will ask you if you would like to have one, but having one is not required.
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International Shipping
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International shipping is now accomplished mostly by International Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes. To most countries, we are allowed a maximum of 20 lbs. per box and 5 different items. For our many Canadian and Australian customers, this is the case, please take note.
An example would be an order for 100 Lag Bolts, 50 Machine Bolts, 50 Square Nuts, 100 Carriage Bolts, and 100 Flat Washers, all weighing 20 lbs. or less, packaging included.
For the purpose of filling out the Customs Forms, we can often combine items, so that [nuts and washers] or [bolts with nuts] or [2 or more items of the same type] are grouped together, to avoid exceeding the "five-item rule", which appears to be tied simply to the number of lines available on the form (5). In any event, we will do what we can to keep the shipping as affordable as possible.
As is the case with Domestic Shipping, most minimum quantities will ship Internationally via Flat Rate Envelope. The theoretical weight limit of a Flat Rate Envelope is 4 lbs., but the practical limit for most headed fasteners is a bit over 2 lbs. A lot of large heads will make the envelope too thick.
Customs Forms, in addition to and integral with the postage for shipment, are now all accomplished online. Actual invoice amounts are used on all Customs Forms.
We are currently trying out a PayPal feature that automatically inserts the proper Flat Rate Shipping costs for selected destination countries. We are including a table below for some International Priority Flat Rate Shipping Costs:
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Country |
Flat Rate Envelope |
Flat Rate Box |
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(limit 4 lbs.) |
(limit 20 lbs.) |
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Australia |
US$12.00 |
US$37.00 |
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Canada |
US$10.00 |
US$23.00 |
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Great Britain |
US$12.00 |
US$37.00 |
The US Postal Servive now requires that a destination contact phone number be included on the shipping label/customs form when shipping internationally to a PO Box, and we have accordingly added a field to the PayPal transaction page for your phone number. It is an optional field, and if you do not use it, we have to insert our phone number in order to print the shipping label. Our phone number doesn't get you notified when it arrives in your PO Box, however, so please fill in your phone number if you are using a PO Box for international shipping.
Thank you for your business!
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