Shipping Policy
We have invested a lot of our time and resources into finding a way to give our customers better value when it comes to shipping, without raising our prices to offer what appears to be "free shipping." We have refined our internal processes, explored the cost of implementation of these various options and the resulting benefit to our customers, and settled on what we think are some fair and sustainable revisions to our shipping policy.
Here is a quick executive summary of our shipping policy:
- Daily refinement to our shipping estimator. This feedback process results in the biggest cost savings to our customers.
- We do not offer UPS Standard as an option for shipping low cost items to Canada. Our Canadian customers got hit with border crossing fees that sometimes exceeded the value of the order!
- Selecting the "We Choose Carrier" option in place of ground shipping. We decide at the time of shipment what is in our customer's best interest.
- We use flat rate boxes whenever possible.
- When we estimate too high and charge more than the actual cost of shipping we will mail out a check for the difference, or add points to your account in the case of international customers who would pay more than the check is worth in check cashing fees.
- Removal of 3-Day, 2-Day, 1-Day service options for regions where there is no net improvement in delivery time. For instance, our customers in Washington get 1 day service for all shipping methods, why pay extra for "Next Day" service?
At the time of shipment, our logistics experts determine the most cost effective way to ship your order. After verifying what we are charged by UPS or USPS for every package we ship, we compare that to what we charged you. If we were able to reduce the expected cost of shipment considerably then we issue a refund check.
The downside to this is that we spend lots of time refining shipping cost and issuing refunds. Our challenge is to find the right balance between offering the best possible shipment cost and adding overhead which could ultimately raise our prices. Catch-22! For this reason, we have decided not to offer a shipping cost guarantee. It'll simply cost more to maintain than it'll save our customers in shipping. You'll have to trust us on that one, I guess. However, we'll be happy to review shipping cost with any customer that feels they were overcharged.
We will normally charge a bit more for a package than we get billed by the carrier. Here is what goes into determining this "extra" charge:
- When you pay by Paypal or credit card, we lose 2-3% right off the top. If shipping costs $100 that means almost $3 goes to Paypal before we even get your payment!
- Package insurance usually costs between $1-2 per $100 of order value. Sometimes we elect to self-insure on less expensive items that are unlikely to be damaged by UPS (United Parcel Smashers).
- Signature requirement can add $2-4 to shipment cost. It's necessary to avoid fraud. Paypal, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express all require signatures in order for us to even have a chance at defending ourselves against a fraudulent charge. Guess who pays when there is fraud? You got it, CorkSport.
- International orders take more time to process because of customs declarations and there is a much higher rate of undelivered or damaged packages.
- We make a special trip to the post office every day so that you get parts quicker. If we wait for USPS pickup, you get your parts a day later.
- Infrequently, we have to supply a box to ship your parts in. We don't factor this in for CorkSport brand parts.
These extra charges amount to $1-5 for most packages but can be as much as $20 for high value international orders. Lower value orders generally have a smaller extra charge while larger value orders often have larger extra charges.
In summary here are the key points to remember:
- "Free Shipping" is a trick. Period. Anywhere that offers you "free shipping" on your order is crazy and losing money, or builds the cost of shipping into the cost of the part. You are always paying for it somewhere whether they tell you or not.
- Our policy is to issue you a check for the difference if you are somehow overcharged for shipping. If you believe you were overcharged, we will happily go over the costs of shipping your order with you.