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Payment & Shipping Information
I specialize in unique designs and custom orders - made just for you in a smoke-free home. I do
my very best to accommodate all requests, include those for coordinating accessories to
accompany your Renaissance, Medieval, or Victorian ensembles. Above all else, I strive for
complete clientele satisfaction and cherish every opportunity to work together with my clients in
creating a period ensemble that will be a genuine original!
To ensure the durability of my jewelry, I use only the best materials and assemble each piece
with great care and quality workmanship. I am so confident that you will be delighted with your
purchase that I guarantee each piece to be everything you hoped it would be...and maybe
more! Please take a moment to read over my
JEWELRY CARE INSTRUCTIONS
and adhere strictly to these guidelines so that you are sure to get the very most out of your jewelry purchase.
SUBMITTING YOUR ORDER
You may shop safely by using my secure shopping cart
- please see shipping charges below.
All orders are processed in the order in which they are received. I'll e-mail you to confirm
your order and request any additional information I may need to fill it.
It is important that you look for this email to arrive, as it will contain your estimated shipping date. Persons with AOL or other email servers with aggressive spam blocking features may not receive this confirmation in their inbox, due to the settings within the email server
program! If you are using an email server with this type of aggressive spam-blocking
feature, please check your junk/trash email file for your confirmation email.
Your order will be processed once I have received your payment.
Because all orders are made especially for you BY HAND after your order is placed, please allow
1-6 weeks delivery on all orders. Large orders or orders placed from April through
October may take longer - if you are concerned that your order will not be delivered in time for
your event and would like to request priority or rush status for your order, please check with me via email at "sapphireandsage @ neo.rr.com" (remove the
spaces before sending the message) on current estimated production times.
At any time, you may feel free to e-mail me and check the status of your order.
I will give you a full report within 48 hours of your request.
PAYMENT OPTIONS
All prices shown are in U.S. Dollars.
For International orders, only PayPal and credit card payments via PayPal will be accepted.
For orders to be shipped to US destinations, I accept payments via PayPal sent to "sapphireandsage @ neo.rr.com" (remove the spaces) - through this service, you may choose for the payment to be made from your PayPal balance, your checking account, or a credit card. Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express are accepted via PayPal. You do not have to have a PayPal account to make a one-time credit card payment to me for your purchase. At the PayPal payment page you are routed to at checkout, look for the line stating "Don't have a PayPal account? Use your credit card or bank account (where available)" and click the "Continue" button next to that text. Your payment will be made securely via their website, and I will receive email notification when your payment is complete.
Personal checks and money orders are also acceptable as methods of payment for domestic orders, with orders paid by check being held for a minimum of 30 days before shipping.
All domestic checks and money orders should be made out to:
Rhonda Abbott
and sent to the following address:
Rhonda Abbott
Sapphire & Sage
287 Crestwood Ave.
Wadsworth, OH 44281
SHIPPING & PROCESSING METHODS and CHARGES
DOMESTIC and FOREIGN SHIPMENTS:
Basic Shipping and Processing Charges
$.01 - $49.99 = $7.00
$50.00 - $149.99 = $10.00
$150.00 - $199.99 = $15.00
$200.00 - $299.99 = $18.00
$300.00 and up = $22.00
I ship all orders via the United States Post Office, unless otherwise requested.
All DOMESTIC mail is sent via Priority Mail with Tracking and Confirmation, PLUS SIGNTURE DELIVERY, which has a 2-3 day delivery time, on average. If your order is above $300.00, you will need to be present to sign for and receive the package or visit your post office if no one is home to accept and sign for the delivery. Any items shown as being delivered successfully on the delivery company's website and recorded as having been signed for by someone in the home or business at the the time of delivery will not be replaced at the seller's expense, should the buyer claim that they were not delivered. Once the package has been signed for at the address listed on the order, I assume no financial responsibility for the package's whereabouts
Express delivery via USPS is my preferred method of expedited shipping for domestic shipments. I do accept most requests to ship via Fed Ex only (no UPS or DHL) - I will be happy to send your package by either of these methods, but your shipping and processing costs will change. For expedited USPS shipping or orders shipped via Fed Ex, you will be billed for the actual cost of shipping your package PLUS 50% of the above-listed domestic shipping and processing amount for your order to cover your order's standard processing. You must either:
1. Provide a Fed Ex account number while submitting your order or by email soon after
2. Provide a Paypal prepayment for the shipping method upgrade (and resulting overpayments will be refunded after the shipment has been made)
FOREIGN SHIPMENTS:
Basic International Shipping and Processing Charges, in US Dollars
$.01 - $49.99 = $7.00
$50.00 - $149.99 = $10.00
$150.00 - $199.99 = $15.00
$200.00 - $299.99 = $18.00
$300.00 and up = $22.00
All INTERNATIONAL deliveries will be made by USPS First-class Mail, unless you request otherwise. Delivery times are estimated at 6-10 business days, but will depend greatly upon the speed of your country's customs department. A $25.00 additional charge will apply for upgrading to Global Priority, and a $40.00 additional charge will apply for upgrading to Global Express. Once packages leave the USA, they are virtually untraceable with USPS routing codes. For any delayed deliveries, you will need to contact your postal office and initiate an inquiry.
I accept only payments by PayPal balance or credit cards through PayPal's website for International orders - no cash, cheques, or money orders will be accepted for orders being billed to address outside the United States.
All shipments are made by United States Postal Service's first class mail, unless you request otherwise. With this method, there is no way of being able to track your package once it leaves my country. If you are concerned that your package has been misrouted or delayed in customs, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL POSTAL OFFICE, as your package is most likely being held in customs. If you prefer to have your order shipped via FedEx (traceable and possibly faster, but more costly to you), please let me know when you place your order or shortly after you receive your order confirmation. I will be happy to send your package by one of this method, but your shipping and processing costs will change: you will be billed for the actual cost of shipping your package (roughly $80-$100 US Dollars for small boxes) PLUS 50% of the above-listed shipping and processing amount for your order to cover your order's standard processing. You must provide a Paypal prepayment for the shipping method upgrade, with resulting overpayments will be refunded after the shipment has been made.
"RETURNED TO SENDER", MISROUTED, OR LOST SHIPMENTS:
From time to time, I will get a package returned to me due to an incorrect address that's been submited with an order, or will hear of a package that isn't delivered to a client because they incorrectly typed their address when placing their order, or an item that was misplaced in the home or at an event that the client feels I should replace at no charge (true story!). PLEASE, please, please review your order to make sure that your shipping information is correct. If a package is returned to me because of a typo made within the order form when submitted by a client, I will have to charge postal fees for shipping the package again. If an item is stolen off your porch, misplaced in your household, or lost at your event, you will need to re-order your item. I cannot send free replacements due to client error or mishandling, and I will contest any credit card or PayPal reversals. With the economy being what it is, every penny counts for ALL of us, so please double-check your shipping details when you receive your order confirmation, be sure to have a trusted person in your home to accept your order if you are unable to do so, and take care to not lose track of your pieces once they've been delivered. Once an order leaves my workshop and has been confirmed as delivered to your address, the contents are solely your responsibility.
MORE ON THE "PROCESSING" PART:
I do not make a profit on shipping and processing fees. Yes, the shipping and processing charge you'll see applied to your order is greater than the actual shipping cost you'll see on the package's label, but that's where the "processing" part of "shipping and processing" comes into play.
To break it down for you, the "shipping" part of the fee covers the actual cost of shipping your
package to you. The "processing" part of the fee helps to cover the many costs of general
business operation so that I am able to create your jewelry for you. They include, but are certainly not limited to:
banking fees, payment processing fees, monthly website hosting and annual
domain name registration fees, packaging materials, printing supplies, raw materials shipping
charges and the international exchange transaction fees that are attached to the majority of my
materials supply shipments, phone and cable internet access charges, occasional dreaded
computer maintenance costs, accounting services, office supplies...you get the idea, right?
These many fees are quite costly and, when broken down into average dollars spent on
"processing" stuff per order, they add up to be more than double the cost of actual shipping
charges for the package. For sanity's sake, I do not figure these necessary business expenses
into the cost of my jewelry pieces, so they are covered in the "processing" part of your shipping
costs, mostly because it is just easier on my brain if I figure it in that way. ;)
RUSH ORDER CHARGES
With the very rare exception, all orders are created just for you after your order is placed. Each
order is filled on a "first come, first served" basis. When in doubt, ORDER EARLY! Just like Grandma
used to say, "The early bird gets the worm"...and just so you know, in this case, getting the worm
is a GOOD thing! :)
Of course, things do come up and people find themselves needing pieces is a hurry, and I do my very best to accommodate these needs. However, in order to do so, I must shift my work schedule around, often working many extra hours to fill these rush orders
and still be able to fill the orders I've already promised to other clients within the time frame I'm committed to.
I end up working late nights and missing important family functions in order to be able to fit these rush orders in. And just ask my husband and kids - as sweet and gentle as I am by nature (ahem!), the farther
into overtime hours I get and the more opportunities I miss to be doing things with and for my family, the crankier I get, so they really hate to see me
working overtime!
Sooooo, in fairness to all innocent parties affected, I must charge rush order fees without exception according
to the following schedule:
RUSH FEE SCHEDULE:
A 40% rush order fee added to all orders that require a production time of 1-2 days.
A 30% rush order fee added to all orders that require a production time of 3-5 days.
A 20% rush order fee added to all orders that require a production time of 6-14 days.
There will be no exceptions.
When I e-mail you to confirm your rush order, your final total will be adjusted, and you will be
given a new order total. If you have paid by PayPal, I will send you a PayPal money request for the balance due on the order for the rush fees.
If you'd like to avoid the rush fee, you may check out my "In Stock" page (click
HERE to get there) to see if there's anything pre-made that will work for your ensemble that I can ship out to you immediately (only in-stock items can be shipped right away without requiring rush fees).
CANCELLATION OF AN ORDER
Once your order arrives, I must print out the order, create a client profile card for you, create an identity for each item you've purchased and add each item to both your file card and my
running log of purchased items, email you to confirm the order and notify you of your final totals
and estimated ship date, add your order to my production rotation, and confiram your payment information. The process takes anywhere between 15- and 30 minutes, depending on the size of the order. For this reason, orders cancelled after they have been formally processed
and confirmed, but before they have been assembled, will be subject to a 10% processing fee, which will be deducted from your refund
total.
Once I start working on filling your order, you have lost your chance for cancelling the order. To rephrase it just so that the point is clear, once the assembly of your order has begun, CANCELLATION WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR YOUR ORDER, NO EXCEPTIONS. You will be charged for the order and you will not be able to request a refund later.
Please be sure you really want it before you buy it!
MY POLICIES FOR RETURNS, REPAIRS, AND ALTERATIONS
* All items shipped are made according to the details and images shown with the items in my catalog. "What you see is what you'll get", just as the saying goes.
On the rare occasion, I may goof up and make an error whilst assembling your piece(s) - if this occurs, please let me know right away so that I am able to fix the problem.
If you aren't sure if the item you're ordering will work for what you need it for, please contact me BEFORE you place your order, or at least contact me very, very shortly thereafter.
When in doubt, you may purchase any materials as samples via my
"A La Carte" page.
Once I start working on filling your order, you have lost your
chance for cancelling the order.
Please note that I DO NOT ISSUE REFUNDS FOR CUSTOM-MADE PIECES.
Because every item is made to order and as a result of a handful of past clients wearing and returning merchandise after their event is over, I am no longer able to issue refunds for items, period. Please be sure you know what you're getting BEFORE you order (again, sample materials are available through my a la carte page and measurements are listed when you order, so just email me for any other info you may need) or be prepared to either keep your pieces as-is or pay to have them altered if they're not right the first time. That said, if, for some reason, what you receive ultimately will not work for what you need it for, you may
return the item(s) for alteration, but not for a refund. Sorry, folks, and please consider yourselves warned, as I cannot make exceptions to this rule.
In order to get an item repaired or altered, you must:
1. Stating the nature of the repair and the current condition of the piece(s).
2. Return the piece(s) back to me within 7 days of receiving my response. BE SURE TO PROPERLY
PACKAGE THE ITEM(s) using a sufficient amount of cushioning material around the item(s) being
returned, such as packing peanuts or crumpled newspaper packed TIGHTLY around your returned merchandise. These pieces are to be considered FRAGILE, and should be packaged for shipping with that in mind.
Please, please, please DO NOT SHIP REPAIR/ALTERATION JOB ITEMS BACK TO ME IN BUBBLE ENVELOPES!!!!!
If I receive a repair/alteration item that is packaged in anything other than a nice, sturdy CARDBOARD BOX that DOES NOT CONTAIN LOOSE, RATTLING JEWELRY PARTS, I will likely return it to you unopened, and we can start the whole process over again. I simply cannot stress this enough: Items do get damaged in transit if they are not carefully and thoughtfully prepared for travel!!!
For items that you wish to have altered or repaired:
There will be a small fee charged for alteration service:
* Repairs made to pieces that have been damaged during wear and/or transit (whilst en route to me for repairs - see packaging instructions above) have a fee of 15% of
the item's retail price plus return shipping/processing costs. In any case where several of the
components are lost and/or damaged, the replacement components' prices will be added to the cost of the
repairs, and will be charged in accordance to the prices shown on my "A La Carte Items"
page.
* Color changes made to stones have a fee(s) of 25% of the item's retail price.
* Color changes made to pearls have a fee(s) of 35% of the item's retail price.
* Color changes made to metal components have a fee(s) of 35% of the item's retail price, as the entire piece(s) will need to be reworked from scratch in order to make the change for you.
* Color changes made to feather components have a fee(s) of 60% of the item's retail price, as the entire piece(s) will need to be reworked from scratch in order to make the change for you.
* Size changes are priced according to the length of the addition, the number of strands in the design, and the sizes and types of the beads used in the design.
You will be given a TENTATIVE price for each piece to be altered upon sending me notification of
your needs via e-mail.
You will receive a FORMAL repair/alteration price once the item(s) has arrived and inspected for damages.
A $5.00 return shipping fee will be applied to alteration/repair shipments within the USA.
A $10.00 return shipping fee will be applied to alteration/repair shipments outside the USA.
DAMAGED ITEMS
If, by some chance, an item is damaged upon receipt, you must let me know within 36 hours of the package's USPS documented delivery time, telling me exactly what the damage is and what the condition of the box was when you received it, sending a photo of the damage if at all possible. I will contact you right away regarding the next step in the process of returning the item for repair.
WHOLESALE/DISCOUNT INQUERIES
Each Sapphire & Sage piece has been made by hand, by me, or Dawn, in the case of the feather items.
These items are not mass-produced. Each piece treated as a custom order - it is made just for
you, put together with love and the highest quality in materials and workmanship. If a particular item requires one
hour to complete, then making ten of that item will take ten hours. I do not receive large
volume discounts on my supplies, so there is no large volume discount available to pass on to
you, regardless of the number of pieces you are purchasing. For these reasons, I cannot offer
discounts on any orders.
STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?
Questions can be directed to me via email at sapphireandsage @
neo.rr.com (remove the spaces)
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