backup-5-policies

PayPal Shopping Cart & Checkout

We have used PayPal for years with our eBay sales. We like it. Many people use it and are familiar with it. It seemed like a good choice for our website sales. The checkout is easy. You can view your shopping cart at any time from any page using the link on the right and then return for more shopping. You can change quantities before you go to checkout. After you have added all the item you want to the shopping cart, you may notice an amount at the bottom of your item list called shipping and handling. Some items you may have chosen, that do not combine well for packaging, may have a specified shipping cost applied. Those amounts are added together there. Once you insert your zip code, the total shipping cost for all your items are displayed in its place. Once you move on to checkout, if you chose any item that was out of stock, it will be noted at that time. From there, you can go back and change your order or choose either to use your PayPal account or a credit card to complete your purchase.

Shipping Carriers & Cost:

The shopping cart shipping calculator has not been very flexible for us to set up. It only allowed for one shipping service and does not tie in to USPS shipping rates, like the eBay shipping calculator does. It uses only a 5 tier shipping cost table. Since Priority mail works best to ship most of our products most of the time for cost effectiveness, we developed the required 5 tier cost structure based on weight, using the Priority mail for shipping, but could not accurately include any consideration to distance, like USPS does. Also, the weights were rounded to pounds with no ounces considered. So, the smallest parts shipped, would still be calculated at a pound each. If your order were to contain mostly small parts, the shipping cost calculation could be grossly overstated. As you might realize, this in no way, could be very accurate as compared to USPS actual rates,

Small single part orders of less than 13oz., we generally ship for less with USPS 1st Class. We can use USPS flat rate boxes to ship what may amount to quite a number of items if the order combinations works out. But some of our items are much larger and not able to combine ship very well. In some of those cases, we were able to assign specific shipping cost, but in other cases, we were not. You might start to see where all this is going.

Now, maybe understanding why other web companies do it, we could let all this go and be like some of those other companies you may have dealt with on the web and complained about their shipping cost later. I realize, I'm probably making this web sales more complicated than it need be, but I/we want to give you the best shipping cost possible to receive your order without requiring us to raise the parts price, and still be fair to ourselves.

In as much as we strive to keep shipping cost down whenever possible to save you $$$, some compensations will be needed. As we hate to pay anymore than we have too for shipping cost, we want to extend the same consideration to you. If we had complete control over the shipping cost choices, we would use a combination of services, as we do with our eBay sales; including 1st class mail, flat rate Priority, and regular Priority to gain the greatest cost effectiveness to package your particular order. As with the eBay item shipping, we will generally add $1.50 to $6.00 to our shipping cost charge to cover packaging time, packing material plus other variables such as International mailing. Some of these added cost are specifically mentioned in the item description for special packaging.

Unlike eBay, that allowed for a corrected invoice to be sent before payment, to lower shipping cost, website sales is pretty well automatic and immediate. For our eBay sales, if an item is paid for immediately, our general business practice has been to reimburse shipping cost overpayment back through PayPal when possible. For website sales, the structure of PayPal easily allows for this same procedure, either if you checkout using your Pay Pal account or your credit card.

If you use a credit card, our side of the transaction sees a two step process. The money paid to us is "held" till we "capture" it. We commonly have three days to "capture" our money. We can choose to "capture" less than the full amount. Money we do not "capture" is released back to you. This would be one way to "refund you" shipping cost overpayment. The other would be as we do for our eBay customers using PayPal.

During checkout, PayPal provides an area for customer notes to the seller. If you would like for us to ship your order the "best way" rather than only just Priority Mail, we will do what we can to save you money and refund the difference back to you.

Shipping Information:

Communication is key; we try to keep in touch through the entire transaction process to keep you informed of its progress. When shipping an item, whenever possible, a tracking number will be included, and supplied to you, so you may track the shipment as well. This will generally be via PayPal through their order detail page.

We will try to follow up after the sale and delivery, to make sure you are satisfied with your purchase. Included with the invoice for the sale, combined with the various interim emails, you will have all the contact information needed to communicate with us however you choose (phone, e-mail, or snail-mail). :-)

Our Packaging Policy:

The items for shipment are packaged as well as possible. We do this as we would like our item packaged that we receive. We understand that we cannot be responsible for shipper's damage after the package departs our mail room, but we do have a responsibility to package to the best of our ability to avoid unnecessary damage.

Our 14 Day Return Policy:

Buyer (you) must notify seller (us) of problem first to evaluate the best course of action to resolve issue. If a return is called for, product must be returned in same good marketable condition as was sold. Product must be packaged as well as the original shipment. Buyer must pay for return shipping cost. Any return must be within 14 days of receipt of goods, postage prepaid. In most instances, since the sale would most likely have been through the PayPal shopping cart checkout, any refund will only be of the product sale price, issued as a credit back to you through PayPal or as a company check mailed to you. Seller may return shipping fees under limited circumstances, at sellers consideration, subject to product inspection.

30 Day Warranty:

We stand behind our manufactured products. If within 30 days of purchase, a product, manufactured by Cogan Valley Machine (us), is found to be defective of material or workmanship, subject to inspection, we will replace that item, at no charge to you, upon pre-authorized return of the defective product postage prepaid. If only a part of an assembly is defective, only that part will be replaced. The entire assembly should not be returned. If our labor is involved to dis-assemble or install a defective part of a non defective assembly, prevailing labor rates will be charged. Any returns must be pre-approved. Under limited circumstances, the return of a defective item may not be required.