Mail-Order, Charge Cards and C.O.D. Shipments
MAILORDER SALES
Many people are still a bit afraid of mail-order and using their credit card over the phone and the Internet. About the only thing we can say to make anybody feel better about it is that you are very well covered by your credit card company. You are by no means obligated to a bill because of a stolen or mis-used credit card. When you purchase a product via your charge card the merchant that accepts it is bound by more laws than you can even imagine. All the rights are on your end. Using your credit card is much safer to you as a consumer than sending a cashiers check or money order. If you do not receive the merchandise you ordered and you follow the proper rules you will be covered. If you send a cashiers check, personal check, money order, etc; once it is cashed you have little or no re-course besides legal action. This is usually not convenient due to the distance betwwen you and the supplier.
As for using your credit card via the Internet, the same things apply. If a company uses a secure server to transact credit card business you can bet it is safe. At least as safe as calling on the phone. As long as you trust the company you are buying from you should have no problems with security. We offer a VERY high level of security on our secure server ordering system...
CHARGE CARDS
We accept:
- Visa
- Mastercard
- American Express
- Discover / Novus Cards
We do not charge any processing fees for using credit cards but we do have a $25.00 minimum charge.
We do charge the card at the time of purchase, not at the time of shipping unless it was pre-arranged as a deposit only. The reason we do this is simple.
There has been countless times we have processed big orders ( and even small ones ) for a customer only to find after all the work and effort that the card will not authorize. Usually because when the product was ordered there was plenty of room on the card but after 2-3 days other charges were made, or authorizations came in that the customer was not counting on. We strive to keep our prices as low as possible. The best way to do this is not to incur a bunch of bad charges, excess inventory, and cancelled orders, etc. If an item is going to take a while to ship we will always inform you when it is being ordered.We would rather you be aware of a delay and possibly not order the part, then take your money and try and explain it later.
If you are uncertain if your limit is sufficient on the card to make a purchase, I suggest calling the 800 number that is on the back of every card and checking your available credit amount.This saves many hassles in having to call someone back and tell them the card did not work. Many people get embarassed by this even though we just view it as a byproduct of a society that relies so heavily on plastic.
DEBIT CARDS
A couple of words about the New Debit cards. You know the one that your bank gave you with the Visa or Mastercard logo on it that is tied directly to your checking account. These cards are great but there are a few things you may not be aware of when using them for mail-order sales. Most of the cards have a daily limit that can be used. Typically from $300 to $500 dollars. This is done for your safety. If the card gets stolen or lost that is really your money disappearing from the account. Not just an electronic charge amount. Be sure if you are going to use the card for a purchase above your daily limit that you call the bank and inform them of it. This will make everything go smoothly and avoid delays in shipping. If you are going to deposit money into the account to cover a purchase be sure and allow 2-3 days for the funds to become available. Always take the deposit into the bank and get a receipt for it. Putting it into the teller machine means an even longer delay.
ATM CARDS
We do not take ATM cards over the phone although we do accept them if you come into the shop. They will not work being keyed in. It has to be swiped through the machine. This is for your safety. We don't want to know your ATM card number and PIN number. It is none of our business and you don't want to give out that info. We are flattered that some people have that kind of trust but the system will not allow it.
C.O.D. SHIPMENTS
We only ship C.O.D. to established customers. Don't take this personally. It is not because of the wait for the money to get back to us. It is because over 50% of the orders we send C.O.D. have some kind of delivery problem, payment problem or they get refused. This is very inconvenient and expensive for us. We eat the shipping both directions and are stuck with a part that was possibly special ordered.