Questions we get asked often...

How Long Does It Take To Ship My Order?

Orders are processed to fulfillment Monday - Friday at 1AM PST for all orders in the last 24 hours (72 hours for Monday morning). Fulfillment then verifies that there are no backorders. If there are no backorders then your order will be filled and shipped that day (add one additional workday for orders outside the Continental US). At between 5-8PM PST all orders that were sent to fulfillment will have status updates if they were shipped that day that include the shipper (UPS or USPS) and the tracking code. When we update the order with this information you will be sent an e-mail.

For those items that are backordered, you will be contacted by us regarding how you wish to disposition the order. Your choices are:

1. Cancel my order (and credit your card for the full balance)
2. Ship what you have and backorder the rest (you must agree to pay for shipping on the backorder and the splitting of the order may generate one or two low-order fees. You will receive credit on the shipping of the initial order.)
3. Hold entire order until filled and then ship the entire order when filled. (this is the default method)

Backorders?!?!?

Our fulfillment facility fills for about 95% of the Internet Educational Supply market and 80% of the Independent Educational Catalog market. We are proud to be one the the largest busineses that they deal with, but that doesn't mean that we get up-to-date product availability data. After we place an order we are notified if there are any backordered items in the order. Now, we sell a majority of the CTU3030's they have (Yacker Trackers) so we see those availability numbers at 1AM when the orders go in. But a single hospital order from another retailor of 20 of those may mean that the ones we saw availabale at 1AM, weren't there by 10AM that morning.

In much the same way an item we advised was backordered at 1AM may come in to receiving the next day and be available by 10AM when a user looks on our site to order.

Thus, we decided to act more like a catalog since the information we would have on backordered items could be inaccurate at any time that a customer saw it, we decided to not indicate if an item was in backorder status. Again, if an item does show up as backordered we will provide an estimated ship date if we have a promise delivery date from the manufacturer. You will then be able to make an educated choice of what action you wish to take from the three in FAQ 1.

When will my order arrive?

Continental US orders should arrive via UPS and USPS in 3-5 business days after we ship (see above).

UPS or USPS?

We quote UPS on all continental US orders. We quote USPS on all other orders. We reserve the right to use any shipper including FedEx, BAX Global, Airborne, etc. Our goal is to get the products to you as best we can. If the items are oversized and require a shipper like BAX Global, we will use them even if we quoted UPS. If the item is going to a PO Box, we can't ship UPS, so we must ship via USPS. In all these cases and many others, the shipping call is made after the items are packed for shipping. So, we quote the best we can on-line, but reserve the right to ship by the vendor of our choice (we will do everything in our power to meet any shipping requests, so a UPS Next Day Air request to a PO Box will be sent fastest possible way, but not UPS.

What is the "Low Order Fee"? udd>If your order is less than $40.00 we are charged, and must pass along, a low order fee of $1.95. This charge will be listed in your shopping cart.

Do you ship to APO addresses? (American Military Overseas) ?

YES! APO only takes USPS Priority Mail.

Can you ship [product] to [location]?

As of 8/15/03 the only known limitation we have is shipping Lego to Canada. If we find a limitation you will be notified at once and will be able to cancel your order.

Can you ship [product] to [overseas location]?

Yes. WE do suggest that you enter the exact shipping address in the comments box just as you wish it to be formed on the shipping lable to attempt to avail any delays. It's not necessary, but it is highly recomended.

Aren't your shipping costs a bit high?

There are any number of ways to do shipping calculations. We use a method that is very simple.

• All items with weights are added up in your shopping cart.
• If there is one or more items with no weight then 1 lb. is added to the total weight.
• The weight is rounded to the nearest pound.
• The zip code and the weight are sent over to the shipper and shipping quotes are returned.
• The customer selects the level of service they want.

We do not pad the weight we send of to increase the quote. We do not pad the costs that are returned to us before display. What you see are the exact quotes provided by the shippers.

There is no such thing as free shipping. When someone tells you that they have free shipping, well that means that they have hidden the costs of shipping in the cost of their products. We don't play those types of games. Shipping is not a profit centre for us. Thus, on larger orders when we get shipping credits from the shipping of your items, we will apply those credits back on your card on file after the item ships.

What is your policy about discontinued items?

Every once in a blue moon we find that a manufacturer has discontinued an item and that we still listed it on the site and someone purchased it. Our policy is to fill the balance of the order and credit the card on file for the price of the discontinued item when the order ships.

Can you send me a catalog?

Yes, and No. At this time we do NOT have a catalog. We are attempting to get generic catalogs and when we do if your order is over $100, you will be sent a catalog for free with your order.

Can I ship expedited?

Yes. You get to select the method of shipment at checkout.

I want to call you, what are your hours?

From 9AM Pacific to 2:00PM Pacific, from 4:15PM Pacific to 5:45PM Pacific Monday through Friday. On weekends the hours vary. As for calling, we don't have a call center. When you call, if you get voicemail, that means we are either on the line with a customer, or away from the phone. PLEASE, leave your name and number, and if you are calling on an order already placed, the order number.

We also would actually prefer that you use the Contact Us form from this site. That way the message is recorded and there is a paper trail.

Returns charges?

When you return an item via an RMA we will credit you as follows:

1. We will charge you exact shipping (what we were charged)
2. If there was a low order fee you will be charged the low order fee
3. We will charge a 15% restock on acceptable returns (see the shipping and returns policy for details on that)

Then the balance of the money will be credited to your card on file.

Discount Coupons? How do I get one?

At this time we do not offer them. What we have done instead is put in place a program that rewards customers who return and continue to purchase from us. The program is described in detail on the stores main page.

Can I just send what I bought back to you?

We have a fairly simple return policy. Before you can return an item you must get an RMA Number. If you fail to do so, the item may not be accepted back as a valid return. Getting an RMA Number is simple. Use the Contact Us form to request one, respond to an e-mail we sent on the order in question, or give us a call at 702-932-4558. Within 2 workdays we will send you an e-mail with the RMA number and the address to which the items should be returned.

You know, some of your pieces aren't professional.

If you were looking for a dry e-commerce site, try Yahoo! Stores. Before we launched the store we went through over 27,000 products to figure out what to put up. Then we tried to catagorize them in a way that would be easy to use (who knows if we actually were able to do that?). The question we asked was "do we want to be Yahoo! Stores, or do we want to be us?" and the answer is, Us. If this were a physical store and you came in you would be greated and we would kibitz about what you wanted and what you were looking for. We would have a "personality". That's hard to put across in an on-line store, but we have tried to do that. Like we said above, if you want a dry e-commerce store there are a large number that will be happy to give you that. That's not us.