Shipping Policies

How we're dealing with COVID-19

COVID-19 is a thing we at Strange Bedfellas are taking very seriously! The state of Texas may be open, but we’re still doing our best to stay quarantined with limited exposure to outside people. That means we’re still leaving the house only for essential needs. Steve and I as well as our respective co-habitators (Steve’s roommate and my own husband) are all working from home exclusively. All four of us as well as Avery are following guidelines very closely and leaving home only when absolutely necessary and using masks whenever we do. We keep our workshop very clean and have been wiping down surfaces and washing hands all day long every day we’re in the workshop. We are committed to sending out clean toys! Additionally, should one of us start to feel ill we will cease operations ASAP and let everyone know. We are taking no chances with this virus!

Current Shipping Policies

We are currently shipping within 2 - 7 business days!

-I usually try to make at least 2 trips a week to our post office to drop off shipping. We generally try to ship out all orders purchased on a drop weekend within 2 business days. For example, if we drop inventory on Friday you should expect your order in the mail on Tuesday at the latest. Sometimes issues come up and shipping times get disrupted, which is why we say 2 to 7 business days. Holidays can also interrupt this schedule.

-Shipping labels are created within 1 - 2 days of a package actually being shipped out. We do not create labels then hold the boxes for a week. If we've printed a label it will be on the box and in the mail within 2 days at the latest.

-Some customers notice that their tracking numbers show a "pre-shipment" status for longer than 2 days. USPS has been experiencing a LOT of delays and obstacles related to the COVID pandemic and other issues that have come up during 2020. A lot of times the boxes we drop off miss their entry tracking scan, which means the tracking information for the box isn't updated as it travels. This is not something we have any control over, unfortunately. Some customers report a tracking status of "pre-shipment" all the way up until the day it shows "out for delivery". It's kind of a mess, but it's what we have to deal with right now. Please understand that once we drop off a box for delivery there is nothing we can do to control the tracking or course of the delivery.

-All orders are wrapped in tissue paper and mailed in plain brown boxes. The return address lists our company as "SB Creative LLC" on the shipping label. We list our toys as "art sculpture" on any customs forms for international orders. We will NOT alter prices on customs forms or ship items as a gift to avoid paying customs fees, so please do not ask us to.

-If you believe your package is lost or was damaged in transit, you will need to contact the USPS to file a claim for compensation. If you are an international customer with a Priority Mail shipment that is more than 3 weeks from the date of shipment without an update please contact us and we will open a claim for you.

-If you order was returned to us as undeliverable we will reach out with the contact email on the order. You will have the option of a refund for the items, minus shipping cost, or you can pay for your box to be reshipped. If you do not respond within the time period specified within our contact attempt your order will be automatically refunded. Toys that are returned in this way that we can confirm haven't been removed from the box by any other party will be returned to our shop's inventory to be sold as normal. If a box is tampered with in any way or we suspect any damage, those items will NOT be resold.

-WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE ORDERS BEING SHIPPED TO RE-SHIPMENT FACILITIES! There are countries we choose not to do business with. If we suspect you are trying to circumvent our policies using a re-shipment facility your order may be cancelled and refunded.

-We will not change the name or address on your order once the order has been placed. The only exceptions to this are for honest mistakes (such as an older address being auto filled at check out). We've been seeing folks buying items for other people in their own names and then contacting us to change the name and address to the other person's. This gets to be a lot of work and it opens up a lot of opportunities for mistakes. As well, it can be used to circumvent certain store policies, such as age restrictions. Please make sure to double check your names and addresses before you check out!

International Shipping Update

ALL INTERNATIONAL ORDERS ARE AT THE BUYER'S OWN RISK!

International orders are taking even longer than usual due to the pandemic. Those orders have to go through two over-burdened postal systems to reach their destination, and delays are happening all over the world. There is nothing I can do to speed those boxes along! If your package was sent by USPS first class international postage you should know that once those boxes leave the US we do NOT get tracking updates on them until they are delivered. I’ve been told by USPS that those aren’t really tracking numbers, more like reference numbers.

If you have a first class international package and you see it stopped at a Chicago or New York sorting facility for a long time, that’s pretty typical right now. Those are often the last stop for most international postage leaving the country. Chicago is particularly slow lately, and I've seen boxes stay there for over a month before moving again. I've been told by USPS that there's nothing I can do to get those boxes moving, we just have to wait. We usually don’t get tracking updates after that until it’s marked delivered. You will need to contact your local post with the tracking number you were provided for any updates. I can only see the same tracking info you can see on the USPS site. I have no information on additional customs or postal delays outside of the US.

Additionally, USPS Priority International has been incredibly slow lately. None of the shipping estimates provided by USPS at check out have been accurate lately and all international customers should expect delays. We are looking into different carriers, but at the moment we only have USPS to work with.

We have added DHL as a carrier for overseas orders. Please be advised that it is still very much ship at your own risk! DHL has been pretty fast for us, but it is important to include a phone number on your order if you're using DHL as they will use that information to contact you once your box arrives in your country. As well, please use a full first and last name, no initials, when you ship with DHL. This will help your box avoid getting stopped in transit to confirm your identity. Any boxes sent back to us will be reshipped if the buyer requests, but it will be at your expense.

WE ARE NO LONGER SHIPPING TO GERMANY! Unfortunately, we have will not be shipping to Germany for the foreseeable future due to the German Packaging Act. We are not compliant with the new act and are not currently aiming to sign up due to the time and cost it would impose on our small business. I am very sorry for the inconvenience.

Combined Orders

I'm very sorry to say that we are no longer offering to combine domestic orders. I know drop shopping can be a pain and result in multiple orders placed back to back and I'm sorry that it's so stressful. Shopify does not have any systems for combining orders, so all order combinations we did in the past were done manually and took a lot of time and effort. As we have grown it's become clear that I just don't have the time and energy to spend combining orders like this anymore. I apologize for the disappointment and inconvenience.

We do still offer to combine international orders upon request! There are some rules for this, so please read on if you are an international customer hoping to have 2 separate orders combined and shipped together.

-This is a courtesy that we offer to help customers. It takes a lot of time and effort on our part to combine these orders because they have to be done manually and tracking numbers and shipping refunds have to be sent out one order at a time. If it becomes too much work or people start abusing the system, we will cease to offer this option. We also reserve the right to deny a request to combine orders for any reason.

-This is ONLY offered for drop weekends. The orders to be combined have to be placed within 12 hours of eachother to be considered. We drop inventory on Friday afternoons and often start the shipping process the next day. If we've already begun the shipping process on one order and a second order is placed and requested to be combined, the request may be denied. (Example: Terry places an order for an item at 5 PM on Friday during an inventory drop. They place another order at 7 PM and send a contact form at 7:15 PM to request the orders be combined and sent together. Those orders are sent together. If Terry orders again at 6 AM on Saturday and requests that to be shipped with the other order, that request will be denied because it is past the 12 hour mark of the original order.)

-If you want orders to be combined you MUST SEND A REQUEST BY EMAIL! We do not see requests in notes on orders or through Twitter. If you want orders to be considered you will need to send an email to Meesh@Strangebedfellas.com with your name and the order numbers of the orders you want shipped together. WE WILL NOT AUTOMATICALLY COMBINE ORDERS! There are usually a couple hundred orders that come in on a drop weekend and we don't always notice the same person ordering more than one order until after postage has been paid for.

-Combining orders does not always result in a refund of shipping costs. You will be contacted if your combined order shipping exceeds the shipping cost you paid for your orders and offered options for how to pay for additional postage. Very often a full or partial shipping refund can be expected and will be sent once postage has been bought for the order on shipping day.

-We will only combine orders that have the same name and shipping address on them! If you and another person want your orders combined they need to have the same name and same address on them. Because I have to combine orders manually having to figure out who the box goes to and where to send shipping refunds gets confusing. This new rule is aimed to help reduce my stress as well as minimize mistakes on my end.