When will
my order be shipped?
Do you have a minimum order?
Do you have a handling charge?
What are your warranties/terms of sale?
Do I have to use
your on-line ordering?
Do you sell your
customer's email/mail addresses or phone numbers to
telemarketers or spammers?
I'm outside
the USA. Are there local taxes (IVA, VAT, sales tax) I can deduct
from your prices?
Do I have to pay
Illinois State Sales Tax if I'm not in Illinois?
But I ordered from
another mail-order place and got charged sales tax, even tho it
was in another state.What gives?
How do I figure your prices in my local
currency?
What does shipping cost? What's the best method to ship to:
....The continental USA?
...Alaska, Hawaii,Puerto Rico, APO/FPO addresses...?
...Canada....?
...other countries....?
...Can we have you ship by DHL or Airborne courier? Or airfreight?
My country isn't
listed on the on-line store checkout!
My country doesn't have (postal/zip codes
or states/provinces) and my order won't go through without
entering something. What should I enter for these items?
I live in the United Kingdom, what should I
enter for"state/province"?
What about states in Australia? I can't
fit the name of my state in the space provided.
Why isn't Fedex Overnight or UPS Red listed
on online ordering options?
Why isn't Fedex Ground or UPS Ground listed as
an
option on the online ordering for packages to Canada or Mexico?
I tried tracking my UPS, USPS or Fedex package
and .. .
Why can't I select between Fedex and UPS
ground service on the online ordering?
I tried to select "Priority
Mail" but got a message that this method is not available to
my address
I tried to select "Global
Priority Mail", but got a message that this method is not
available to my address.
Porque los paquetes a Mexico que valen mas
de US$50 tienen que ir por "Correo Express"?
Q.When will my order be shipped?
A.As soon as possible, which normally means by within 2 business days for ground-shipping orders. Orders going by Fedex Overnite, 2 day and Express Saver normally go the same day if received by 3PM Central time. We take export orders going via airmail or domestic orders via priority mail to the Post Office once every week or two.
If we are out of stock or back-ordered on any item, we will let you know at the time you place your order.We do NOT charge your credit card until the items you ordered are actually shipped. The occasional backorder is hard to avoid, the length of back-orders is usually short.
Note that for several items we carry (like punch kits, twist-lock capacitors), there is only one factory making the stuff, and if they aren't in the mood to produce more, all we can do is gripe & moan until they get an attitude adjustment and start production again. In some cases (particularly twist-lock caps) the only reason these continue to be made is because tooling happens to be available, and the factory figures what the heck, they might as well make a few extra bucks. If it weren't for that we might never see any new production at all.
Some of the items we sell are no longer made, we try our best to keep stock, but if the supply dries up, all we can do is take that item off the list, until such time as we can locate more stock, if we can.
Meanwhile, most of the time we can recommend suitable substitutions or workarounds.
Q.Do you have a minimum order?
A. Minimum order is US$9.90.The minimum shipping charge in all cases is $3.
Q. Do you have a handling charge?
A. If the actual shipping charges exceed $3, we charge for shipping chart rate + $1 for shipments in the USA, +$2 internationally, except where additional documentation is required (ie: international shipments by Air Parcel, Express Mail, UPS or Fedex), in which case it's +$3.Shipping charges are normally rounded off to the nearest 50 cents (US$0.50) for smaller packages or nearest $1 for large ones.
Q.What are your warranties/terms of sale?
Ya know, folks, we've done our dangdest over the years to avoid all this fine print, but with the recent increase in business (as of Dec 2000, we're shipping nearly twice as many orders as we were in Dec 1999) and many new customers and many people who are new to buying tubes (or electronic components in general) we need to clarify the ground rules for everyone's benefit. Bear in mind we do our best within the limitations of time, personnel, and financial prudence to keep all of our customers happy, no matter what the rules are.
New and new-old-stock tubes are warrantied (except where
noted) for electrical defects/failures for 6 months from date of
sale. Tubes can only be returned for replacement if defective,
we do not sell tubes "on approval"or for
"auditions", this is the only way we can sell new tubes
at reasonable prices...we can't legally take back tubes you've
used and resell them to other customers as"new", and
manufacturers will not accept returns of non-defective tubes.
Used tubes, in the rare cases we sell them,are clearly designated
as "USED-TESTED", and are warrantied for 30 days, as
above.
Operating tubes outside the published & generally known
specifications of a given type renders the warranty void, the
only exception is where we represent a tube to be capable of
operation beyond the generally known published ratings
(examples,certain 6L6 types as a replacement for 7027, certain
6V6 types in Fender amplifiers that run 6V6 beyond their
published voltage ratings).In all cases if you return tubes for
replacement we will test them. Broken tubes (cracked glass,
lost vacuum, which can usually be indicated by the silver stuff on
the glass turning white) are NOT covered under warranty.Be gentle
with your tubes, they (usually) are made of glass and there's a
multitude of small parts inside held together with yet another
multitude of tiny welds.
Items other than tubes can be returned for full credit within 5
days of receipt if you do not find them satisfactory, with the
following exceptions::
No cash/credit refunds for installed components
(transformers.capacitors, resistors, switches, jacks/plugs,
sockets, etc), to put it simply, once they've been soldered on,
they are only returnable for replacement if defective.
No refunds or returns on partially assembled or completed
kits(including chassis kits). Please review carefully the
assembly instructions for kits,if the kit is beyond your ability
level to assemble, or you are not happy with it,you need to return
it before attempting assembly.
Books and software are sold "AS-IS", all sales are
final, no returns or refunds on books, printed material or
computer software..
Items other than tubes are warrantied for 30 days, or as the
manufacturer warantees the item, whichever is longer, except for
solid-state devices.
All solid-state electronic devices are sold AS-IS, with no
warranties express or implied.
Other than the exceptions noted above, items returned for refund
after 5 days are subject to a 10% restocking fee, this may be
waived at our option if the credit is applied to other purchases
from us.
Claims for missing or damaged parts must be made within 1 week of
the time you receive your package.Please open & check your
package immediately upon receipt, and notify us as soon as
possible or any damage or discrepancies.
Claims for lost or missing packages need to be made within 2
weeks (USA)or 30 days (Canada and international) of the time we
ship your package.In no case will we file lost package claims or
refund/replace lost merchandise if claims/lost package reports
are not made in a reasonable period of time, ie: within 30 days.
Warranties are not transferable, we will only make
replacements to the original purchaser.
We do not charge shipping on back-orders unless the back-ordered
items are heavy, eg: large bulk quantities of tubes or capacitors,
and large transformers.
No refunds on freight/shipping charges. Return shipping for
replacements is at customer's expense. We do not issue "call
tags" for returns."Advance replacements" (ie:
before we receive your returned merchandise) are solely made at
our option.
Other fine print:
We reserve the right to require signatures on delivery.
We reserve the right to upgrade your shipping option at no cost
to you in order to expedite deliveries (meaning, to get your
package to you faster).This may mean changing your shipping from
the carrier you selected, if you cannot accept a certain carrier
for deliveries, or can only accept a certain carrier for
deliveries, you need to let us know (by email or other method) at
the time you order.Carrier selections made on on-line ordering are
requests, not instructions, as to how we will ship your order.
We reserve the right to change your shipping option if it is not
available for the location/goods ordered (example, if you request
air shipping for aerosols,request UPS/Fedex shipping to a PO Box,
or request International Air Small Packet for a package that
exceeds size/weight/value limits for Small Packet shipments).If
such a change entails a major change in shipping charges, you
will be notified before we ship your order so you can make
changes if necessary.
We reserve the right to require cash payment in lieu of credit
card payment if we decide for any reason that accepting a credit
card payment is an unacceptable risk
Q.Do I have to use your on-line ordering?
A. No.You can call like before, we're happy to hear
from you.
Note that if you're not sure what to order, call or drop us a
note ...we get phone calls & emails quite often where people
are thinking about ordering the wrong stuff, that either won't work
right in their amps or won't fix the problem they're trying to
solve. It isn't terribly uncommon for people to call us thinking
they need a whole new set of tubes, then after a few minutes of
"interactive information acquisition" (I believe that's
new-age cyberspeak for asking customers what's wrong with their
amplifier), we find out it's a 50 cent resistor or fuse or
something else unrelated and save them a bundle of money. Without
this "interactive element", we'd never catch this
stuff.
Q.Do you sell your customer's email/mail addresses or phone numbers to telemarketers or spammers ?
A.Absolutely not, never have and never will. We can't stand telemarketers & spammers either.
If you run a business relating to tube amplifiers, we may refer customers to you (with your permission, of course).
Q.I'm outside the USA. Are there local taxes (IVA, VAT, sales tax) I can deduct from your prices?
A. The USA does not have IVA, VAT or HST, or other national sales/purchase/value added tax on general merchandise.Local taxes only apply to residents of the State of Illinois and orders picked up at our store and are not included in our prices.
Q.Do I have to pay Illinois State Sales Tax if I'm not in Illinois?
A.Not from us. Note that if you are an Illinois resident you have to pay our local rate (9.00%), not whatever the rate is where you live.
Q. But I ordered from another mail-order place and got charged sales tax, even tho it was in another state. What gives?
A. If that company has a physical presence (any kind of office, branch, sales rep, whatever) in your US state, they are required to charge you sales tax.Some electronics distributors and other large companies have "physical presence"in many states in the USA and if they have any in your state, you will be charged sales tax for purchases from them even tho the order may be shipped to you from out of state.
Q.How do I figure your prices in my local currency?
A. Go to http://www.travlang.com/money/ for a very easy to use currency converter. Also, if you don't speak or read English very well,http://dictionaries.travlang.com has a very good online dictionary for converting English words to other languages.
Q.What does shipping cost? What's the best method to ship to:
A.Depends on the weight of the package. Our minimum shipping
charge is $3, no matter what UPS, Fedex or the Post Office
charges (this allows us not to have to impose minimum
orders). This covers many shipments of small packages of tubes &
small parts inside the USA. Our on-line ordering program does a
fairly good job of estimating ground UPS and airmail charges.
Because of our fairly central location (Chicago), most of the USA
(nearly everything from Colorado on east) is within 3 business
days' shipping time from us via good old UPS & Fedex Ground
service. UPS & Fedex rates not only include tracking,but
insurance as well, an extra cost item (which we require for items
of any major value) for items sent by Post Office. So UPS/Fedex
Ground service is usually the most cost effective and most prompt
way to ship. We now have UPS, Fedex, and US Postal Service (domestic
only)
bar-coding system that allows for UPS, Fedex, and the USPS to process
the
packages we ship by more automated methods(ie: less
hand-sorting),this seems to have perceptibly improved the speed
& promptness of UPS, Fedex & USPS shipping from here.
Our on-line ordering system freight calculator includes insurance.
While we now have a new system to ship smaller packages by Post Office directly from here, larger and more valuable packages still have to be taken to the local office. Since we do not take packages to the post office every day (once or twice a week is about how often we have enough packages to go there), and our minimum charge is $3 in all cases, "Priority Mail" for larger (too big to fit in the corner box) domestic (inside the USA) packages generally is not going to save any time or money.
We do reserve the right to require signatures on delivery in all cases.
...Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico,APO/FPO addresses...?
Packages to Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico are most economically sent by Priority Mail, because UPS does not have Ground Service to these locations, and UPS Air service is considerably more expensive than inside the Continental USA.Puerto Rican customers are better off using Priority Mail for another reason,as using UPS or Fedex Air service they may have to pay local excise taxes.
Packages to APO/FPO addresses must go by Post Office. UPS or Fedex can not accept packages to APO/FPO's, sorry.The nice thing is that APO/FPO's get charged domestic postal rates, even if the ultimate destination is overseas, this can save you money if you've got an APO/FPO address.
....Canada....?
Good old airmail is by far the most economical method, airmail to
Canada has been reliable & prompt (although not necessarily
super speedy) in our experience, and smaller packages usually go
sailing through without any extra taxes or duty being charged on
receipt.
Even if the cost of shipping by airmail is listed as the same as using by United Parcel Service, airmail is preferable, as even if the package is of low value, UPS usually levies hefty charges(most people use stronger language to describe this) to Canadian customers for customs clearance, on top of HST/PST.Clearance cost for packages received by Canada Post as far as we know are at the most Cdn$5, and that's only if there's taxes to collect, smaller non-taxed packages shouldn't even be charged this minimal amount....there might be extra charges if the value of the package is very high, like over Cdn$500, if that's the case please inquire with your local Post Office about any potential charges.We didn't see anything about this on Canada Post's web site,but there is a Post Office Locater there and CP's toll free Customer Service number is 1-888-550-6333.
We can ship packages to Canada via Fedex Express or UPS
Red/Blue Air service, the rates are similar (about US$25 for the
first pound) to US domestic Express service rates, and it's very
fast. You can order on-line, select "Fedex Express Saver " or "Fedex 2
Day".
A. Post Office shipping to the UK, Ireland, and most of the more prosperous European (most Western European countries, as well as Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, and the Czech Republic) & Pacific Rim countries (Hong Kong,Singapore, Republic of Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia & New Zealand) and Israel is generally prompt & reliable....more prompt,usually , than Post Office shipping in the USA. Most smaller airmail packages to those countries manage to avoid import duty& VAT, too. If you wish to place a large order and are worried about getting stuck with tax & clearance charges, you may be better off getting several smaller packages that weigh less than 4 pounds(roughly 2 Kg). For example, in the UK, Small Packets (under 2 Kg) are reportedly handled by ordinary Royal Mail,which(or so we've heard) often neglects to collect duty & VAT, where as larger packages are handled by ParcelFarce, which is reportedly more diligent in this regard. As it is, few of our export customers receiving airmailed Small Packets report having been charged VAT/IVA or duty on receipt.
Please note that United Parcel Service (not items sent by Post
Office) Red or
Blue Air Service and Fedex Express packages occasionally have
"dimensional weight" (charges based on size) charges
applied. These are generally inconsequential (ifapplied at all)
on packages shipped in the USA, but they can be substantial on
export packages, if the "dim weight" on your package
exceeds 20% over the estimated charges, we will notify you before
we ship your package.
Usually, international packages that must be received urgently are
most economically sent by Express Mail, unless the package is very
heavy.
We *discourage* people from requesting surface (boat) shipping by mail, unless there is a major cost savings and you are willing to accept lengthy delays.In the case of Canada, there is little cost saving, no matter the package size. In the case of other export customers, shipping time can take anywhere from 4 to 16 weeks....generally, shipments to the UK and Ireland are fastest,shipments to Australia & NZ the longest, Europe in between.Shipping via surface/boat mail has been intentionally omitted from our On-line Order service,due to the unpredictability of this service. If you wish to order heavy items(transformers or speakers, for example) that would be most economically be shipped by surface/boat mail, please email us for a shipping estimate.You can order these on-line by indicating Air Parcel Post, if you have notified us that you will accept surface shipping conditions, we will correct the shipping method and cost when processing your order.
In Latin America & Africa, we have had good results
shipping to Brazil, Mexico Chile and even Argentina, but occasionally
there
have been minor hassles over local taxes. In other parts of Latin
America we regret we can only offer Post Office service if the
Post Office offers insurance on packages going to your country.We
require Express Mail shipping on all but
very small packages to Mexico as this is the only method of
insuring Post Office packages sent to Mexico.This may be true of
other countries in Latin America.We have successfully
shipped airmail packages previously to South Africa, but at this
time suggest customers inquire locally with other postal customers
as to the reliability of international postal services there.
Q.My country
isn't listed on the on-line store checkout!
We cannot ship packages to countries where the US government has
legally prohibited commercial transactions (example, Cuba,
North Korea ).
We do not accept orders from countries
not listed on our on-line order form.
Examples of places we can no longer accept orders from: Turkey, Greece,
Thailand, Malaysia, Nigeria, Colombia.
Q. Can we have you ship by DHL or Airborne courier? Or airfreight?
A. Sure, email, fax or phone us with your DHL or
Airborne account number.(You may have to call in the pickup
on your end) We already have 3 shipping options (UPS, Fedex and
Post Office), and it's a real pain to maintain accounts &
paperwork with shippers we rarely, if ever, use, so we don't have
accounts with Airborne or DHL. We need your phone number in
case we need to call for confirmation.We can ship large items by
airfreight companies,but warn that unless you've had previous
experience with a given airfreight company, you should get a
complete advance estimate of charges for freight,customs
clearance, documentation charges, and local delivery charges
where applicable, so you don't get any unwelcome surprises when
receiving your package.Airfreight can be tricky for the novice
importer. UPS & Fedex air shipping (not ground
shipping to Canada & Mexico) charges *include* Customs
Clearance in all cases we know of, but to be sure, you can lookup
the rates & Terms of Service for your country on their
respective web pages. You may find that their charges are less
than airfreight since it includes many services (like local
delivery and clearance ) that would be extra using airfreight
companies.
For small packages, airfreight generally isn't practical or
economical.
Q.My country doesn't have (postal/zipcodes or states/provinces) and my order won't go through without entering something. What should I enter for these items?
A. Just enter "NONE" or "#####". If you're in Hong Kong, just put whatever section (Kowloon, New Territories, etc) you live in for the state.
Q. I live in the United Kingdom, what should I enter for "state"?
A. Just enter your county (Herts, Sussex, N Yorks, whatever) for the state, if applicable, if you're living in an area that's not in a county(eg:London), put in "NONE". You don't need to enter "England", "Wales" or"Scotland",your postcode will direct your package to the right place...and generally,we know which counties/districts are in which part of the UK. If we're really puzzled (we haven't been yet, but there's always a first time), we'll drop you an email and ask for help. So be sure and supply us a valid email address, OK?
Q.What about states in Australia? I can't fit the name of my state in the space provided.
A. Just put the abbreviation, NSW, WA, NT etc. And don't forget your postcode!
Why isn't Fedex Overnight or UPS Red listed on online ordering options for the USA?
A.While computers are nearly perfect,(hah!) they can
malfunction on occasion,(hah hah!) bear in mind that there's
probably dozens of routers and computers that your order passes
through (encrypted, tho, so no one can read it) to get to us, and
any one failing temporarily will delay us processing your
order,while these delays are normally of short duration(maybe an
hour or two) and won't affect shipments going by usual ground
route or by UPS Blue or Fedex Express Saver, it might
make it impossible for us to process your order in time to
ship the same day.
So if you just have to have next day shipping, please call
us.This also allows us to do a real-time stock check on the items
you wish to order Note that to ship the same day, orders have to
be received by us by 3PM CT IMPORTANT : We MUST have
a valid local phone number for you, to ship next day packages to
you via UPS or Fedex!
Why isn't Fedex Ground or UPS Ground
listed as an
option on the on-line ordering for packages to Canada or Mexico?
A.In the case of Canada & Mexico, UPS Ground and Fedex Ground
charge
a hefty customs clearance charge (Cdn$25/MXN250) + PST/HST/IVA for
receiving
packages imported from the USA, which is paid by the recipient
and not included in UPS Ground/Fedex Ground rates quoted to
Canada.
If you do want UPS Ground or Fedex Ground service for an export package
to Canada or Mexico, you
can place an order online, select "Air Parcel Post",and
notify us by email that you want your package shipped by one of
those services, we will make the shipping method &
cost adjustment when processing your order.
IMPORTANT: We MUST have a valid local phone number
for you,to ship export packages via UPS or Fedex! In the case of
Fedex, you may have to have a Fedex account number for charging
import duties & fees.
I tried tracking my UPS, Fedex or USPS package and either...
1.It went to "CAROL STREAM IL" or "CACH IL", got scanned 3 or 4 times and seemed to disappear!
A. "CACH IL" is UPS's big intermodal hub in Chicago, "CAROL STREAM, IL" is the same for Fedex Ground. Some packages (especially ones going to CA, OR &WA) get presorted there, (thus sometimes scanned several times) then are put on railroad container trains or long distance trucks and won't be scanned again until very close to their destinations.
2.It went to "GRADE LANE HUB KY" or"LOUISVILLE INTL KY" even though Kentucky's the opposite direction of where I live!
A."GRADE LANE HUB KY" is UPS's big air shipment sorting center in Louisville, KY. Many air packages pass through there and thus of course Louisville International Airport, even though the ultimate destination isn't anywhere near Kentucky.
3.It went to "MEMPHIS TN", even though Memphis is the opposite direction of where I live!
A. Same deal as with UPS, Fedex's big air shipment sorting center is in Memphis (Tennessee, not Egypt). Many air packages sent by Fedex, go via Memphis, even though this is a big detour from some points.If you live in Cleveland, for example, Fedex Air packages will go from Chicago to Memphis then back to Cleveland...but it'll still be on time! Don't ask us how, it seems to work,and we don't run Fedex, we just sell tubes n' stuff.
4. I just got an email with my tracking number and tried tracking my package, but it comes up invalid!
A. UPS and Fedex Ground tracking number info is uploaded from
us to those carriers once a day, and tracking numbers will not
show up until we close out and upload that day's shipment info.
In the case of Fedex Express,the tracking numbers won't show up
until the Fedex courier picks up & scans the packages.
On-line tracking US Postal Service Global Priority Mail numbers has not
been fully implemented by the Post Office, the on-line tracking feature
only works about half the time and then tracking will only follow the
package until it leaves the USA.
5. I tried to track my USPS
Priority Mail or First Class Mail package and only see "Electronic
Notification Received" and no further information.
A. USPS Delivery Confirmation is exactly that, a delivery
confirmation system, and not a tracking system like Fedex or UPS.
Generally packages with Delivery Confirmation will only be scanned
& electronically registered at the point of delivery.
Why can't I select between Fedex and UPS service on the online ordering?
A. It's not possible for us to determine whether we can or
should ship to you via Fedex or UPS until we process your
order.In the case of ground shipments, Fedex Ground does not have
service to all locations in the USA, and we cannot determine
whether they do to your address until your order is processed. In
the case of air shipments, again, it's not possible to determine
what's the cheapest/fastest way to ship or what shipping options
are available to your location, until we process your order.
Trust us, folks, we've been shipping tubes for 15 years.
The default on air/ground shipping in the USA is Fedex, if
you just can't stand Fedex and have to have your package sent by
UPS,please let us know by phone call or email before we ship.
Q.I tried to select "Priority Mail" or "Global Priority Mail" for my US address but got a message that this method is not available to my address.
A. For various reasons we don't have Priority Mail as an option on our on-line ordering to USA destinations except for APO/FPO's, Alaska, Hawaii, and US Commonwealth islands ( Puerto Rico, Guam, etc) , however many smaller packages will be sent by Priority Mail if you select "Ground" and Priority Mail is the cheapest & fastest way to get the package to you. If you have to have Priority Mail shipping for larger items, you'll need to call or email us.
Q.I tried to select "Global Priority Mail", but got a message that this method is not available to my address.
A. Global Priority Mail is not available to all countries, or within the USA.If it is not available to your country,or you are in the USA, you will get this message.
Porque los paquetes a Mexico que valen mas de US$50 tienen que ir por "Correo Express"?
A.Porque eso es el unico modo de enviar paquetes por correo a
Mexico, *con seguro*. Nota: por la ley aduanal de Mexico, tenemos
que enviar recibos con todos los paquetes que son sujetos de
impuestos, la aduana mexicana puede cobrar una multa al
recipiente, si el paquete falta un recibo!