Boutique FAQ
Topics:
Q:
What is the Tarot Garden Boutique?
A: The Boutique is our listing of
for-sale tarots. We strive to offer the widest and most interesting
variety of tarots available for purchase anywhere, from popular
in-print titles to extremely rare and valuable collectors' decks.
Q:
Why is the Boutique divided up into sections? What is the difference
between the sections?
A: In order to differentiate between our
selections from a collector's perspective, we have created five
different sections within our Boutique. The sections, and their general
focus, are as follows:
-
Popular. These are typically
in-print (or only recently out-of-print) selections, usually released
and / or distributed by major publishing houses, in the $10 - $50
range. We do carry a wide variety of imported titles in this section
which are often harder-to-find in the United States -- including
selections from France, Italy, Germany, and Japan. When a particular
title in the "Popular" section is sold out, it most often -- although
not always -- can and will be reordered.
-
Independent / Small Press. These are
decks in a wide variety of price ranges that have either been
self-published by the artist, or by a very small publishing firm with
limited distribution. Many of our Small Press selections are limited
editions. We are proud to offer these often little-known gems in one
great location for your shopping convenience!
-
Gallery. Although we do offer a few
of the harder-to-find in-print titles in this section, most of our
Gallery listings represent out-of-print or limited edition selections
in the $40 - $150 range. Often, Gallery selections will have been
relatively widely distributed in some market (not necessarily in in
North America, however) before they went out-of-print. A large
percentage of our Gallery selections were published outside of North
America. Although we may begin with several copies of a title when it
is first listed in our Boutique, Gallery selections are less likely to
be re-orderable once our stock is depleted.
-
5-Star Salon. Our exclusive listings
of famous and rare tarots for collectors. Most come from limited
editions, from print runs that are sometimes as low as 10 copies or
fewer. We occasionally offer one-of-a-kind decks in this section.
Prices range from $100 on up. Often we only have one or two copies to
offer of a 5-Star selection. These selections are almost never
re-orderable. Our sale copy (or copies) is (are) frequently obtained on
the "secondary market," as is often necessary with rare selections --
meaning that they have been preowned. Others are obtained directly from
the artists themselves by special arrangement.
-
Gifts / Other. A "miscellaneous"
section listing tarot-related items, such as books, tarot software, and
tarot accessories.
Q:
What is a "Gift Alert"?
A: When viewing selections in our
Boutique, there is an icon labeled "Gift Alert" that can be used to
send the information on that selection to another person. If a
selection is sold out, the Gift Alert button will not be available
until the item is restocked.
When you elect to send a Gift Alert, you will
be asked for the name and e-mail of the person you wish to contact
about the deck, as well as your name (your e-mail may be included, but
is optional). The specified recipient will receive an e-mail informing
them that this is a Tarot Garden selection that you would like to
receive. The item title, price, shipping, and insurance costs will be
included in the e-mail, and a link for viewing the item in the Boutique
will be provided. The Tarot Garden's e-mail is listed as the "Reply To"
address in the message, so if the recipient wishes to purchase the item
for you, they need only reply to the message to receive payment
instructions.
The information collected when you send a Gift
Alert is used only for purposes of sending the Gift Alert, and is not
used by the Tarot Garden for promotional reasons (unless you have
already specifically provided us with permission to do so), nor is it
given to any third parties unless required by law.
Q:
How Do I Find the Selection I want?
A: If you are looking for a specific
tarot or cartomantic deck, use our online database.
Our database is directly connected into our Boutique, so that once you
locate the item you're looking for, you can see the inventory status of
the selection. If the item is noted as being available in our online
Boutique, then you can click on the link(s) provided to view the item
in the Boutique and to receive price information and/or order the deck.
Q:
How Do I Preorder a Title That Hasn't Been Released Yet?
A: As of 18 February 2007, you can now
make a preorder request online by simply locating the title of interest
in our database (not the "Boutique" view -- the
Boutique view only includes items that are in stock, or were in stock
but are sold out with a possible reorder pending; see this FAQ
for more information on the difference between the Database view and
the Boutique view), and clicking the "Submit Preorder" button. BUT --
and this is very important -- you have to have a Tarot Garden account,
and be logged into your account, to place preorders online. We will
continue to try accepting preorders from people without accounts by
email (at info@tarotgarden.com)
for a while, but if it becomes too complex to juggle two preorder
lists, we may eventually require that all preorders be submitted
through online accounts. We'd like to take this opportunity to remind
everyone again that our online accounts are secure, confidential, free,
and non-spam. For more information on Tarot Garden accounts, refer to
our "Account FAQ" page by clicking here.
Q:
The item I want is out-of-stock; can you notify me when you have it
available again?
A: Yes. As of 10 June 2007, our
backorders system is now tied into our account system. For more
information, refer to this section
of our "Account FAQ" page.
Q:
How can I special-order an in-print title that's not currently
available through your online Boutique?
A: First, check to make sure that the
title is listed as "Special Order" in the listing's database view. If the item is listed as being in
our "Boutique," you won't need to special-order it. If the deck is in
our Boutique but out-of-stock, just add the item to your backorder
list to receive a notification when the deck is in stock again.
If the item is listed in our database as being
in our offline inventory, you don't need to special order it; we have
at least one copy in stock. Just write
us for a price quote.
If the item is listed in our database as
"unavailable," we can't special order it. Please use our search
service instead, to request that we try to find a copy for you.
If, however, the item is listed in our database
as "special order," then you can write
to us to inquire further. In most cases, we'll try to pick up the
item for you the next time we place a larger order with a supplier that
carries the title. However, some titles are only available through very
limited channels or sources from which we don't order very often. As
such, it can sometimes take many months before we can fulfill special
order requests. If you're in a hurry, we can try to expedite your
order, but that usually means placing an order with the supplier that
is below the ideal "wholesale threshold," which will drastically
increase the cost of the item. Therefore, we don't recommend expedited
special order requests unless you're in an extreme hurry and willing to
pay a higher-than-retail price for the item.
Q:
The item I want to buy is listed as being in your "offline inventory"
-- what does that mean?
A: The offline inventory is our
selection of in-stock titles not currently listed in our Boutique. The
reasons that these titles are not included in the Boutique varies, but
include: item is preowned/used, the price has not yet been determined,
we only have one or two copies of the item but it does not meet the
listing criteria for inclusion in our 5-Star Salon...
or we just haven't gotten around to "officially" listing it yet! The
list of offline inventory items is accessible through the Tarot Garden database. Items marked as "offline inventory"
are generally available for immediate sale and shipping.
Q:
What if I don't find the deck I'm looking for in the Boutique?
A: If you don't find what you're
looking for... don't give up! We may have a copy in our offline inventory, or we may be able to
special-order it. If all else fails, try our search service.
Q:
I found something that I want to buy -- how to I order and pay for it?
A: We recommend using our online
shopping cart. From the Boutique view (keeping in mind that not
all items listed in our informational database are available for sale
through our Boutique), click the "Add to Cart" button to place one or
more copies into your online shopping cart. Until recently, we required
customers to set up an online account with us
to finalize and pay for purchases, but as of December 2008, we have
modified the system to allow checkout and payment without an account.
While we still recommend the account option as the better choice
(because of the more complete tracking , history, and service
information we can provide if you let us set up a customer file on our
server for you), the choice is up to you. We're happy to take your
order either way. We can also accept phone orders at 515.224.7654
(we're located in the U.S. Central time zone, but evening and weekend
calls are accepted). For information
about how to reach us to place orders by email or phone, please visit
our Contact information page.
Q:
Do you ship to locations outside of the United States? What shipping
options do you offer?
A: Yes. We ship to any location that can
receive mail through "normal means," but the cost of the selected
shipping method, and any requested or required insurance, is added to
the total cost of your order. Also, you may have customs fees to pay
when your order arrives in your country.
For domestic (U.S.) orders, we generally ship
by USPS Priority tracked mail. This service offers the best combination
of price and speed. For larger orders that qualify, we may elect to
ship by USPS media mail if the shipping charged does not cover the cost
of Priority shipment. The maximum shipping charge for any U.S. order is
$14, if you are willing to accept shipment by our "default" method of
USPS Priority.
For international orders, we generally ship by
standard international airmail. We can ship by surface mail -- or, in
some instances, Global Priority mail -- upon request, but for various
reasons, we believe the "standard" airmail method to be the best
option. The cost is determined by the weight of the package and the
destination. Our online shopping cart estimates these costs, but the
final cost you will be charged will be determined once we've prepared
your order for shipment. If you are located in a country where we have
had experience of repeated delivery problems, we may request or require
that you insure the package or have it sent by registered mail. The
cost of these extra services will be added into your total order
shipping cost.
We do not ship by UPS, Federal Express, DHL,
Airborne, or any non-govermental commercial shipping service except by
specific request. In our experience, these services are more expensive,
and for most countries, the "standard" airmail options provide
adequately reliable service at a lower cost. If you request shipping by
another method, the shipping charges of your order will be increased
according to the cost of the chosen service.
Q:
I'm ordering from outside of the United States. Can you put down that
the package is a "gift" and declare a low value for it on the customs
form?
A: Not to be rude, but -- c'mon. We are
a U.S. corporation, bound by the business laws of this country and that
of the U.S. Postal service. It's a federal crime for us to knowingly
misrepresent the contents and value of our shipments -- we can get in
big trouble for that. In fact, so can you, if your country's customs
service inspects your package and finds otherwise. We've learned some
countries put the burden of truthful declarations on the receiver
(doesn't seem fair, but hey -- we don't make the laws, we just abide by
them), and can prosecute the receiver if they feel like it (although
admittedly, we've never heard of an instance where they felt like it).
We can assure our customers, however, that we
do everything we legally can to minimize or eliminate customs fees
whenever possible -- and there are things we can do to accomplish that.
Even so, we can't control the customs officials in your country --
which we've found can be subject to their own unfathomable whims, no
matter what we do. Some countries just don't apply their customs rules
very consistently -- but we do what we can on our end to hopefully
minimize your hassles and cost.
Q:
When will my package arrive? How can I track my Tarot Garden shipment?
A: We generally process orders very
quickly, and 99% of the time, your order will be on its way within 24
hours -- Sundays and holidays excluded. Furthermore, 99% of our
domestic (U.S.) shipments arrive within two days after mailing --
again, Sundays and holidays excluded.
Outside of the U.S., delivery times are much
harder to predict. Most (about 95%) of our international orders do
arrive in two weeks or less. For some destinations, delivery can occur
within as little as 4 days. But neither the USPS nor the postal
services of any destination countries we've sent to guarantee any
particular delivery schedule. Oddly, some of the slowest delivery
reports we get are from our next-door neighbors in Canada. Don't ask us
why; we thought our countries were on really friendly terms. (*shrug*)
Despite having generally good results with the
USPS and the international postal systems, delays can and do occur. We
recommend that U.S. customers allow at least one week for delivery, and
that customers outside the U.S. allow 30 days, before becoming
concerned about the status of their package.
As a further service to our customers, we have
now implemented (as of 15 March 2008) a system of documenting available
tracking information with each order. All orders sent after 10 March
2008 include this tracking information, if applicable. The tracking
number will be provided in the confirming email you receive after your
online order is submitted, and can also be accessed by logging into
your Tarot Garden account and reviewing the order on your "History"
screen. The tracking number displayed on the History screen is a
clickable link that will take you directly to the USPS' "Track and
Confirm" utility for that order.
For U.S. customers, the tracking number will
confirm the date of shipment, and can also show when the package was
delivered. For non-U.S. customers, the tracking number information
provided depends on how the package was shipped. If we were able to
send you the package by Global Priority, the tracking information will
confirm the date of shipment, and will also typically document when the
package was delivered into the hands of your country's postal system.
If we sent your package by standard airmail, the tracking number
provided will be the customs form number for your package, and will
only confirm the date of shipment. Once a package has been turned over
to another country's postal service, the USPS turns the burden of
tracking over to that service; we can provide no further information.
If you have delivery concerns for your area, we
recommend that you annotate your order in the "Notes" box of the
checkout screen to request that your package be sent by registered or
insured mail. The cost of any extra shipping services you
request will be added to your order. Once we provide proof of shipment
(via the tracking information), we will not accept responsibility for
the replacement of or refund for items that are lost or damaged in
transit.
Q:
What methods of payment do you accept?
A: We accept most legal payment methods.
It is usually easiest to pay us by credit card, or by the popular PayPal online payment service. However, we do
accept "mailed" payments -- payment by money order, personal check, or
cash (although we don't recommend
the latter option, of course). Payment by wire transfer is accepted as
well; however, we are often charged hefty fees to receive payments from
outside of the U.S. in this fashion. Please be aware that any fees we
incur as a result of your selected payment method will be added onto
the cost of your order.
It may be possible for us to receive payments
from domestic (U.S.) customers by EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) at no
charge. Please inquire if you are interested in sending payment by EFT.
If you subscribe to another payment service
other than PayPal, and you would like to pay us using your preferred
online service, simply send us an email at info@tarotgarden.com to give us
the information, and we'll see if we can get signed up!
Q:
Can I order and pay for items with PayPal, without using your online
shopping cart?
A: Yes. If you wish to place and pay for
an order with us using the PayPal service, and do not wish to use our
online shopping cart, simply issue payment to sales@tarotgarden.com
when your are logged into your PayPal account. For U.S. orders, you can
use a general shipping cost calculation of $5.00 for the first deck +
$1.50 additional for each additional deck, with a maximum shipping
charge of $14. For more accurate shipping charge computation, or to
request a shipping quote for orders shipping outside of the U.S., write
to us at sales@tarotgarden.com
and tell us what items you want to order. We can send a PayPal eInvoice
for any order upon request.
Q:
Do you accept payments in currencies other than U.S. dollars?
A: Yes... under limited circumstances.
We will accept checks or money orders in non-U.S. dollars if you agree
to cover the costs involved with the conversion and deposit of those
funds. Such costs, however, may be quite steep, as we are located in a
part of the U.S. that is not exactly a "hotbed of international
finance."
For best results, we recommend that non-U.S.
buyers pay via credit card or one of the "internationally-friendly"
online payment services, such as PayPal. You may be able to obtain
International money orders in U.S. dollars for fees lower than the ones
we are presently forced to charge to cover our conversion and deposit
costs.
Q:
Can you bill me for my order in my local currency?
A: Not really. Our bookkeeping programs
are not able to handle multiple currencies, and the banks we work with
will not allow us to maintain accounts in currencies other than US$.
Credit card payments are charged in US$ and converted to your local
currency by your credit card company. The PayPal service will convert
your US$ payment to your local currency as well. Currency conversion by
these services are done at the exchange rate in effect for that
particular service at the time you place your order, and we can't
predict what that might be.
If you want a general idea of approximately how
much your order total might be in your currency, we recommend checking
the Universal
Currency Converter (UCC) online. The UCC rates shown are the rates
generally offered to financial institutions, and therefore are more
favorable than the rates that are usually obtainable by the general
public. Still, it's a good place to start, and it's the exchange rate
information we use when determining the cost for orders paid for "by
mail" in non-US$. We add approx. 3% to the UCC rate when computing
converted totals, and then add the equivalent of an additional US$5 to
the total to cover the bank fees we incur when depositing such payments.
