(Updated 12 September 2007)
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
| 1. Q. How do I order?
A. If you wish to order by credit card, we suggest you order over the internet. You may initiate an order for an item from web pages with merchandise on them or directly from the shopping cart by clicking on the shopping cart button. When you check out you will enter your personal and credit card information, and then the order is sent to us by encrypted email. It is not stored on the server. You must have a reasonably up to date browser with javascript and cookies enabled to use the shopping cart. If you have problems with the shopping cart, you can use the Secure Order Form (accessible from the initial shopping cart page) instead. If you wish to order by mail or fax you can download one of our catalogs and use the order form it includes. Send it to Van Cott Information Services, Inc., PO Box 9569, Las Vegas, NV 89191 or fax it to 801-650-1719. If you want to order by phone or have a question, give us a call at 702-438-2102. The best time to call is 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., Pacific Time, Monday-Friday. But we are often available until 10 p.m. and on weekends. If you get our answering machine please leave a message and we will call you back as soon as we can. If you are going to be in Las Vegas and would like to arrange a visit, please contact us in advance. |
| 2. Q. Why doesn't my shopping cart have
anything in it?
A. Our web site uses both non-secure and secure
servers.
This makes the most common method of ordering a two step processes. When you are ready to check out click on the START
CHECKOUT at the top of the same page with the confirm button. This will
take you to the page for entering shipping information. You can
make changes in your order, including deleting or changing the quantity
of items. You can check the cost of shipping and you can go back
and add more items to your cart if you wish (a limit of 16 per cart).
If you need more than 16 items, submit multiple orders and we will
combine them. |
| 3. Q. What are the payment options?
A. We accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express credit cards. We accept checks and money orders drawn on US banks and payable in US dollars (this includes Canadian and International Postal Money Orders if payable in US dollars). All checks must have the bank and account numbers printed (in magnetic ink) and the bottom left of the check. We accept US cash (registered mail suggested from overseas). A number of customers have sent us money by Western Union. While this is an expensive method, it is available and is faster than any option except credit cards. It is important that all addresses details are correct or we will have difficulty getting the money. We do not use pay pal, collect on delivery, or bank to bank transfers. All orders must be paid in advance except for US University
libraries,
music departments, book stores and similar. For these orders we must
have
an official purchase order mailed, faxed, or sent as an email
attachment. |
| 4. Q. Is the items or items I want in
stock?
A. We now stock more than 2000 items. We generally have at least 98 percent of them in stock. However, we do sometimes have delays in restocking popular items due to temporary out of print items and slow supplier response to orders. Contact us by email, use our form for requesting information, or by phone to inquire about specific items. |
| 5. Q. What
about back orders? A. If an item is not available when you order, we will let you know (by email) when we expect it to be back in stock and give you the option of a partial shipment. Shipping charges apply to all shipments. If you have elected to wait for all items to arrive (or you have just one item) we will automatically ship to you within 30 days of your original order. If we have made a partial shipment or more than 30 days have passed since your original order, we will check with you before we ship. |
| 6. Q. What about items I don't see listed?
A. Please ask about anything else you are looking for.
There is sometimes a delay between the time items are received and
listed on the web site. We are
also happy to try to find other items. |
| 7. Q. What are your shipping
options to the United States?
A. To the US we offer Media Mail shipping (this was previously named book rate). It is $4.50 for the first item and 50 cents for each additional item. As identified in the catalog, some small items are free as additional items. However, you will always be charged at least the $4.50 minimum. If you are paying by a credit card, we will compute shipping on orders with 6-8 or more items at cost plus a $2.00 handling charge. If you want to pay by check, ask us in advance and we will tell you how much the shipping will be. Media Mail can be slow! About 95 percent of orders are delivered within 14 days but that means the others take longer, sometimes up to 4 weeks. For Priority Mail shipments paid by credit card we charge cost plus a $2.00 handling charge. Our shopping cart computes the rate automatically for your location. If you want to pay by check, ask us in advance and we will tell you how much the shipping will be or enclose $7.00 for the first item and $1.50 for each additional item. The postal service has flat rate envelopes and boxes that we use when appropriate. The new flat rate box can often lower the cost of shipping a 3-4 pound order to the East Coast to $10.95. We have incorporate the Flat Rate Box into our rate calculations where we think it is most likely to apply. Most Priority Mail orders are delivered in 2-3 days. Please use Priority Mail if you are in a hurry or have a deadline. We are also using FedEx Ground or UPS Ground for some shipments. Consider this for larger orders to the East, where you don't want to pay for Priority Mail but don't want to wait 8-14 days or more for Media Mail either. Shipping time is 5 business days to the East Coast. We charge cost plus a $2.00 handling charge. We recommend insurance for order over $75.00 for Media Mail (which is more likely to be damaged) and over $125 for Priority Mail. See insurance details below. We suggest the private insurance for most shipments. |
| 8. Q. What are your
international
shipping options?
A. Our shopping cart now computes estimated shipping on international orders to most countries from which we have ever received orders. Shipping may be slightly less than shown and in a few cases more. If shipping is more or has not been computed, we will inform you of the shipping charges prior to processing your order. Insurance can be computed by the shopping cart but is not available for all countries or shipping methods. The classes of international mail have been renamed by the
postal service. For order up to a maximum of 4 pounds, it is now First
Class International. There is no USPS insurance for this class
of mail but private insurance is available to many countries (see
below). More information about international mail can be found on the USPS web site: http://ircalc.usps.gov/ Other overseas shipping options such as UPS and FedEx are very expensive (typically four to five times the postal charge) and are rarely used. |
| 9. Q. What about insurance?
A. We offer two options for insurance (We
suggest the private insurance for most shipments and ONLY use private
insurance for Media and First Class Mail.): 1. USPS insurance. We do not recommend insuring
shipments under $50. The new insurance rates are rather
strange: Up to $100 is $2.05, $100.01 - $200.00 is $2.45, $200.01
- $300.00 is $4.60. Each additional $100 of valuation is
another $.90. NEW:
Signatures are only required for delivery of USPS Insured Mail valued
at over $200. If you want a signature, Signature Confirmation is
$1.75. Please note this in the comments section of your order. For international mail, the cost is $2.75 for the first $100 in valuation plus $1.05 for each additional hundred. HOWEVER, USPS insurance is only available for Priority Mail International, as mentioned in question 8. USPS insurance is not available to some countries such as Norway and Mexico. 2. Private insurance is through our postage software
provider, endecia.com. There is no label on the package to indicate
insurance and a signature is not required for delivery. In the US,
insurance is $.75 per $100 of valuation. So insurance for a
package valued from $1.00-100.00 would cost $0.75 and for $100.01 to
$200.00 would be $1.50, etc. Insurance for international shipments using this insurance is $1.60 per $100 of valuation (except Canada which is $.90 per $100). This insurance is not available to: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Papua/New Guinea, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Yemen, and Yugoslavia |
| 10. Q.
Where is my order? A. For nearly all US orders we send you a delivery confirmation number when we email you the shipping confirmation. You can use this information to check the status on the Edicia.com or USPS web site. Note that this in NOT tracking. While the post office often scans mail (especially Media Mail) when it is enroute, all this service really does it provide confirmation that the package has been delivered. All Media Mail goes to the processing center in Bell, California (Los Angeles area) before it is sent to the processing center that services your area, and then to your local post office for delivery. About 95 percent of Medial Mail is delivered in 9-14 days with the rest often taking as long as 3-4 weeks. If you have not received your order in 30 days please contact us. Please use Priority Mail if you are in a hurry or have a deadline. Priority Mail is sent directly to your post office and often isn't scanned until it is delivered. Most Priority Mail is delivered in 2-3 days. The delivery time for overseas mail is highly variable. We have had orders delivered in 4-6 days on a few occasions, but 10-14 days is more usual. Sometimes the delivery of these orders may be held up for the collection of duties and taxes. Some Priority Mail International (heavier orders) can be tracked. Contact us about your order if you are interested. In all cases it is extremely rare for orders to be lost. Generally we have only 1-2 per year and they are usually Media Mail orders which have been destroyed by the processing center in California. |
Van Cott Information Services, Inc.
P.O. Box 9569
Las Vegas, NV 89191, USA
Phone: 702-438-2102
Fax: 801-650-1719
Email: info@vcisinc.com
Or fill out our: Request Form
