Following are the general rules, policies and guidelines for coupons and account credits. These are the default rules unless explicitly noting otherwise on an issued coupon or account credit. Coupons and Account Credits function similarly, but there are key difference that must be noted separately.
COUPONS DEFINED:
Coupons are a user applied discount to one or more products or services we sell. A coupon is issued with a alpha-numeric code that is required to be entered by the user to receive the benefit value associated with the coupon. Coupons can be received be the user in many ways, most commonly they are directly issued to a customer in relation to a purchase; or they are published in a manner for the general public to find.
- Coupons likely have a very defined period of time for when they are valid. Once the expiration date has passed, the coupon is no longer valid and cannot be used. We will not re-issue an expired coupon, or honor the stated value after that expiration date.
- Coupons can be locked to a specific user, meaning they cannot be shared or sold. Often such coupons are sent directly to the qualifying customer; they would not be made publicly available. In essence, if we mail you a coupon that is YOUR coupon to use.
- Coupons are not currency, cannot be treated like currency and only have value when used within the terms noted when issued.
- Coupons may be limited to a specific category, product or service. Required products must be purchased to apply the discount.
- Coupons may have a Minimum Spend requirement. A set threshold of a purchase must be met before the coupon can be applied. In conjunction with any product or category limitation, the Minimum Spend value may be tied to only those qualifying items in your cart.
- Coupons do not guarantee product availability. If we are out of stock, there are no “Rainchecks” for a coupon. We are unable to offer rainchecks in any situation.
- At times. a coupon may also include FREE SHIPPING. This can be linked to specifically one product or category. Required items must be purchased to have your entire order receive FREE SHIPPING. Without the qualifying product, you will still be charged for shipping.
- Being a very small business, we must protect our bottom line. We do reserve the right to void issued coupons if we learn they are being abused to acquire excessive discounts. We take quick action to prevent abuse and “extreme couponing”.
- Coupons cannot be retro-actively applied. If you placed an order and later obtain a coupon, we cannot price match it or apply it to previous orders.
- Coupons may be prevented from “stacking”. This means that a coupon cannot be applied to a cart that already has a coupon active. It is up to you to determine which discount coupon saves you the most.
- Coupons may restrict, or not apply, to any selected product or category. This is done to prevent deep discounts on items with low profit margins or limited inventory.
- Coupons are generally 1 time use. Once any single customer uses a coupon it may not work for them again. This is intentional.
Coupons will have specific details that can change for each instance. We may narrow its application and use to be extremely specific or make it as broad as possible to be used by as many people as possible. It is important that you read every detail related to a coupon that is presented to ensure you are applying it to an order as designed. Once a coupon is expired, it is expired.
We cannot apply a coupon after the order has been submitted. In very extreme, unique situations, the only thing in our arsenal is to issue an Account Credit for the potential value of the coupon that was not able to be applied. Doing such is not a policy and not guaranteed. There are hidden costs involved with issuing refunds created by the payment processor that we wish to avoid to help keep our prices down. We are charged a penalty fee as well as placed at risk being barred from using them if our refunds are considered by them to be excessive. While other eCommerce businesses will overlook such activity and pass the costs on to everyone through higher prices, we wish to maintain a lateral value price for our products.
ACCOUNT CREDIT DEFINED:
Account Credit is a cash value either purchased, awarded or issued to a user. Account Credit will go by other names in our store: Gift Cards, Gift Credit and Reward Credit. All function in the same manner.
GIFT CARDS/CREDIT:
- Functions like cash, stored with your account. If you do not have an account, you can use it like a coupon until the full value is used. The best way to monitor the use, and apply to an order is by creating an account.
- If you do not create an account and lose your Gift Credit voucher/email, we have limited means to research the Gift Credit. We must receive notice from the actual purchasing customer of the Gift Credit to re-send you a voucher/email. For privacy reasons, this is a no exception issue.
- Gift Credit does not carry any fees for maintaining a balance or for its use. It will not carry an expire date.
- Once the Gift Credit has been exhausted, it will be automatically deleted. In essence, once you use it up it doesn’t exist – can’t have a zero or negative value credit.
- At this time, Gift Credit can only be used on our website. We are working to allow them to be spent with us during Pop-Ups/Event Sales.
ACCOUNT CREDIT
This is any other credit we may apply to your account. We use this as a part of our Returns/Refund process, or with any rebates, price adjustments or to fix purchasing issues. At our discretion, we will issue ACCOUNT CREDIT to a customer for them to re-purchase an item that was defective or broken.
REWARD CREDIT
This is us “gifting” credit in connection to a promotion or event. Unlike other forms of account credit, these will carry an expiration date. They are treated like a special type of coupon that can be used as cash. If not used by the expiration date, they are considered exhausted and are deleted automatically. Reward Credit can also be designed to only apply to select products or categories. Other than having the ability to apply to an order like cash, these are a coupon and all coupon rules noted above apply where appropriate.
CREDIT LIMITATIONS:
All forms of Credit can have limitations when used to purchase any Subscription or Membership Plan. This is because such products must have a dedicated payment option once purchased to apply payment for each time it ships or renewed – even if not renewable. Once Credit is used to purchase a subscription, that credit is locked for renewals of that subscription until the credit value is exhausted. At that point, your debit/credit payment on file will take over for payment of the subscription renewals. If used for a product subscription you will not be able to apply the balance to any other purchase. We strongly suggest against using Credit to pay for Subscriptions.
THESE ARE THE GENERAL RULES, BUT SITUATIONS CAN BE DIFFERENT FOR SOME COUPONS AND CREDITS
When we create a coupon or issue an account credit, each instance can have a nuanced difference that we will call out when it is issued, whether publicly or directly to the end user. Expiration dates, means to apply to an order, qualifying purchases and more can be different for each. When we publish the coupon or account credit we will do our best to call out every detail that is specific to the instance.
WHY CREATING A USER ACCOUNT IS HELPFUL
Due to the less than ethical or nefarious acts of other online business, many folks fear that creating an account with us. We wish to remove those fears in regards to how we operate and respect your privacy. But first, why a user account is helpful:
A user account is the single best way to maintain not only any account credits you may have, but your available coupons and more. You have the ability to view past orders, update payment for subscriptions as well as store addresses for quicker checkouts.
As to address apprehension to creating an account. All your personal data is safe and away from prying eyes. We do not trade or sell customer data – period. Your password is stored on a very safe small server system that we do not have direct access to. As a company owned by those who wish to maintain a level of privacy in this modern world, we get it! We understand it! And, we respect your privacy. Read our PRIVACY POLICY for more information.
What happens in the event we go out of business or are forced to close for an extended period of time:
If there is any cause for us to be unable to conduct business as normal, we will let account credit holders know that we are not in operation and apply a deadline to use their remaining credit. Once that deadline passes, we will be unable to allow access to any remaining account credit until we are operational again. In the event we are permanently out of business, we will be required to honor the laws in the state of residency for each Account Credit purchaser.