SHIPPING

Let’s begin in the standard corner and give it to you in the typical straight and rather dull way:

• Processing time: TO BE UPDATED
• Shipping: TO BE UPDATED
• Shipping Methods: TO BE UPDATED
  • DHL Express (RECOMMENDED!)
    • Tipping point 2.5 kg (same price all the way up to that weight!)
    • Door-to-Door
    • Delivery-On-Demand
    • Super fast
    • Reliable
    • One carrier all the way
  • PostNord (NOT RECOMMENDED)
    • Cheaper
    • Several carriers and postal networks involved
    • Only trackable to some destinations
  • DHL Freight (Connect/Home)
  • UPS
  • FedEx
• Tracking: TO BE UPDATED
• Shipping Fees: The shipping costs are calculated automatically, based on the total weight of the package, and to which zone it is to be delivered. The shipping costs include all handling and packing fees as well as postage costs.
• Order Grouping: We advise you to try to group your items in one order whenever possible. We cannot group two distinct orders placed separately, and shipping fees will apply to each of them. Should you still mess this up and place two orders, don’t hesitate to contact us and we will try our best to work something out.

The price is only what it costs us on our end and we of course wish it could be cheaper.

Ok, now that we have that out of the way, let’s digress a bit and write this the way we wanted to from the start:

On the ancient art of Shipping…

Ladies and gentlemen, step into the Shipment Dome, and behold as we reveal the mysteries of relocation of grouped atoms, also known as stuff, things, matter or, in your case: your order.

Shipping, easily put, is the act of putting something in/on a vehicle of some sort, and allow the latter to take off towards a different location, preferably a predefined such. In other words, although ships were once the default means of long-distance transportation, it can today mean basically any means of transportation: aeroplanes, airplanes (basically the same as the option above, but easier to spell), trucks, motorbikes, down to the backseat of an unregistered Skoda Fabia ’98 (in descending order of probability).

As a visitor to (or even, do we dare guess, customer of?) BlackMerch, you are probably interested in the specifics concerning this particular store and its methods of transporting grouped atoms? Well, let’s break it down for you…

How we do things at BLACK MERCH
(EVERYTHING BELOW TO BE UPDATED)

Ok, dialling the seriousness back just a notch:

Problems? First off, should something seem to be off kilter with your order (maybe your address is faulty, or one of your ordered items is missing in our inventory, or you have placed two identical orders…), then we will let that show in the status of your order and try to contact you.

Processing: If there is no problem with your order or payment, we pack your order asap and prepare it for shipping (normal boring method – we tried the Fabia solution but the guy was just too weird). You can follow the status of your order as long as it is in our hands, and you will get a notification by e-mail when your items are ready to be shipped. Once a week (this is our aim, but it is also depending on Daniel’s availability, since he is signing items for every order) we ship all orders and drop you a line letting you know your package is on its way.

Economy Shipping: Now, this is where it gets a bit tricky. If you went with the Economy Shipping, your package is out of our hands and reach, and if it gets lost or damaged on its way to you it is between you and the postal service to battle it out. If, however, you went with the Registered Shipping option, things can be done to remedy the situation.

Registered Shipping: This means you have an insurance, should your package be damaged or lost in the mail. This will also add a tracking function and in many countries even a home delivery. Please note that there is no way of getting a refund for damaged/lost orders unless you use this shipping option! We flatter ourselves with being very careful and trustworthy, so it’s all about how much faith you have in the Postal Service. We really recommend using this options if you order a lot of items, or live in USA or Australia.

The price is only what it costs us on our end and we of course wish it could be cheaper. After all, we are paying the postal service extra for something they should in all honesty be doing from the start, right? 🙂

Refund Policy: Should something be wrong with your order, and it is clearly our fault (shipping the wrong items or sizes), we will of course solve this together with you, either by shipping a replacement item, or giving you a refund. We cannot, however, refund you for damaged or lost orders (unless you used Registered Shipping), or if you ordered the wrong items to start with. We also assume that you understand that items may appear to have slightly different colors or looks on a computer screen than in real life. We take pride in trying to make all images appear as close to the real thing as physically possible.

Well, we hope this clarified things a bit. It took like half an hour to write this, so we truly hope someone reads it at some point. If you do: “Hi!”

Shipping Costs

First of all, let us emphasize: You will always be informed about your exact shipping cost during checkout, well in time before you confirm your purchase, giving you the possibility to cancel your order. However, if you are interested in how the shipping costs are actually calculated, please read on.

1. WEIGHT & ZONE = COST

The shipping costs are carefully based on weight and zone, and we are doing all we can to make this calculation as accurate and price-worthy for you as possible. We weigh all items instead of just setting averages like most stores do. That means you don’t pay for more weight than we actually ship. Let’s break it down for you:

2. SHIPPING ZONES

We have three shipping zones:

• Domestic (ie Sweden)
• EU
• International

“International” effectively means all countries outside Sweden and the European Union. The cool thing is, you don’t have to worry about your shipping being bizarrely expensive just because you live in Australia or Japan – they both fall neatly into zone 3, thus getting the same shipping rate per weight as any other country outside the EU. Regardless of distance.

3. WEIGHT TIPPING POINTS

Keep in mind that our shipping system is weight-based, which means the tipping points are 100g, 250g, 500g, 1kg, 2kg, 3kg and so on (see below). That means, once you have tipped over 500g, you can add items until you reach almost 1kg without having the shipping cost increase a single cent. And there are numerous items that are pretty light – small shirts are about 100g, and the “BE” programmes, post cards and stickers etc are very light as well. Hoodies, on the other hand, weigh more than regular shirts, but once you hold them in your hands you will agree it was well worth the shipping. 🙂

4. RATES PER WEIGHT

Rates as of 2015. For information on rates above 2kg (not that we think you are ever going to need it), please contact us.

5. SAMPLE ITEM WEIGHTS

• 1 short sleeve shirt, depending on model and size, weighs between 90g and 280g.
• 1 hoodie weighs between 520g and 650g (perfect item to combine with some other stuff to fill up the weight a bit up towards 1kg).
• 1 CD weighs about 100-130g depending on booklet size etc.
• 1 double LP with included CD weighs about 600g
• 10 postcards weigh 40g
• 10 stickers weigh 20g
• 1 poster weighs between 70g and 110g depending on size and thickness.
• 1 typical AirPro W bubble plastic envelope weighs 35g with all stamps and stickers on it.

6. SUMMARY

All considered, you really don’t have to mind all of this, since it is done for you automatically. But, as mentioned above, it might be good to be aware of the basic facts that the shipping is weight based, and that there are certain tipping points. That way, you might get a better cost/weight ratio by avoiding an order of, say, 502g. Better to fill up then, or remove that one postcard. Also, keep in mind that we can’t squeeze a CD into a poster tube, so there will always be two packages when you order a poster in a tube combined with other items.

We really hope this helped you, otherwise you are always welcome to contact us through the Support.