This week I’m headed off for an all-vegan, holistic cruise to the Caribbean. I booked this last year, having found it a week before last year’s sailing and just too late to make it aboard. I’m a mediocre cook at best. (Even before I was a vegan, I apparently didn’t get the “cooking gene.”) So hopefully, these cooking classes will do me some good.
In any event, FaeriesDance.com will be shipping and processing returns and refunds at our normal lightning pace. However, customer service responses via phone will not be available and via e-mail will be a bit slower than normal. I apologize for any inconvenience this causes anyone and will be happy to get back to you as soon as I’m back in town.
Having somewhat of a sweet tooth, I’m particularly looking forward to the “gourmet vegan pastry chefs!”
HOW TO ENTER: Just leave a comment at the bottom of this blog post. (Preferably pertaining to shipping, but any comment will enter you in the drawing.) Be sure to provide e-mail contact information.
Today I received an e-mail from a very irate customer on our shipping policies. I wish I could keep a business attitude towards these things, but this store is my passion – a lot of time, energy and thought have gone into it and even one unhappy customer is usually enough to bring me to tears. (Yup, I’m one of those weepy people.) I really do want every single customer to be happy, but I have found that this is an impossible goal.
But I digress. The issue at hand is shipping. We keep prices very low as a matter of course. All products from US manufactures are at least 10% off the MSRP. Unless someone is having an unexpected sale, you can generally go right to any of our manufacturers and find that we sell their items cheaper than they do every single day. (Massive fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates prevent us from making the same claim on our Canadian and European manufacturers, but we do our best.)
Of course, this means we make lower profits. No worries on that because hopefully we’re spreading the Green message and selling more with our low prices to make up for it. However, we can’t offer super low prices and free shipping all the time. Sadly, shipping just costs too much. Our current policy is to offer reasonable shipping charges and then offer free shipping on large orders (over $99 where our profit is a little higher). If no one ever returned anything, this would probably work fine. But it gets a little sticky with partial returns where an order started out at $100 and ended up at $35.
In any event, we thought we take the question directly to our customers. On the right you’ll find a poll booth. Would you rather pay a little more (say MSRP) to get free shipping on every item all the time? Do you prefer knowing you’re getting the very best deal and seeing shipping charges broken out separately? Or does the hybrid method we’re currently using work best – good prices and free shipping only on large orders? After you vote, be sure to leave a comment to enter yourself into our drawing for the free sweatshirt. We’ll draw for a winner on December 1, 2009.
Depending on the winning poll answer, we may have a follow up question…
If you’ve ever purchased anything from us, FaeriesDance.com is your store. Even if you’ve just looked, the fact is, it was designed for you, our eco-conscious customers. So please help design it the way you’d like to see it. Your opinion really does count!
In addition to myself, Faerie’s Dance gets assistance from several friends who work part-time and seasonally to help process your orders quickly and efficiently. While there’s always lots to do (like more blog posts!… next up All About Dyes…), the whole gang has decided to take a quick break. We’re all heading off together for a weekend in the California Sierra Nevada mountain range to summit Mt. Whitney. At 14,494 feet (4418 meters), Whitney is the highest peak in the lower 48 states. Though, that’s only half as high as Everest’s 29,035 feet.
Here are some quick peak facts:
Highest Mountain in the World (and Asia)
Everest, Nepal-China: 29,035 feet / 8850 meters
Highest Mountain in Africa
Kilimanjaro, Tanzania: 19,340 feet / 5895 meters
Highest Mountain in AntarcticaVinson Massif: 16,066 feet / 4897 meters
Highest Mountain in AustraliaKosciusko: 7310 feet / 2228 meters
Highest Mountain in Europe
Elbrus, Russia (Caucasus): 18,510 feet / 5642 meters
Highest Mountain in Western Europe
Mont Blanc, France-Italy: 15,771 feet / 4807 meters
Highest Mountain in OceaniaPuncak Jaya, New Guinea: 16,535 feet / 5040 meters
Highest Mountain in North AmericaMcKinley (Denali), Alaska: 20,320 feet / 6194 meters
Highest Mountain in the 48 Contiguous United States
Whitney, California: 14,494 feet / 4418 meters
Highest Mountain in South America
Aconcagua, Argentina: 22,834 feet / 6960 meters
Since everyone associated with Faerie’s Dance will be off hiking, massaging our sore feet and enjoying sweeping views of central California, we won’t be able to ship Friday or Saturday. All orders placed after 2:30pm on Thursday will ship first thing Monday morning. We apologize if this causes any inconvenience to anyone. Hopefully clearing our minds and stretching our bodies will bring us back fit, excited and more efficient than ever. 🙂
Have a wonderful weekend – and don’t forget to take a quick peek outside tonight to experience the Perseid meteor shower.
