ring sling with overlapping pleat shoulder

Today's message: Open for business again! It was good to have uninterrupted time to work on the directions -- I think I did a better job in less time that way. But now we're back to your regularly scheduled store. Please fan my Facebook page if you'd like to get live updates.
Please read about infant safety in baby-holding devices (every parent, babywearer or not, needs to know about this) and sling safety!

Packaging and Shipping:

In order to keep my prices low, my packaging is simple. I don't wrap slings in tissue paper, include hang-tags, ribbons, boxes, or any of the other little details that, while they have initial visual appeal, are quickly tossed in the trash, and only add to the cost of the sling. It's definitely not fancy, but it means I can ship to you at cost, instead of adding $2-4 for extra packaging that will only end up in the recycling anyway.

I ship via the United States Postal Service Priority Mail. Inside the United states: lightweight fabrics (silk, Solarveil, and tencel) will generally be $4.95. Heavier fabrics (twill, denser linens, brocade, etc.), multiple sling orders and bulky fabrics are generally between $4.95 and $9.85, depending on your distance from New Hampshire. I charge actual shipping rates, with no handling (even though that does take me at least 5 minutes per package), so while I am sorry about current postage rates, there's nothing I can do about that cost.

Insurance can be added within the US for $1.75 for slings under $50, and $2.15 for slings over $50 (that's what the Post Office charges). If you do not purchase insurance, I am not responsible if the sling is lost in the mail. To add insurance, click the box that says "Please click here to include shipping insurance". You can read more about insurance rates here. (Insurance means that the USPS will cover the cost of the sling if it is not delivered; the insurance process begins 21 days after the package has been mailed and is not delivered. If insurance is purchased and the sling is not delivered, I will have the USPS send the refund directly to the purchaser, so I don't offer refunds myself for lost insured packages.)

Please take a minute to be sure the address you fill in on the order form is correct, as it is difficult for me to find the correct address if you have not typed it right! I use USPS.com's "Click n Ship", and if the USPS does not have your address on file, I will make my best attempts to contact you to get a correct address. I will not ship your package until I either have confirmation of the address, or an alternate address I can ship to. If I am unable to contact you within 7 days, I will send the package to the address associated with your PayPal payment, but if it is not on file with USPS and is returned to me, you will be responsible for any additional shipping charges that accrue.

International Shipping:

If you don't see your country on the list when you order, please send me an email and I'll add it for you :)

Shipping rates and international methods have changed as of 14 May 2007, and there are now a few different methods. The two I would expect to use the most often are Priority Mail International (PMI, formerly, Global Priority, Airmail Parcel Post, and Economy Parcel Post) and First Class Mail International (FCI, formerly Airmail Letter Post and Economy Letter Post). Global Express Mail is now called Express Mail International, but is still the most expensive choice. Generally, PMI will run about $9 and up to Canada, or $11 and up for other destinations. If you live outside the US, please email me before placing your order if you have any doubts about shipping. The shopping cart will query USPS.com to get actual shipping rates for each method, so you will be able to see the actual shipping cost at checkout. If you select FCI, I cannot add any insurance. Insurance is included in the cost of PMI but ONLY the non-flat rate option! Although PMI is usually at least twice the cost of FCI, it may be worth selecting PMI if you live in Asia, Australia and other Pacific nations, and South America. I haven't had problems shipping to European countries, but South America seems spotty at best, according to other vendors.

I am sorry that I can no longer offer the Priority Mail International Flat Rate Envelope. It is a small paperboard envelope, suitable only for the smallest of slings, and for a long time I had offered it with the caveat "Single layer solarveil ONLY". Despite that, numerous customers selected it for multiple-sling orders and those I could not possibly fit into a flat-rate envelope, and I would then have to bill for the extra shipping required, which was a big headache for me and the customers. If you are ordering a sling that you feel will fit into a flat rate envelope -- that would be a thinner fabric, like the linen and blends, selendang slings, and Solarveil, but not much else -- please let me know and I will see if it will fit. If it does, I will refund the excess shipping cost. However, multiple slings and thicker fabrics *will not* safely fit into a flat-rate envelope.

Depending on your location, you may also need to pay a customs fee when you receive the package. Those fees are not included in regular shipping costs, as they are paid to your country's postal service, not to mine. I do not have any personal experience paying customs, so I don't know exactly how it works. The USPS is not responsible for shipping delays once the package has left the USA; after it leaves the US, it's up to your nation's post office to deliver the package. The USPS does not offer tracking or insurance on First Class International packages OR Priority Mail International Flat Rate envelopes. Please do not select the "insured" option if you live outside the US! This will simply add $1.75 ($2.15 on slings that are $50 and up) to your shipping costs, and will not actually get you any insurance.

I'm sorry if the customs fees in your country are high, and I understand that you might prefer to have your package marked as a gift to avoid them. I'm sure everyone would prefer not to pay fees if they don't have to :) However, as a businesswoman, I would face serious consequences if I were to fraudulently mark a package as a gift -- these can be seen here. It's serious business! Apart from the legal considerations, vendors who mark packages as a gift and send them to foreign countries are also undermining that country's own vendors who have to deal with those taxes and whatnot on a daily basis. This is particularly true of Scandinavian countries, which tend to have high VATs. I don't want to break the law or undermine other babywearing vendors (with most of whom I'm on a friendly basis through www.thebabywearer.com), so no, I won't mark your package as a gift.

A note about "free shipping":

This is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. It's been suggested that adding "free shipping" is a good way to attract customers, and that may be the case. However, nothing is ever free! If a company is offering free shipping, that just means they've built the cost of shipping into their products' cost. I toyed with the idea for a while, but it didn't make sense to me. I could add the cost -- rounding to $5, say -- to each sling, but that means that some people would really be subsidizing the cost of shipping to others (since it costs less for me to send a sling to Massachusetts than it does to California). And if they ordered two slings, or a sling plus an accessory or two, they'd really be overpaying without knowing it. So, rather than offer "free" shipping, I have simply priced my slings the way that makes sense to me, and give you the transparency of knowing exactly how much shipping will actually cost.

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