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PAYMENT POLICY

United States: We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, debit cards and credit cards. We also accept payments by mail with money orders. Sometimes there can be problems with Gift Card credit cards because these cards do not use the Address Verification System, so please avoid using Gift Cards which can also result in a temporary pre-authorization against your credit card which we cannot control. Also, please avoid using two different addresses for shipping and billing, otherwise the order may be delayed (and possibly canceled) and someone will contact you by e-mail and notify you of the delay.

 

International: Unfortunately, we are unable to offer any international shipping at this time due to the virus.

 

Charges on your credit card: This information is for anyone who may be confused about credit card transactions and standard banking polices. Perhaps you are surprised to see a charge on your credit card if the transaction declined, or even multiple charges? Maybe you do not remember that you tried to submit the transaction more than once? When you voluntarily purchase something online with your credit card - your financial institution will automatically create a temporary pre-authorization for the amount of the transaction to ensure sufficient funds and account authenticity, regardless whether or not the transaction is accepted or declined. So, for example, if your credit card declines 3 times in a row, it is possible to get 3 pending charge holds on your account. The most common reason for a failed transaction is that the billing address entered does not match the billing address for the debit card / credit card being used for payment. The Address Verification System (AVS) is a system used to verify the address of a person claiming to own a credit card. The system will check the billing address of the credit card provided by the user with the address on file at the credit card company or bank. It is your responsibility to provide valid and accurate billing information, otherwise your transaction can decline which can result in a temporary pre-authorization against your credit card which we do not control. Please do not use Gift Cards on our website because they do not use the Address Verification System, which can result in a declined transaction with a temporary pre-authorization.

 

Temporary pre-authorizations will expire, but this timeframe depends on your financial institution's policy (but usually within 24 – 72 hours), this is not controlled by our company. Let’s start by clarifying exactly what a pre-authorization is (also called an authorization hold, card authorization, preauthorization, or preauth). It is the practice within the banking industry of authorizing electronic transactions done with a debit card or credit card and holding this balance as unavailable until either the merchant clears the transaction, also called settlement, or the hold "falls off". A credit card pre-authorization is much like any other charge to a credit card, except instead of debiting funds from the cardholder - there is just a temporary "hold" on the funds. This can happen even for declined transactions. Once a credit card has been pre-authorized, the cardholder cannot go and spend this money anywhere else. However, at the same time the charge does not actually show up on your credit card statement, although if you call your card issuing bank - the card issuer will confirm that a pre-authorization is holding funds on your account. If this has happened to you, our advice is to call your financial institution and inquire why the transaction declined in order to prevent this from happening again. Otherwise, the temporary hold(s) will expire on their own within 24 – 72 hours.

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