VirtualSurvivor
Shipping

Order Terms and Conditions



My local date and time:



IMPORTANT OFFER TERMS:



These terms and requirements apply to all offers sent by this forwarder. It is the shopper's responsibility to read and understand these terms. Please feel free to write with any questions you may have.


Some terms you'll encounter:

Shopper: That's you...the one having something shipped to your country.
Forwarder: That's me...the one who will be shipping your order to you.

Importer: That's you...you're the one IMPORTING the item(s).
Exporter: That's me...the one who will be shipping your order to you.



SHIPPING ADDRESS AND LABEL LIMITATIONS: FOR SECURITY, THE ONLY ADDRESS I WILL SHIP TO IS THE SHIPPING ADDRESS PROVIDED WITH YOUR PAYMENT DURING THE CHECKOUT/PAYMENT PROCESS. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS POLICY. It is the shopper's sole responsibility to ensure that the shipping address sent with their order's payment is correct and completely matches the required addressing syntax for their country. The forwarder is not responsible for misdirected mail sent to the shipping address provided with the shopper's order. If additional payments are sent to add items or services to your order, the addresses must match one another from payment to payment! The shopper also needs to ensure that no line of their shipping address exceeds 35 characters in length. Shoppers choosing FedEx or DHL shipping types must refrain from using diacritics (accent marks) or non-English characters in their shipping addresses, as these are NOT supported by my label provider. EXAMPLE: In German, please enter "Strasse" instead of "Straße" if using FedEx or DHL. (However, USPS shipping labels DO support many alphabets, characters, and diacritics, including "Straße" in German!) If you're unsure about anything in this policy, please feel free to ask.

UNDELIVERABLE / REJECTED OR REFUSED DELIVERY: Since the shopper is solely responsible for ensuring their payment's shipping address is correct, the forwarder is not responsible for shipments that are undeliverable as addressed. Similarly, the forwarder is not responsible if a package is rejected by any carrier for any reason along its route or if acceptance of the package(s) is refused at the time of delivery. The shopper is responsible for arranging redelivery by the carrier if a delivery attempt is missed. If any shipment is returned to the forwarder for any reason, the shopper will be responsible for return shipping & handling costs, and for shipping & handling costs to re-ship the package(s). Storage costs will apply for keeping your item, and is limited to 7 days or other duration at the forwarder's sole discretion. Original shipping & handling costs and fees paid to the forwarder for services already rendered are nonrefundable.

DELIVERY ESTIMATES: Days for delivery are provided by the carrier and/or my label provider and are only an estimate. Delivery estimates are not guaranteed. These estimates refer to business days, not calendar days, so weekends and holidays are not included in the estimates. The forwarder is not responsible for carrier delays.

FORWARDER AVAILABILITY: I will generally make offers, reply to messages, and process shipments on most days except some weekends and holidays. I will make every effort to keep my availability up-to-date and posted publicly on my Availability Calendar page at https://shipping.virtualsurvivor.net/calendar. This link can also be accessed from the footer of nearly every page on this website. Even if I'm unavailable to ship due to traveling, I can generally be reached for new offers and to reply to messages during times I am marked as unavailable. So even during times I am marked as "Unavailable", please do not hesitate to reach out to Request an Offer or Send a Message. I will respond as soon as possible. And don't forget about the time difference! The top of most pages of the website has the following widget letting you know the local date and time at my home location:

My local date and time:


CUSTOMS: The forwarder is not responsible for any customs delays or import fees/taxes that the importer may be charged by their government. Unless the forwarder agrees to any and all changes before accepting your order, all customs forms will accurately reflect the contents and value of your shipment. Packages will always be accurately marked as 'Merchandise', not a 'Gift'. (If you requested the 'Customs Value Modification' service, please note that altering the value on a US customs form is risky and possibly illegal. It could devalue or even invalidate shipping insurance, or result in additional fees/taxes, legal trouble, or shipment seizure at customs. This is beyond the forwarder's control and the importer assumes all risk and responsibility. Remember: YOU are the legal importer!) The 'Customs Value Modification' service does not require the forwarder to misrepresent the contents of the package or mark the contents as a 'Gift'. If you'd like the 'Customs Value Modification' service anyway, it is the shopper's responsibility to give a reasonable and believable value for the forwarder to put as the value of the shipment's contents.

TRACKING: I will always provide tracking for your shipment. I never ship with plain stamps or any other method that can't be tracked. If choosing USPS Priority or Express shipping, some countries will show end-to-end tracking all the way to delivery (see Exhibit 252.22 at http://pe.usps.com/text/imm/immc2_022.htm#ep2899642 for a list of participating countries). For USPS First-Class shipping, or for any USPS type to other destinations, tracking may only be provided until the shipment leaves the USA. In any case, you agree that the forwarder has fulfilled their duties (except assistance with insurance claims or Shopping Assistance, if requested in your order) once your shipment is accepted by the carrier and/or scan activity shows it has entered the mail stream.

INSURANCE OVERVIEW (FOR ALL CARRIERS): The forwarder is not responsible for loss, damage, theft, or any problem with any shipment once it is accepted by the carrier and/or scan activity shows it has entered the mail stream. Effective immediately, shipping insurance will be mandatory with each order. If your order cannot be insured for any reason, I will not be able to offer my services at this time. I will not ship uninsured or underinsured shipments. The forwarder will initiate and assist with all insurance claims should the need arise. There is no set time frame for the processing and payout of insurance claims, as it is up to the 3rd party insurer and/or carrier to investigate and pay as they determine the appropriate outcome of the claim. Approval or denial of the claim is solely the 3rd party insurer and/or the carrier's decision. Your understanding and patience is appreciated throughout the entire process. If you have specific insurance needs or requests, it is the shopper's responsibility to ask the forwarder for an adjusted offer reflecting any changes in price this may cause prior to accepting an offer. Adjustments may or may not be possible at a later time at the forwarder's discretion based on the carrier, coverage availability, types of item(s) being shipped, and other factors.

INSURANCE DETAILS FOR FEDEX, UPS, OR DHL SHIPMENTS: Insurance services for FedEx, UPS, and DHL shipments are provided by a 3rd-party insurer, or a combination of the carrier and a 3rd-party insurer (for deductible, shipment value, or other purposes), or the carrier alone (at the forwarder's discretion, based on several factors). Minimum insurance prices and restrictions on declared customs value(s) apply when using the carrier's insurance. Please ask for details if you're unsure if this applies to your order.

INSURANCE DETAILS FOR US POSTAL SERVICE ("USPS") SHIPMENTS: Insurance services for USPS shipments are currently only available directly from the US Postal Service. This restriction is hopefully temporary. Insurance is available in varying values to varying destinations. There is currently no destination to which USPS First-Class International can be insured, so this shipping type will not be avilable for any shipment until a 3rd party insurer can be hired that insures USPS First-Class again. USPS Priority Mail International ("Priority") and USPS Priority Mail Express International ("Express") will be offered for any shipments for which they can be properly insured. For destinations that allow insurance, maximum values for Priority and Express typically range from $200.00 USD to $5,000.00 USD. For insurable destinations, the first $200.00 of coverage is an indemnity policy, with any insurance added beyond that. Keep in mind that USPS will only cover the value that is declared as the value on the customs form. This means that the entire amount to be insured MUST be declared on USPS customs form, even if that amount is more than that the item(s) alone. The minimum insured value for USPS (and therefore, the declared customs value) must be enough to cover the amount paid to VirtalSurvivor in your checkout payment(s), even if you've requested the Customs Value Modification service. If you have NOT requested the Purchase Assistance service (meaning, you purchased the items from the store(s) yourself), I will permit you, at your own discretion, to leave the items themselves uninsured as long as what you've paid during VirtualSurvivor checkout is insured. Doing so is NOT recommended! I must point out that this will likely result in a higher duty/tax at import either way, which defeats the purpose of the Customs Value Modification service, if selected. It's better to select either FedEx, UPS, or DHL, where a 3rd party insurer can be used to insure the item, regardless of what shows on the customs form!

CLEARED PAYMENT: I will only take action on a cleared payment. If you asked for Purchase Assistance, your item(s) will be purchased once the payment processor clears your payment and completely transfers the funds into my possession. No items will be purchased or shipped while the payment status is 'pending', 'uncleared', in the process of transferring, or otherwise held for any reason. If you are purchasing the item(s) yourself without the 'Purchase Assistance' service, you may proceed with your purchase at your convenience without waiting for your payment to clear. In this case, a valid payment will usually clear before your purchase is delivered to me so I can forward it to you without any additional delay.

PURCHASE ASSISTANCE SERVICE AND MAKING PURCHASES: In addition to the cleared payment policy above, this forwarder will only provide purchase assistance for merchants who securely accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or Apple Pay as a form of payment. For my own protection, I'm unable to provide Purchase Assistance for age-restricted items, such as tobacco🚫, alcohol🚫, weapons or weapons parts🚫, or cannabis-derived products🚫 (but will be happy to forward allowable shipments containing these items if you're able to make the purchase[s] yourself). Under no circumstances will Purchase Assistance be provided for a merchant who requires banking information (routing/account numbers) for ACH payments, checks, money orders, bank transfer, MoneyGram, Western Union or any other wire transfer, or Bitcoin or any other virtual or cryptocurrency as the only payment options, or from a store with a questionably-secure environment. If an order includes an item being ordered or shipped from outside the United States, and its import into the USA requires the payment of customs duty and/or tax, these fees are the responsibility of the shopper and must be collected in full from the shopper BEFORE they are paid to US Customs officials. If they are not, the item may be forfeited, rejected, returned, or destroyed pursuant to US Customs rules and regulations. If Purchase Assistance is NOT selected as part of a shopper's order, the shopper will be provided with the forwarder's business address to use to place their own orders with the store(s). For the forwarder's privacy and security, under no circumstances will shoppers be provided with the forwarder's residential address. This list of Purchase Assistance restrictions is not exhaustive.

🚫 PROHIBITED ITEMS: It is the importer's sole responsibility to know the laws of your country before ordering any items to import there. If 'Removal of Prohibited Items' is requested, it is the shopper's sole responsibility to tell the forwarder what items are specifically prohibited in shipments to their country, and what items to remove from their shipment. Only certain types of tobacco can be shipped (cigars, for example, but not cigarettes), and only SOME types of vaping-related products. Items containing alcohol (like perfumes OR the kind you drink) are prohibited in international air shipments, as are some classes of hazardous materials, especially in larger quantities -- and are therefore may have to be excluded from my services. Please ask for details about your specific item(s). US federal law prohibits me from shipping any cannabis or marijuana products and any items made with Δ8, Δ9, or Δ10-THC, THCP, HHC, and some other isomers and derivatives, although most CBD products are fine depending on YOUR country's laws. Please keep in mind that US law allows CBD products to contain up to 0.3% Δ9-THC, so please take care when choosing your CBD products to make sure it will be allowed to enter your country. ITAR regulations prohibit the export of certain weapons and their parts from the US. Prohibited items may risk the entire shipment rejected, returned, or destroyed, even if it has already been accepted by the carrier (especially if attempted in FedEx, UPS, or DHL shipments), and may not be eligible for a postage refund. This list of Prohibited Items restrictions is not exhaustive.

SHOPPING ASSISTANCE: Requesting refunds from any store, or other after-purchase store assistance, falls under the Shopping Assistance service. (If you'd like to add this service at a later time after your order is complete, please write me for details.) If I made the original purchase for you under the Purchase Assistance service, the return request MUST fall under the store's return policy and be approved for return. If the store does not approve the return, then a return will not be permitted. The shopper is responsible for any fees incurred, such as any return postage (back to my location and/or back to the store, if required), as well as any restocking fees or other charges imposed by the store. Refunds, minus any charges kept by the store and any processing fees, can be returned after funds are returned (and cleared) to my original payment method used at the store.

SHIPPING WEIGHT / DIMENSIONS: All offers which include specific shipping types in advance are based on the total shipping weight and dimensions provided in the shopper's Order Forwarding Request as it is presented to the forwarder, and will need to be adjusted accordingly if the actual item(s) total shipping weight and/or shipping dimensions do not match. It is the shopper's responsibility to ensure the accuracy of their order weight and other details. There are also maximum allowable weight and dimensions for shipments to all locations, with dimensions usually calculated in maximum length and "length plus girth" measurements (explained at https://pe.usps.com/text/qsg300/Q201e.htm as "length" being the longest side of the parcel, and "girth" being the measurement around the thickest part perpendicular to the length, or "2 x height plus 2 x width"). This measurement is usually in inches, not any metric measurement. Maximum allowable "length plus girth" measurements vary by country and by shipping type. For US Postal Service shipments, read about your country's weight and dimensional limitations at https://pe.usps.com/text/imm/ab_toc.htm. Other carriers, such as FedEx, UPS, or DHL, may have different weight and dimensional limits.

DROPSHIPPING: If no conflicting services are requested as part of your order, the forwarder reserves the right to use dropshipping from any worldwide location to fulfill your order. (A 'conflicting service' would be any service that would require the forwarder to inspect or otherwise handle your order after it leaves the seller and before it is shipped to you, such as Product Photos, Contents or Electronics Check, Package Consolidation, Additional Packaging, and/or Removal of Prohibited Items.)

TRANSACTION CURRENCY: For the purposes of clarification, all offers, invoices, statements, bills, checkout pages, payments, and transactions of any sort are listed in United States Dollars (USD). The currency symbol for the US Dollar is "$". Although this symbol is shared with some other international currencies, "$" will be used to refer to the US Dollar when discussing VirtualSurvivor transactions, unless specifically noted otherwise.

CHECKOUT METHOD Stripe.com checkout will be used for VirtualSurvivor orders. A personalized checkout link will be provided so you can complete checkout as you would at any other store after accepting your desired offer. For additional security, a postal code, billing address, and/or 3D Secure Authentication may be required by the issuing bank for credit, debit, or prepaid card transactions on Stripe. For those using mobile devices and/or compatible browsers, mobile wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay may also be offered and secured with any biometric protection you have enabled. Additional payment methods may available through Stripe, if eligible. All payments are processed in US Dollars. Please check with your financial institution regarding any conversion fees that may apply.




PER-TRANSACTION PAYMENT LIMITS: Due to changes in US law, transactions will be limited to $500.00 USD each (before checkout's processing fees are added). If your order total exceeds this amount, your payment will be split into multiple transactions. An exception can be made only in the event that your primary payment (in a single-payment order), or your final payment (in a multi-payment order), DOES NOT EXCEED $599.00 USD AFTER CHECKOUT'S PROCESSING FEES ARE ADDED. This does not change the subtotal of your order; it merely splits it into multiple transactions. This change will be strictly enforced in 2022 and beyond. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

NONREFUNDABLE FEES: If a refund is requested, under no circumstances is the processing fee taken by the payment provider able to be refunded. This nonrefundable checkout transaction fee is typically 4.4% plus $0.30 USD (subject to change), and is collected each time you complete a checkout transaction. This fee is in addition to any other payment kept by the forwarder for services already rendered.

CONFLICTS / DISPUTES: The shopper agrees that the acceptance of any of my offers constitutes an agreement to complete the transaction in good faith once it is shipped or otherwise irreversibly in motion, such as a nonrefundable purchase already made on a shopper's behalf. In the event of any conflict or dispute, the shopper irrevokably agrees that shipping insurance will be used as the only method of reimbursement or replacement for an order once it is shipped or otherwise irreversibly in motion. Shipping insurance is mandatory at the time every order is requested, and the shopper acknowledges this when first requesting an offer. The shopper will be considered to have declined all other conflict/dispute resolution methods and have accepted all responsibility for their order once it is shipped or otherwise irreversibly in motion.

OTHER TERMS: The forwarder reserves the right to deny shipment of any order for any reason, including but not limited to an unwillingness to risk purchasing from a suspicious online retailer, suspicious actions or requests from a shopper, or tracking and/or insurance not being available to the shopper's location. In these cases, a full refund of any payment for unused products or unrendered services will be provided, minus any nonrefundable costs incurred by the forwarder from the payment processor or any retailer (such as shipping charges or restocking fees) in connection with the shopper's order.



Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.