Shipping Policy

Stock/Availability of Items

All items are held in stock unless described otherwise on the website.
 

Dispatch Schedules

Orders usually pack and ship the same business day when (all items are in stock and) the order is placed before 12pm PST, orders placed after 12pm will usually pack the same business day and ship the following business day.

Orders where at least one item is awaiting stock (i.e. pre-order or out of stock items) will ship when all items are in stock. If you wish to split the order and have us ship in stock items now and out of stock items later then please place separate orders for the in stock items, and the out of stock/pre-order items.

If you are participating in a special pre-order sale, your items may not be available for several weeks after you order - the estimated delivery date is displayed on the item's page in the store. If things go well in production we may dispatch your order earlier than this date, and if there is a delay then we'll let you know as soon as we do. Your order will be shipped to you as soon as all items in the order are in stock in our shop. We have more information about the pre-order process here.
 

Typical Transit Times

We ship from Reno, Nevada, USA and the following are approximate transit times based on our experience. Adverse weather conditions, industrial action, public/seasonal holidays and customs (for international orders) may also increase transit time.
 

*Orders sent to France, Germany, Italy and Spain regularly get delayed in customs. It is not unheard of for deliveries to Italy to take more than 45 days when sent via First-Class International. For these 4 countries we recommend USPS Priority Mail International.
 

Domestic Orders

Orders are typically shipped via:

• USPS 1st Class Mail for small item orders
• USPS Priority Mail for the bulk of our orders
• USPS Parcel Post for large orders
• USPS Express Mail for urgent orders

We do not currently ship using Fedex or UPS as we find that USPS offers faster delivery times at lower rates. If you have a requirement for delivery to be made by Fedex or UPS them please contact us directly.

USPS quotes that USPS Priority Mail typically takes between 2-3 days, with 2 days processing. In our experience most shipments within Nevada and to Northern California along the I-80 corridor take 1-2 days. Shipments to other locations in close proximity to major postal hubs take 3-4 days, and most other locations are delivered in 5 days. However, USPS advises that transit time can take 7-15 days.

All orders are sent with USPS Delivery Confirmation, you will be supplied with a shipping confirmation and tracking number via email when the shipping label is printed.
 

International Orders

American Duchess Boutique ships to any country with an externally accessible, functional postal service.

International orders are shipped via USPS 1st Class Mail International or USPS Priority/Express Mail International depending on the weight of the package, delivery expectations and the delivery address. For most orders you can select which service you'd prefer.

• USPS 1st Class Mail International typically takes between 6-20 business days, depending on your location.
• USPS Priority Mail International typically takes between 6 and 10 days (basic tracking available).
• USPS Express Mail International typically takes 3 to 5 days (with comprehensive tracking).

American Duchess utilizes USPS Intelligent Mail Services to pre-notify customs of packages (where such systems are supported) in order to reduce delays and customs inspections.

The efficiency of your local postal service and customs officials may have a significant impact on the speed of delivery. If your package is held for inspection then this may delay delivery by anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks.

International customers are responsible for any and all tariffs, taxes, fees and customs duties that may be imposed by your government upon entry of the shipment into your country. Please be aware that you are usually legally obliged to pay import duty on imported goods, any fees will depend on your country's laws and customs service. You are normally contacted by the shipping carrier to resolve any duty issues. We are legally required to state the correct value and nature of the goods inside your shipment on the customs forms, and although we aren't required to affix an invoice to the outside of the international packages we find that this helps ensure a speedy transit through customs (especially in France and Germany).

We find that deliveries to France, Germany, Italy and Spain commonly take a few days longer than most other European countries as the customs service in these countries tends to be quite slow.

With USPS Priority Mail shipments the tracking information can be delayed or uninformative at times, however, if the package is stuck in transit, customs clearance, or a failed attempt at delivery is made (and no receipt left) then the little information available can be very helpful. Please check the status of your shipment using the provided tracking number online here: https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction!input.action
 

Insurance

Where orders are insured American Duchess does not provide any insurance of any kind beyond the replacement value of the order. If any item is accepted by USPS or Endicia to have been lost, broken or stolen while in transit and this results in a payment being made to American Duchess then the insurance amount will be credited to the customer against American Duchess products and services.

If you ever have any questions about your order, please contact us and we will get back to you ASAP!
 

Damaged Shipments

We try our best to prevent damage to all packages during transit by packing each order carefully. From time to time, though, damage will occur despite our precautions.

If you receive an item that has been damaged in shipping, please contact orders@american-duchess.com within 72 hours of receipt and we will have a new product sent to you, and initiate a USPS claim for the item.

Please hold on to the original packaging and packing material because USPS, in most cases, will need to inspect the items. If you are a domestic USA customer then we will send you a USPS return shipping label to send the damaged product back to us. If you are an international customer then you will need to pay for the return of the damaged package to us, however we will refund your shipping costs on receipt.

If you have not received your order even after the tracking shows it was delivered, contact us within 15 business days to start a USPS tracer.
 

Lost Shipments

USPS does not consider a package lost until after we have filed a missing parcel claim with our postmaster, we can do this 45 days after the package has shipped (or 60 days for parcels to Italy). Once we have filed a missing parcel claim with USPS and have the response from your countries postal authority we will then replace your parcel. If you request a refund for an order that is late, lost, or stuck in customs for weeks then we must have confirmation from USPS that the package is considered lost before we can issue a refund.
 

Undeliverable, Refused, Unclaimed or Returned Shipments

Packages will be returned back to us by the carrier if they cannot be delivered due to incomplete/incorrect addresses, are not picked up from a your local mail facility, non-payment of local taxes or customs fees, or if the recipient refuses delivery. All packages returned to us for the above reasons can take 6 weeks or more to be processed from the time of refusal (due to transit times). We do not any refund shipping costs we incur as a result of an undeliverable or refused shipment (including C.O.D.) costs for receiving a returned package.

We may also charge you a 15% restocking fee at our discretion for most returned shipments. If a shipment is returned to us as refused or unclaimed, we charge a 30% restocking fee and any return shipping (including C.O.D.) costs that are charged to us by USPS.
 

Unauthorized Returns

If you return a product without first receiving a RMA number, it may take up to 3 weeks to be processed and we may charge you a 15% restocking fee at our discretion.

If your unauthorized return has not been processed within 3 weeks, please send an email to orders@american-duchess.com.
 

Order Changes and Cancellations

All requests to change or cancel an order should be made via email to orders@american-duchess.com or by phone to (+1) 775-238-3674 immediately. An order that has already received tracking has shipped and cannot be cancelled. Please email us to set up a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) once your order has been received.