Shipping Terms
Please be aware that due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the shipping times take much longer than under normal circumstances. If you are unwilling to wait, we advise you to place an order when the situation gets back to normal. Once the parcel is shipped, we can’t predict when it will arrive. We won’t refund you for the delays. Nor for limited logistics problems or customs issues resulting in a delayed delivery in your country due to the pandemic. We can’t refund you unless the package is sent back to us. If you decide to place an order with us, you agree to these terms. Also notice that some shipping methods to some countries are temporarily suspended. You can check with us to know if shipping to your country is available now. Sorry for the inconvenience.
We ship all parcels from Kunming, Yunnan China, worldwide. We recommend you create a user account with your address and country information. Please add your phone number too, since is a very valuable piece of information, in case your local post need to contact you. After you did this our website’s shopping cart system will automatically calculate the shipping costs for each shipping method offered. Otherwise, the system will automatically calculate shipping to its preset country which might be very different from yours. Not all shipping methods are available for every country. For example, the E-packet shipping method is limited to a list of countries. We use China post to deliver our parcels. When filling in your country’s information if your country is not available please send us an email with your country name and we will add it to our system! We ship parcels within 2-4 working days after the customer’s order.
Courier won’t send parcels during weekends and the main Chinese holidays. You may place orders during any Chinese holiday. These orders are going to be shipped in the order they were received after the holidays when the China Post resumes their operation.
The “Surface” shipping method is currently suspended to USA.
Some particular issues have arisen due to the epidemic that we consider worth mentioning.
-The parcel gets stuck in Guangzhou, Shanghai or any other big city, for a long time.
Due to a scarcer number of flights, there are delays in sorting centres and airports of those cities from where international cargo flights are provided. We can not do anything about this. So please be patient.
-Another situation related to the reduced number of flights is that the parcel travels back and forth between big cities (here in China).
So cargo companies try to find a way to send your parcel out of China by forwarding it to another international hub for shipping. It might happen that when it arrives at the other city, the same problem occurs (long queues for shipping, etc), so they send it back to the previous one. Again, this is out of our hands so please be patient.
Shipping transit estimated times
The shipping transit times in this page are estimated, we can’t tell precisely how long will the parcel take to arrive. We ship all our goods from Kunming and then goes to another first-tier city (Shanghai, Guangzhou, etc) and it could take another week or so until it gets cleared out by customs to head to its final destination. So we won’t be responsible for delays or problems with the Customs of your country simply because is not in our hands to solve all of this.
Surface – 90 to 180 days
SAL – 30 to 120 days
AIR – 10 to 30 days
EMS express – 3 to 21 days
e-Packet and e-express – 7 to 30 days.
* These estimated times are calculated under the normal circumstances. In the given pandemic situation the shipping will take much longer for the parcels to arrive. You can expect twice as much or even more.
Shipping methods
Surface: This is the cheapest and slowest method available, could take up to 4 months. This method has no tracking, just delivery confirmation. Surface is a reliable method and can be insured against loss but can’t be insured against damaged items.So we do not recommend using this method for fragile items like teaware. We cant refund broken items send by the surface method.The shipping is calculated per kg.
SAL (surface air lifted): Combination of shipping methods, not appropriate for fragile items like teaware or fragile loose-leaves. If you choose this method we can’t guarantee the items will arrive safely, therefore, we can’t refund any broken items (Even when we pack our parcels with plenty of protection). Sometimes the AIR method is not available, the post will use the other methods and the parcel will take longer time. There is no way we can predict this kind of situation. So be aware that this might happen. The shipping is calculated per kg.
AIR: This method is in most cases the most expensive and not the fastest one. It has a limited tracking system but is not updated as often as EMS one and in some countries doesn’t work properly and we are not responsible for this.The shipping is calculated per kg.
EMS Express: This method is the fastest one and also has real-time tracking. After your order has been shipped, you will receive a tracking number with a link to the website where you can track it. The postal website of your home country may also recognize these EMS tracking numbers. EMS shipping is based on a per 500 grams basis.
EMS Express – USA: This service is similar to the regular EMS but it is only available to USA customers. This shipping method is suitable for parcels over 2 kg. Due to the pandemic, the arrival time for this kind of shipping is significantly delayed. So we don’t recommend it and is not available as a shipping option in our system. The China Post informed us that this method is going by sea now because of the reduced available flights. We advised you to use the regular EMS express or e-express instead. The shipping is based on a per 500 grams basis.
E-packet ( package less than 2kg, 3kg and 5kg depending on the country): This method is like regular EMS but for small parcels. Shipping weight is calculated per 1 gram, 10g and 50g depending on the country. E-pack method is available only for: Ireland, Austria, Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Poland, Denmark, Germany, Russia, France, Finland, Kazakhstan, Korea, Netherlands, Canada, Luxembourg, Malaysia, United States, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Spain, Greece, Singapore, New Zealand, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Indonesia, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Hong Kong.
E-express: This method is quite similar to e-packet. Suitable for small parcels, shipping weight is based on a per 50 grams basis. This shipping method is available on our website for countries where e-packet is not available.
Bamboo/bamboo leaf packaging
Some countries prohibit items like bamboo leaf packaging for some Puer teas. We suggest you check your country’s customs import policy before ordering. If the need arises let us know in the comments of the order or send us an email and well remove the bamboo wrapping material.
Estimated Shipping Weight
Our shipping system calculates an estimated shipping cost. Since there could be different weight variations depending on the order is difficult to calculate the exact cost. Given that depending on the number of products ordered, the box’s size, wrapping material, etc. The total weight will be different.So after you place the order, we will weigh the box and send you a “Paypal Request” with the total cost (goods + shipping). Which might be a little different than what our shipping system estimated. Since this is a simulator and as explained above is not easy to calculate the exact weight of wrapping material.In the additional information section of each product. You can see the gross weight of it. Including the weight of the box, wrapping material, etc. This is just an estimated simulation for your reference. We ship all of our teapots with a box for extra protection. This extra box weight will be added to the total shipping weight box. If your order exceeds a little the 2kg a ( 100-200g ) the shipping system won’t give the option to use E-packet – 2kg. However, sometimes is still possible to fit your products in a box of 2kg.If this happens, we will send you the “Paypal Request” with this shipping option.If your package is heavier/lighter than the estimated shipping weight by our system. We will change the shipping price in your order, and the change will appear in your account’s order.
Please also notice that China Post uses volumetric weight for many shipping methods except for e-packet.
When one side of the box exceeds 40 centimetres. China post will use “volumetric weight” instead of the actual weight of the parcel.
Volumetric weight is how much space the package occupies according to its dimensions. This “volumetric weight” is then converted to its equivalent weight with a mathematical formula. If the volumetric weight is heavier than the actual weight of the parcel. The heavier weight (the volumetric one) is used by the post when calculating the shipping cost.
Because of this, our system can not calculate this automatically. So if there is a big difference in the shipping fee between our shipping calculator in our system and the actual shipping fee due to the “volumetric weight”, we will give you the full details.
