Shipping policy

📬 ALKEMIA SHIPPING POLICY 📬

💌 Our small order fulfillment team works hard to hand fill your orders with love. This means that our typical turnaround times for order processing are 7-10 days. During especially heavy times like our annual Workshop Sale and the end of year holidays our turnaround times might be slightly longer. You will receive a notification by email with a tracking number when your shipping label is generated. This means that your order is in process. The tracking number will update when the package is physically shipped.

📮International Customers - Please add your phone number as it's very necessary in making sure your postal service can contact you if there are delivery issues. Visit our International Ordering Guide for important additional information. 

🧐 If you placed an order and did not receive a tracking number or order confirmation email, your email may not have been provided or may have been entered incorrectly or may have vanished into a coding void. If you drop us a line, we will happily provide you with order and tracking information.

🌿 We use minimal packaging to get your perfumes safely to your door. Your order will use recycled protective mailers, biodegradable cellulose, compostable glassine envelopes, and FSC® certified paper. Our shipping is carbon neutral and we partner with Planet to closely monitor our carbon footprint and support carbon removing/sequestration technologies like reforestation and soil carbon storage. 

🇺🇲  For US Orders: We ship all orders via first class or priority mail with Delivery Confirmation Tracking. We reserve the right to refuse shipment to non-verified addresses, addresses different from billing addresses, addresses that have had a history of lost/stolen packages, and any address associated with suspicious or false delivery claims. 

🇨🇦 Canadian Orders: You have the option to purchase the listing for prepaid customs and duty for a flat fee of $9.95. 

🌍 For International Orders: We ship to over 45 countries around the world! Please allow a minimum of 2 weeks for international delivery (3 weeks to Asia). On rare occasions, we've had shipments take as long as 6-8 weeks. International shipping prices do not include VAT and are calculated at checkout. The shipping cost typically stays the same for the first 200 grams (about 5 bottles or sample sets) making multi-bottle/sample orders more economical. We invite you to read through our international ordering guide for more detailed information and specifics about VAT and taxes. Sometimes packages are marked ‘delivered’ but do not arrive until 2-4 business days afterward. We know this can be frustrating, and we appreciate your patience while your package makes its way to you.

📋 Customs: As a commercial shipper, we are not allowed to mark packages as 'gift'. Be sure to know your country's import restrictions. At the moment, we do not have a way to prepay duty taxes or customs fees for countries other than Canada. We are not responsible for impounded shipments or processing fees assessed by your postal service. 

🛍️ Our Etsy shop - etsy.com/shop/alkemia offers UK VAT inclusive pricing.  

🛬 International Reshipping: Some of our international customers report being able to save quite a bit on their international shipping and import fees by using third party reshippers like ShopandShip.com which allow us to ship orders at US shipping prices (the reshipper takes care of the customs labeling, etc.). 

⏱ Delayed Orders: We want you to receive your order as quickly and smoothly as possible—we get just as excited about getting your order as you do! But as a small business, we’ve learned that shipping systems don’t always work perfectly. Sometimes packages are scanned as “delivered” but don’t actually arrive for another 24–48 hours. If this happens, please:

• Wait at least 48 hours (2 business days)

• Check with neighbors or household members

• Look around doors, porches, and other safe spots

• Contact your local post office
  
  

If it still hasn’t arrived, please reach out to us and we’ll step in to help.

🛡️ Lost or Damaged Items: Once a package leaves our workshop, we have no control over its journey to you. We are not responsible for lost or stolen packages, but to protect both you and us, we ship every package with insurance. If your package is lost or damaged in transit, we’ll do our best to make things right (typically a refund or replacement) however we may kindly ask you to help us with the insurance claim process. Being able to recover from lost orders makes a big difference to us as a small business. The assistance we may need from you usually just involves a short written confirmation stating that the package was not received or if the package was damaged, photographs of the damage and the package. It only takes only a minute or two, and:

💛 We are very, very grateful when you help us with this part! Your help truly makes a difference—it allows us to recover the cost and continue bringing perfumes to you and others with love and care.

If you have any questions or concerns about a delayed or missing order, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re here to help!