Questions on Ordering and Payment | |
Questions | Answers |
Q. How Do I Order and Pay? | To place an order at our store, use one of the following methods:
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Q. Are there different ways to pay? | A. You can pay using the following methods:
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Q. Why do I need a billing address? | Your billing address helps the bank confirm that you are who you say you are. Your may be rejected if the card number is wrong, or if your address does not match the address the bank card sends its bills to. The billing address may also be the shipping address, so they can be sure you are not a criminal who has stolen a card and wants stuff sent direct to a motel room. |
Q. How safe is my bank card information with your online store? | We use a secure server for your order. A secure server is a computer that uses software that protects your personal and bank card information. At the time of making the payment, you will be taken off our store site to a secure site. |
Q. Which bank cards does your store take? | MasterCard and Visa and American Express. This may be updated from time to time. |
Q. What does submit mean? | At the end of checkout, you are asked whether you want to submit the order or clear the form. Submitting the order just means sending the order in officially, committing yourself to the purchase. Generally, the system digests the order, checks with your bank card company, checks product availability, then comes back with a confirmation showing what you ordered, where it will be sent, and oh yes, what the order ID or confirmation number is. Save this number. If possible, print this confirmation page or save it on your hard disk, because this number is what you need to use to track your order or cancel. |
Q. How long after I submit my order is it acted upon? | If you have ordered something tangible, like a book, your order goes right into our computer system and enters the queue of products to be shipped. The product itself may be "picked" from a warehouse shelf in anywhere from a few hours to a few days if the item is in stock, in two to four weeks if it is out of stock or back-ordered, and in six to eight weeks if you asked for engraving, customization, or hand crafting. |
Q. Why was my bank card refused? | Common causes include:
Any one of these mistakes will result in a turndown. We find it helps to have the card right in front of you when you re-enter the information. And if you get bumped two or three times, well, try a different card. Then call the original card company and find out if you have reached your limit. |
Q. How do I get a record my order? | Do your part by printing out the form before you submit it, and then printing and saving the confirmation that should come up directly after you submit the order. We will confirm Once you see the confirmation, the order has been placed and you cannot easily change it. If you see a terrible mistake, look for a customer service number or email, and call or send a message within 15 minutes of submitting the order. The faster you intervene, the better. The confirmation may be called a purchase verification, and you are sometimes asked, one more time, to confirm that you really, really want to place this order. |
Q. What if I don't get a confirmation of my order? | If you do not receive a confirmation by email within 24 hours, in addition to a confirming message on screen, you should call our customer service numbers, to make sure all is well. You may have typed in a wrong email address, and someone who has an address very like yours may be wondering, what the confirmation email is about. |
Q. How do I cancel an order with an order once submitted and confirmed? | You need to act quickly, because we ship quickly, and once the product has been shipped you cannot completely cancel. You may be able to plan for a return, but you will often be charged for shipping costs. Phone Customer Service, so you can talk with a real human. If no one answers for half an hour or so, send email to the Customer Service people, using the Contact Us email address. |
Q. Is there any limit to the hours when I can order from an online store? | You can order on our site 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But if delivery times are crucial, order very early in the day, to be sure that the product can go out that day. |
Q. Is there a problem ordering from outside Tanzania? | No. Our store accepts orders even if the bank card billing address is outside Tanzania. We do however have a list of places to which we ship. Please click ‘Shipping’ details at the bottom of our home page. |
Q. What if the product is not in stock? | We tell you in every product description, exactly how many copies we have in stock, so you know in advance if something is currently available, out of stock, or back-ordered. |
Q. When is my bank card charged for the order? | If you pay by a bank card, you will be charged as soon as the order is shipped. |
Q. Do I have to pay sales tax? | Yes. Only Value Added Tax on goods and services in accordance with the Tanzanian Laws. You will be advised before confirming your order. |
Questions on Delivery | |
Q. How fast will the store get around to shipping my product? | That depends on the way you pay and on our routine for picking and packing orders. Products on stock are shipped from the day of order up to 5 days thereafter. |
Q. What shipping options do I have? | We use Ground shipping within Tanzania and Air shipping for shipping outside Tanzania. Here are typical options offered by stores using delivery services. Ground, which means about a week of business days. Air Shipping may take a few days to deliver. You will be able to track your order online with the shipping company. |
Q. Why won't you ship to a post office box? | Two reasons: Courier Delivery services like are not allowed into post offices. Card companies take a dim view of a P.O. box as a billing address, and prefer that the store ship only to the same address as the billing address on the Cards. |
Q. How much does shipping cost? | Please click ‘Shipping’ at the bottom of the home page. |
Q. How do I check on my order, while I'm waiting for it to arrive? | Once your order is confirm and shipped, we tell you the package number, so you can go to the delivery service’s Web site and check on the package’s progress. (You may have to wait 24 hours after the order is actually shipped to see your package on the Web site.) Or, if you registered or became a member at the store, you may be able to log in with that name and password, go to an order tracking area on the site itself, use your confirmation code and plug into the delivery service’s tracking systems from there. |
Q. Do I have to sign for the package? | Yes. You have to sign a receipt to confirm that the package really reached you. The delivery services obey these requests. But if you must go out, you can put up a note authorizing the driver to leave the package (print your name and sign it). Or, if you get a lot of packages but you are often out, you can get a small form from the delivery service to glue to your door, authorizing them to leave packages even if you are not home. |
Q. What About Returning a Product? | Click ‘Exchanges and Returns’ at the bottom of our home page. |
Q. How can I discover your store's policy on returns? | Click ‘Exchanges and Returns’ |
Questions on Registration and log in | |
Q. Is registration, or membership, primarily a convenience for the store, or for me? | You are invited to "log in," meaning to identify yourself, using a made-up user name and a password. And if you do not already have a user name and password, the store may nudge you to register, or "become a member." So what’s in it for you? You do get some benefits from registering:
For all these reasons, registration may be required before you get past the welcome page. |
Q. If I register or become a member, will I be deluged with junk mail? | Absolutely not. You have to permit us to send you emails and you can cancel this anytime. |
Q. Why are do you send me cookies? | A cookie is a small file that the store sends to your browser after you register. The cookie contains the store’s name and a code identifying you, something like your Customer Identification Number. The browser looks on your hard disk, in the directory for temporary Internet files, and when it finds a cookie with the store’s name on it, sends that back to the store. The store digests the cookie and discovers your Customer Identification Number. In a few seconds, the store pulls up all your information. You can tell that this has happened if you see a message such as "Welcome XY" at the top of the welcome page. The store has recognized you, thanks to the cookie exchange. From then on, if you press the Buy button, the order form comes up with almost every line filled in, because the store has drawn that from your record on our database. So you give up a little hard disk space, sacrifice a little privacy, in order to avoid retyping all that stuff. And from the store’s point of view, the cookie is reassuring evidence that you are who you say you are and, in fact, you are a repeat customer. |
Q. What if I forget my user name or password? | Follow the instructions to recover the password on the website or call customer service. |
