FAQs
Where all the questions Shipping, Payment and Lead Times are.
Be sure to keep scrolling!
Gear Labels
8486 Doerksen Dr.
Mission, BC V2V 7C4
Canada
What’s the best/cheapest way to send you a sample?
Plain old USPS is your best bet. It's very slow internationally these days, but so is everything else, and USPS is the cheapest option.
Tips and Tricks worth noting:
Check out this post on the Poker Chip Forum for a good reliable way to pack a handful of single chips so they don’t get damaged.
By the rules, USPS should charge you a package rate if using a bubble mailer. Adherence to that is up to the individual, so they may let you get away with letter mail or they may stick it to you with a package rate. (around $15 for a handful of chips)
What has worked for others is putting your chips in the middle of an old catalog or magazine, then putting THAT into a manila envelope and sending it letter mail. This is good for up to around 5 chips. (any more and you might go overweight for this option) You can’t declare the contents as it is supposed to just be printed material, but you only pay minimal shipping costs. A standard mail order catalog will provide enough protection to your chips if they are packed like the link shows.
What shipping services do you use?
Our standard is Canada Post.
All of our shipping costs and lead times are based on their rates.
That said, if you have an account you like to use to get a better/discounted rate, let us know and we are able to accommodate.
Of the independent delivery services out there, FedEx is at the literal bottom of our list. If you can UPS or DHL or Purolator first, those would be our recommendations.
What is declared value and what does it mean to the shipment?
Declared value will affect two things. Insurance and customs surcharges, both of which get passed along to you.
Insurance:
If the package is lost or missing, insurance will only cover the cost of what was declared. If using USPS, quite often the max insurance is way less than the actual value of the chips inside.
Private Shipping Brokerage Fees:
Private shippers like UPS will allow you to purchase additional insurance to cover the value of your chips. If you mark the package as warranty repair (ie not staying in the country) you will avoid customs charges. But then the private shippers charge a brokerage fee for getting it across the border. If you don’t mark it as warranty repair you open yourself up to customs charges.
Customs Charges:
If border services feels we could have purchased this item from Canada, it is the law that they collect federal and provincial sales taxes on this item. They do have some leeway and are allowed to use their judgement, so you never know if they are going to ding you or not. Our rule of thumb is anything more than $50.00 in declared value could possibly trigger customs to review and assess. Do NOT re-use Amazon Boxes or tape when shipping your chips to us for service. Border Services sees the Amazon logo and it’s automatically assessed as a purchase regardless of the value.
What does this mean to me shipping chips for inlay replacement?
Sending via USPS:
A low declared value will get you under the radar for customs charges, but if the package is lost/stolen/destroyed you have no monetary recourse. Mark the package as “Warranty Repair” and there is a fair chance Canada Customs will see we are not keeping these chips, and thus may not charge taxes. If customs does decide to ding the shipment, there is no arguing with customs, and we will have to pass the cost along to you.
Sending via Private Shipping:
You can purchase insurance to cover the value of the chips is lost/stolen/destroyed. Mark the package as “Warranty Repair” and the shipper will usher the package through the border ensuring no taxes are collected. But the shipper charges a fee for that service based on the value of what they are ushering. The shipper contacts us and confirms our business status and we pass the fee charged along to you.
You shipped my labels 2 weeks ago… where are they?
They are out there.
We have been through a lot of scenarios, waited up to 8 weeks…
It always shows up, sometimes a little rough around the edges, but just fine.
There is no benefit to doing anything until at least 6 weeks has passed.
We will not start talking about remakes or insurance claims before that.
When are you going to get to my order?
It depends.
There are too many factors to list out that affect the wait times. We know you have been waiting a long time.
We are not a large print shop, just a small boutique/niche printer. Just one artisan with 20+ years of printing/pre-press knowledge applying it to his passion.
Each job is a customized piece of hand crafted artwork. Getting all the details right takes time.
Is there a fee I can pay to rush the job?
We have been asked more than once about fees to rush jobs. We have made the decision to not to offer this service with purpose.
We do this work from a place of passion, and we want to encourage this passion in others with as few financial barriers as possible.
So if you have a special game coming up, let us know your timeframe up front. Depending on circumstance, we may be able help make that happen.
I just paid the quoted amount, but I just remembered I wanted to add on… can I do that?
It depends.
Timing and artwork considerations are the biggest factors.
When we quote and ask for money, that means the job is ready to print. Generally speaking, we begin printing your order the same day that payment is received.
Let us know as soon as you can by emailing Andrea at ask@gearlabels.com . We will do our best to get all your labels into a single shipment.
(Moral of the story: Review the quote you are sent, and double-check yourself before hitting that payment link)
Do you want that PayPal payment as “Sending to a friend” or as “Paying for Goods and Services” ?
Please use “Sending to a friend” if at all possible.
We are aware that this adds a fee at your end when it’s an international transaction (i.e. we’re in Canada and you’re not) but it’s a much smaller fee than the goods & services rate.
If you would prefer to use Goods & Services (for example, for the purchase protection) please add 4% to cover the PayPal fees.
My question about shipping or lead time isn’t answered here, now what?
This FAQ is a work in progress.
Fill out our form and ask your question there.
Not only will it get your question answered, it will help us identify other frequent questions to post ASAP.