VeganEssentials.com Frequently Asked Questions

Are all of your products vegan?

Yes, everything we sell is vegan! We don't wish to offer anything that contains any animal-based ingredients or that has been tested on animals. Period. We're vegans ourselves, and we have never had any plans to sell anything that is not conforming to vegan standards. You may ready an ingredient in a product that sounds like it is not vegan, but trust us, there are many different ways something can be derived or created, so even if something looks like it might not be vegan or you read that the ingredient is from an animal, you can be sure that the derivitive in the product we're carrying is not from an animal source. It is extremely rare that a company ever changes ingredients to make a vegan product non-vegan, but if this were to happen with something we were carrying, we would immediate discontinue the product and no longer offer it in our store.

Do you ship outside of the USA?

Yes, we ship almost anywhere in the world! We have customers in Spain, Australia, England, New Zealand, Greece, and many other countries around the globe. We ship outside the USA via Air Mail, and the price is determined by the weight of the package for your order. This price does not appear on your email confirmation but has to be given to you separately after your order has been packed and weighed. If you need to know the shipping before we send your order, please email us at questions@veganessentials.com. Otherwise, we will send your order as normal once it has been packaged.

Do you have a retail store or are you strictly an online mail-order business?

Unfortunately, when we relocated in November 2006 we had to close our walk-in store to make way for a larger warehouse and office space for all of us to work in (our retail outlet was cramped and did not accomodate any further expansion after we filled it up with vegan products!) Hopefully we will one day have another retail outlet, but for the time being we do not have a shop with set hours as we did in the past. If you wish to visit we prefer that you know the items you'd like to purchase in advance so that we can easily pick them for you, or even better, if you order online just note that you'll be picking the order up and we'll have it ready and remove your shipping charges as well. If you need to try on shoes or something of that nature, please call us first and make an appointment and we'll be sure to have someone ready to assist. Due to our new location and restrictions, customers cannot browse in our warehouse, so please have a listing of what you'd like to view or purchase before stopping by so that we can have the items ready for you when you arrive!

Are you a manufacturer or do you do wholesale pricing on your products?

Unfortunately, we neither produce any of the goods we carry nor are we able to offer wholesale pricing on anything we carry. If you're looking to buy a substantial amount of a product we can occasionally offer discounts on the item (please call or email to let us know the item and quantity), but we cannot do this for every product and the discount we can offer varies from item to item. If you wish to order a volume of a product for your own store, please contact all manufacturers directly for more details - we list their names in the product title, and they should be relatively easy to locate with a quick online search.

I tried to order and for some reason I received an error message. What can I do to get my order through to you?

It is rare that ordering problems happen on our site (the only problems we know of at this time are that WebTV users cannot navigate our site properly and that some Mac browsers currently conflict with our site) but situations can arise where you just can't seem to get your order to complete as intended. Should you ever try to place an order with us and something does not work correctly, there are many other means to get an order in to us. Here is what we suggest:

- Call us toll-free at 1-866-88-VEGAN or at (262) 574-7761 to place your order over the phone, or email us your telephone number and we'll call you back to take your order at your convenience.

- Fax in your order to us at (262) 574-7762. We can accept faxes 24 hours a day.

- Mail in your order to us at our contact address listed at the bottom of this page. You can use our printable order form found under the "Ordering" section listed at the top of the page or simply write it out with credit card and shipping instructions and we'll send your order when we receive it in the mail. Shipping costs are $5.95 for order totals up to $50 (excluding shipping) and $6.95 for order totals over $50.

- If all else fails, we do have a secure email address that you can send all details to for ordering and credit card information. If you need to place an order via this method, please write us at questions@veganessentials.com and we'll tell you where to send the information!

Can you tell me how much it would cost to ship my order?

Our shipping chart as of the time we're writing this is as follows:

$10 to $20 - $5.95
$20 to $50 - $6.95
$50 and up - $7.95

This is for USA shipping only. Please see our notes in the section titled "Do you ship outside of the USA?" for information on pricing for outside the USA.

How can I track my order's shipping progress?

When your order has been sent you will receive an email confirming that it has been shipped and it will include a UPS tracking number (USA and some Canadian orders only). You can log into our site at VeganEssentials.com and track your order from there or go directly to www.UPS.com and use their online tracking feature to find out where your order is at any given time.

For orders outside the USA which are sent via USPS Air Mail, we unfortunately have no way to track these orders. Also, should a package be lost or stolen in transit, we can file a claim with UPS to try and get a 2nd shipment out to you at no additional charge, but this cannot be done with orders outside the USA, so order at your own risk. However, if there is show that the package was delivered and you say that you did not receive the package, you will need to contact UPS for any payment for missing orders - this situation is not the responsibility of VeganEssentials.com to follow up on as once a package has left our warehouse we have no control over the situations which may occur.

How soon will you send my package from the time I place my order?

Most orders ship same day or next day depending on what time they are received (after 3 PM most orders are sent next working day.) If an item ordered is out of stock then your order may be held for 2-4 days before being sent while we wait for stock to come in. The exception to this is for shoes, as most of them are coming from overseas and sometimes take longer to arrive if we are out of stock. We will call or email anyone who will have to wait longer than 4 days for items to come in so that we can see what you'd like us to do. So please, do leave a legitimate email or telephone number on your order so that we can contact you if need be in regard to your order status.

I don't want to have my name or information sold to other businesses. What is your policy on this?

VeganEssentials.com does not sell your information to anyone. All of your information is kept private and is used only within our business and under no circumstances will be shared, sold or traded to anyone else, guaranteed.

I ordered a cosmetic from Paul Penders and it had Carmine listed on it. Carmine isn't vegan so why is it in this product you're selling? Also, I saw Lanolin listed in some of your Bronzo Sensuale suntan lotions and oils. What about that?

We offer the strictest assurance that we don't sell anything that is non-vegan, and we'll explain the cosmetic situation with some of the Penders and Ecco Bella cosmetics listing carmine on them: Many of the cosmetics by these companies share labels. For instance, the Penders blushers, which aren't vegan, contain carmine, and the blusher label is shared with the eyeshadows. Same procedure goes with some Ecco Bella products - to cut costs they share labels and have carmine listed as it is in the non-vegan ones but they do put the label on products which are similar that don't contain carmine as well. We're pushing these companies to print new labels to show actual ingredients, so hopefully in the future they will be more accurate. As we state, if it's on our site it has been checked thoroughly and we do have statements from manufacturers to back up our claims!

For the Bronzo line, they have formulated synthetic lanolin that is used in their products. Trust us, we've been asked about this many, many times and have on file the statements to show that this is definitely not animal-derived. If you ever do see something listed such as Carmine, Lanolin, or Synthetic Beeswax you can rest assured that either these ingredients are not in the products at all or are definitely not derived from animals!

What are your return policies?

We offer a 30-day return policy on almost all of our products at VeganEssentials.com - this period begins on the date the product is shipped out to the customer [NOTE: If there is a special circumstance whereby you cannot get your products returned within this 30 days please be sure to contact us before mailing them back.] Simply mail the products you would like to return back to us (with a note of reason for return enclosed) at our address listed at the bottom of this page and we'll refund your money via charge or check, depending on how you paid for your order. Returns can be sent for exchange, store credit or refund depending on what you'd like. We will reimburse you for any items that have been sent incorrectly but under normal return circumstances you are responsible for the expense of shipping products back to our location. Exchanges will be sent free of charge for the first replacement (inside the USA or Canada - customers outside the USA will be responsible for the cost of shipping on exchanges), but any subsequent returns or exchanges will be paid for at the customer's expense. Here are the products that have special circumstances for returns policies:

- Shoes must be tried on indoors, preferably on carpeting, and while wearing socks, to be eligible for return or exchange. Shoes must be sent back in new, resellable condition to be valid as shoes are to be restocked to be shipped to other customers. If shoes are not returned in proper condition, credit or exchange cannot be given, and shoes will be sent back to you - this includes removal of laces before sending shoes back for return or destroying the original box the shoes were sent in (shoes not returned in the original box will be subject to a $10 surcharge which will be charged to your account or deducted from the total you are to be credited.) We inspect all shoes before shipping to guarantee that they are in perfect condition before they are sent, so we will be able to tell if they have been worn past what we deem to be acceptable upon return. We will issue credit or exchange for an alternate size depending on your request. Exchanges will be sent free of charge for the first replacement, (inside the USA or Canada - customers outside the USA will be responsible for the cost of shipping on exchanges) but any subsequent returns or exchanges will be paid for at the customer's expense. VeganEssentials will only pay for the cost of sending out exchanges - we do not issue refunds on original shipping costs or the cost of shipping shoes back to us unless the shoes you received were defective or not what was listed on your order form.

- Cosmetics that have been opened or used are not returnable. If you are not sure about the color of a particular cosmetic item, simply call or write to us and we'll be happy to send you a color chart!

- Food items cannot be returned due to their sensitive nature. In the event that you are dissatisfied with the quality of a food item, please contact us and we will notify the manufacturer and we'll attempt to have a replacement sent to you free of charge if possible. We can offer recommendations and opinions on specific food items if you are looking for more information before trying out a new product, so please feel free to contact us for more information regarding our food and sweets before you purchase!

- Special custom orders for shoes or other products we do not normally carry are not eligible for credit or exchange.

- Credits to credit card accounts will be issued anywhere from 1-2 weeks from the time your order is received.

- If products are returned in unsatisfactory condition and cannot be resold in "like new" or unused condition and/or in time far exceeding the 30 day return limit the product will be returned to you at our expense and credit will not be issued.

What are your policies on labor for the products you carry?

People often ask about our policy on fair-labor for the goods we sell, and we're more than happy to share details on anything you would like to know regarding the manufacturers we work with. The products we sell other than wearable items are almost always from small businesses inside the USA or Europe, so unfair labor isn't an issue with their production. For wearables, here is our current status:

The shoes that we carry come from a variety of companies who have production in quite a few different countries - we don't actually produce any of the items we sell, but rather we try to offer the largest selection of all-vegan goods from over a hundred manufacturers in one place.

These products are made in the following countries:

UK
Spain
USA
Italy
Australia
Romania
Brazil
Portugal
Colombia (cooperatively made footwear)
China

We're very concerned with sweatshop production - we don't like to offer anything that's exploitative to the people making the products as we feel it's very important to be human-friendly as well as animal-friendly. We have a thorough screening for all shoe and accessory companies that we carry products from regarding the production they use, and we ask them to verify the following situations regarding their production:

1. No child labor
2. No forced labor
3. Fair pay relative to the respective country
4. No hazardous working conditions/facility up to code
5. No excessive hours for employees

If a footwear company is not willing to attest to these factors for their production we will not work with them. Even after this, we do our own independent research through various websites to look for any contradictions - if we find anything that may show the company is not being honest about their labor standards we will refuse to carry their products. This is very important to us, and we have maintained this standard since our company formed. For Chinese manufacturing we pay especially close attention to these factors since sweatshop production is so prevalent in much of that nation. However, there are a handful of companies working to make a difference in China by raising the standards of a quality work environment, and these are the kind of companies we seek out.

Some of the shirts we carry are all fair-labor made in the USA (such as all the Herbivore Clothing designs, the "Please Don't Eat the Animals shirt, the "Why Not?" shirt and the "Vegan Compassion" design), though some of the others in specific styles change on the shirts they're made on from batch to batch and we never know what we're going to receive. A few of the companies whose products we carry seem to work with whatever shirts they can get on demand (most likely from smaller print runs), and this is why many of them change from batch to batch. We're hoping that in time these companies will convert solely to using USA-made shirts for their production. We wish that there were more choices for vegan and animal-rights themed shirts that were made solely on fair-labor certified shirts, but there are so few companies out there that choices are limited and difficult to come by. Oddly enough, it has been far easier for us to work with fair-labor footwear manufacturers than it has for shirts! If you'd like to let us know what shirts you're particularly interested in we'll let you know the status of where they're made for what we currently have in stock so you'll know if there's anything you would wish to wear.

For hemp goods, these are all made in a fair-trade facility in Romania or are made in the USA - Ecolution and Splaff have always been at the forefront of fair-labor production, and those companies make all the hemp goods we carry.

For belts, almost all are made in fair-labor facilities in the UK, while the remaining few exceptions are all made in the USA.

For men's or unisex wallets, these are either the hemp wallets made in Romania or they are the VeganWares wallets that are handmade in Australia.

Again, if we can assist with any questions on a product, please feel free to write or call and we'll always be happy to help in any way possible.

What is your contact information?

You can contact us at VeganEssentials through any of the following:

Mailing Address:
VeganEssentials
1701 Pearl St. Unit 8
Waukesha, WI 53186

Telephone:
Toll-free - 866-88-VEGAN or (262) 574-7761

Fax:
(262) 574-7762

Main Email:
questions@veganessentials.com

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