Venus Illuminated Customer Service
How to shop using this site & payment options:
Venus Illuminated offers many payment options. We offer PayPal for credit card and electronic check payments. We are PayPal verified, which means we have satisfied the PayPal criteria of verification. You may check our verification here. Throughout the site you will see 'buy' buttons next to the products we are currently offering.
If you click on a buy button, a shopping cart window will open showing the item you've placed in your cart. You may minimize this window and continue shopping the site until you are finished. You may also, at any time, remove an item or adjust the quantity of an item in your cart. When you are finished shopping, simply maximize the shopping cart window and then proceed to checkout. Your shipping charge will appear and you then agree to the total by clicking one final button. You have the option of cancelling your purchase up until this final click. We also accept cash sent via registered mail (US Dollars, UK Pound Sterling, AU Dollars, and Euros), money orders, international money orders drawn in US funds, Western Union transfers, Money Gram transfers and personal and business checks (within the US).
Please email us if you wish to send a payment by mail.
Email: Dena@venusilluminated.com
Our Shipping Policy and delivery times:
We generally ship everything first class or Priority mail via the United States Postal Service. The FREE shipping offered internationally for the jewelry items are shipped first class. The candles are usually shipped Priority. If you need an item right away, please contact us to arrange for Priority shipping ($6.00 for up to 3 jewelry items) or Overnight service ($20.00 for up to 3 jewelry items). All in stock items are shipped within 1 business day, unless we are out of town. I will contact you regarding delivery shortly after receiving your order. In the United States, you can expect your in stock items to arrive in about 2 days to a week.
International jewelry orders are shipped via International First Class Post. Global Priority Post is available for $17.00 USD for up to 3 jewelry items in the same package. Global Priority usually arrives within 3 - 5 business days, and International First Class generally arrives within 5 - 8 business days. We have discovered a few places in the UK, France, and Australia with rather slow delivery service, with Global Priority packages arriving around 10 business days after we ship.
International Customers
We ship the jewelry we offer worldwide (everywhere it is legal to do so). However, due to the weight of our candles, we request that you contact us first with your order so we can add the correct shipping expense to your order. The shopping cart will only add shipping for US customers for candles. If you place an order without contacting us first, we will bill you separately for shipping. Please be aware that we cannot ship these items until payment for the shipping expense is received.
Please email me at Dena@venusilluminated.com for a quote on shipping. I will be happy to send a direct invoice to your email account if you reside in a country that allows Paypal payments. If you cannot pay via Paypal, we do also accept Western Union transfers, MoneyGram, and International Money Orders/bank drafts drawn in US funds.
Our candles are heavy, so please be aware that the international shipping charge may be significant if you order many.
Out of stock items:
As I am the only person who works on the websites and we offer so many items, I am often unable to immediately put up out of stock notices. We have limited quantities of each item, so it is possible that we will occasionally receive too many orders of an item to fill all of our orders immediately. I will email you and let you know if an item is unavailable and offer you the option to wait (it could be only a few days up to two weeks, depending on when we ran out and if an order is already in transit to us from the manufacturers) or a refund. There are some items on the site that are Special Order only items - these items will always take at least two weeks to arrive as I will only order those items for you after you place your order.
Confirmation of your order:
After payment, you will be taken to a thank you page or an order form (depending on what you have purchased). This confirms your successful placement of an order with us. If this does not happen, do not worry! It doesn't mean that you haven't placed your order--we are human and we do make mistakes! There may be an occasional item on the site that is not properly linked back to the proper page. Paypal will automatically send you an email confirmation of your payment to let you know you have made a successful purchase. In addition, we do also personally confirm your order via email. If you do not hear from us in a day or two after purchase, feel free to send an email to Customer Service and ask about your purchase.
Returns:
Due to the nature of our business, we do not have many items that are damaged during shipment (we even individually wrap all candles!). However, if you do receive an item that is damaged or that you simply do not like, we will consider returns on an individual basis. Please contact us with any problem ~ it is our goal to keep our customers not only satisfied, but exceptionally pleased!
Please note: all of our candles are handcrafted; therefore, there is almost always slight irregularities in the smoothness of the circular top of the votives. This is not a defect in the candles, but rather loving proof of gentle hands creating first class candles out of pure vegetable wax and essential oils. The candles may also have a slight variance in color at times due to the nature of being handcrafted.
About paying by check:
We do accept all personal and business checks drawn on US Bank accounts. However, there is an 4 - 11 day hold on all checks. To avoid the hold and receive your products faster, you may want to consider paying by money order, electronic check, or credit card. The hold on electronic checks is only 4 days compared to a hold up to 11 days for physical paper checks. If you have paid with a check in the past with no problem, we may decide to honor your check right away and send your order according to our regular shipping policy. This is, of course, at our discretion. If you are an international customer, we accept international money orders, Western Union Transfers, and credit card payments via the website only.
About placing a custom order:
Most of the artists that create our jewelry DO NOT accept special orders, such as having an item that is pewter made in silver or gold. Each item states on the individual pages what metal it is available in and whether it is available in other metals or gemstones.