Return Expenses

Regardless of the shipping method used to ship your order, we only pay return and replacement shipping for defective items at ground shipping rates. We will not pay for overnight shipping on defective items. Here's why.

Some people wait until a few days before Paris Brest Paris to buy their new headlight or whatever gizmo. So we take the item from the shelf, pack it in a box for shipping, and send it off to you via UPS Red Label Next Day Air for some ridiculous price, maybe even $48 or so. All well and good, right? Well, I guess, as long as the product doesn't have some defect that the manufacturer didn't see, and that we didn't see, or that happened during shipping, or whatever. So now it's two days before you hop on the plane to France and you don't have a working light. What to do?

As far as I'm concerned, I'll do whatever it takes to get you a light. Even if it was the last one in stock, if I have one on a floor bike or even my own ride, I'll take it off the bike and send it to you.

But you paid $48 to get it there quickly! And now, to get it there before you hop on the plane, it's going to cost another $48.

Who pays the $48?

I'd like to say: "I will! I will!" because I'm a swell guy, and I hate to see people paying lots of money due to other people's mistakes. But I can't. The reason I can't is that I'm not in the shipping business. Shipping is just an expense. It's the cost of getting a product from here to there, and the further "there" is from "here", the more it costs, especially when it has to get there fast. Shipping has nothing to do with the product itself. And just as I don't pay for people's gas to drive to my shop and pick up a light, I can't pay for UPS to deliver a second headlight next day to Illinois or California. Now granted, most of my business comes from people who live too far away to either drive, cycle or hot air balloon over to the shop. So I'm happy to pay the ground shipping cost when there is a problem with an order. But I can't accept responsibility for the high cost of shipping a product express, just because a customer needed something in a hurry.

When I sell you a light on Monday, and agree to ship it overnight, that does not mean that you and I have a contract stipulating that you will have a functioning light on Tuesday. It means that I'll sell you a light that I believe to be in perfect working condition, and ship it overnight. You may or may not have a functioning light on Tuesday. Now, of course, I am agreeing that I will get you a functioning light eventually. But I can't work miracles, and I can't prevent any and all problems in the manufacture and distribution of bicycle lights, nor can I be responsible for the fact that you're "there" and I'm "here."

If you need something in a hurry, I'm happy to oblige, and do whatever it takes to get it out the door ASAP. I've taken orders at 5PM, when the UPS driver is due in five minutes, just to get somebody a light in California the next day, but I can't pay the shipping. That's an expense you have to be willing to accept. When you buy a manufactured product, you must accept the risk that there may be a problem. So please plan ahead, and order early enough that you don't need to have the item shipped via express service. If you need a properly functioning light on a given Tuesday, the only way you can be certain of having a light on that Tuesday, is to place your order far enough in advance that you'll have enough time to test it out on your bike and take any further actions that might be required, well before that Tuesday. These are your responsibilities, and they don't become my responsibilities simply because I ship you a light overnight.

Also, I'm working very hard to get bicycle shops all over the US and Canada to stock the unique products that I sell, so that you won't have to order them directly from me. If your local shop sells a great German headlight I stock, you'll be able to walk home with it and make sure it works on your bike that same day. So, if you see something on my website that you don't see anywhere else, check and see if it's something I distribute, and ask your favorite local bike shop to stock it. If I distribute it, you'll find it listed here.

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