*** COVID Statement: COVID has placed additional strains on our order processing times, most of which are outside of our control, including book production times, fulfillment times, shipping times, and various related inconsistencies. Please allow for such delays and related issues. If your order is a time-critical item, please contact us before placing your order. ***
General Comments About Shipping: Headstamp Publishing is a small organization of a handful of people who work their best to create books of exceptional quality, market them, ship them, and handle customer complaints and concerns, all while creating even more books. We do not have the budget of an international megacorporation with hundreds of employees to handle the various issues that might arise with a multitude of situations that are mostly, or completely, out of our control. So when the occasional problem arises with the U.S. Postal System, international customs, an order taking longer than usual to fulfill and ship, etc., please understand that our team of three people will have to handle those issues, all while still taking care of the various Headstamp Publishing daily items necessary to conduct our business. We want all of our customers to be happy with their experience with Headstamp Publishing; however, we ask that all customers allow us a bit of flexibility in getting orders fulfilled, shipped, and delivered, especially in this era of COVID, increased sales volume, and decreasing reliability with the major shipping carriers.
Fulfillment Times: We process and ship orders during standard business hours Monday through Friday, excluding U.S. holidays. Most orders will ship within 2 business days, but high volume periods could see delays of a week or more. Special Limited Edition items should expect a delay of a two weeks due to the unique nature of the items; however, some Special Limited Edition items might be delayed up to a month. Furthermore, Pre-Orders can expect a wait of even more than a month, depending on the book title and launch season. We will send you a notification email once your package ships. Please note that in all cases your credit card is charged at the time the order is placed, not when it ships.
Domestic Shipments: Orders within the United States with a “Priority” shipping method will typically be shipped via UPS Ground, FedEx Ground, FedEx SmartPost, or USPS Priority. In some cases, alternate shipping arrangements will/can be made. An "Economy" option may also be available via USPS Media Mail, with extended delivery times. Headstamp Publishing does not issue refunds for orders which are marked as "Delivered" by the carrier/delivery company. Shipment of a replacement item would be the sole course of action for a customer claiming that a "Delivered" item was not received. The burden is on the customer to first take reasonable action to assure that delivery was not made to another individual on the premises or to a neighboring address. Fraudulent activity is grounds for disqualification for any replacement shipment.
International Shipments: Customers located outside of the United States must pay actual shipping costs and in some cases additional handling charges. Headstamp Publishing will do its best to present a close estimate of the shipping costs to the customer during the checkout process; however, in the event that actual shipping costs differ significantly from the amount charged, customer will be contacted to arrange for payment of the additional shipping expense. International customers expressly agree that, while Headstamp Publishing may take measures to insure the value of the shipment, the risk of loss/damage of the shipment becomes the responsibility of the customer at the time that Headstamp Publishing places the shipment in the care of the shipping company. Customer's sole recourse in the event of loss or damage to the shipment would be between it and the shipping company. Headstamp Publishing accepts no liability for loss or damage to the shipment.
Customs and Duties: Customer acknowledges that he/she shall be solely responsible for any such amounts. Recipients will be responsible for paying any customs fees, import duty, VAT, or other charges levied upon arrival in their country. Headstamp Publishing does not pay these additional fees and taxes, so it is important for the customer to assess the impact of any possible fees on the total final cost of the order.
No PO Boxes: Because the majority of our international shipments are shipped via UPS International, please do NOT specify a PO Box as a shipping address. UPS International will not deliver packages to a PO Box, and will return any such shipment to sender. Therefore, when you do specify a shipping address, it must be a "physical" address.
Russian Federation and Ukraine: Due to ongoing issues with sending shipments to recipients in the Russian Federation and Ukraine, we are not able to accept any orders shipping to those destinations. However, some customers have been able to provide shipping locations outside of these countries, to where we have been able to successfully deliver packages.
Shipping Related to Non-Book Items (Posters, Bookmarks, Decals, etc.): Our Priority Shipping Option (UPS Ground or equivalent) is only available for book shipments. Posters will always ship separately from books, and they will always ship with an economy-type (non-priority/express) service. Similarly, in some instances, bookmarks, decals, and other non-book items will ship separately from a book, even if purchased with a book. In the event these non-book items ship separately, they will ship with an economy-type (non-priority/express) service, even if the order selected a priority/express service.
International Duties, Fees, and Taxes
For international orders placed (on or after March 22, 2025), we will be charging an additional fee at checkout titled “Import Duties”, which is added to the total value of your order. Where the various import duties for a specific country is calculated as a percentage of the order value, the Import Duties percentage is also calculated inclusive of the shipping charge. Headstamp Publishing LLC is using the term “Import Duties” in this section of the website and on the checkout cart only because we have a limited amount of space to define this fee. The complete description of the fee is: “Additional fee addressing the following charges incurred by Headstamp Publishing LLC in shipping an order internationally, which currently include: ‘Value Added Tax’, ‘Disbursement Fees’ (levied in part by the international carrier), ‘Duty Amount’, ‘Duty and Tax Forwarding Surcharge’ (levied in part by the international carrier), and any other importation-related fee that a recipient country levies on our shipment.”
The “Import Duties” percentage that will be applied to an international order will be based on our to-date history of ACTUAL charges to each specific country (or group of countries). This percentage may be averaged to account for inconsistent application of fees in a specific country. Furthermore, while a specific country may have a 20% VAT rate, the percentage Headstamp Publishing charges might be lower than or higher than this amount based on: (1) the actual VAT that Headstamp Publishing sees applied to our orders in that specific country and (2) additional duties and fees that are levied against Headstamp Publishing for customs clearance of orders in that specific country. Headstamp Publishing strives to continually “correct” the tax applied to orders based on actual VAT rates and customs/import duties that are being applied in each specific country.
The computation of VAT, customs, and duties is a complicated topic, and, based on the actual amounts that have been levied on our shipments, our conclusion is that the VAT, customs, and duties are not uniformly calculated and levied even within the same country. Furthermore, while some countries do have specially designated categories of merchandise subject to beneficial or preferential tax treatment (such as books being imported into Norway), our experience is that there are certain minimum fees that are always applied. For that reason, Headstamp Publishing still incurs approximately $15 in fees in a 0% VAT country.
Please understand that we DO NOT make any attempt to profit off shipping charges and tax/fee charges. Our preference would be to charge nothing more than the cost of the book! We strive to charge exactly our actual costs, but our actual experience is that, in sum/net, we lose money on the cost of shipping compared to what we charge.
International Customer Responsibilities Regarding Delivery Attempts
In almost all cases, the international parcel carrier will be reaching out to the customer to arrange for final delivery of the parcel. Even if no customs/duties are due by the customer, the international carrier still is often required to have the customer complete basic importation paperwork.
International customers have the following responsibilities:
Respond timely to communications from our international carrier (typically UPS).
Stay informed of your parcel tracking and reach out to BOTH the shipper (Headstamp Publishing) and the carrier (typically UPS) if any issues are seen on the tracking.
If you have not received tracking information within 3 days of placing your order, reach out to Headstamp Publishing using the CONTACT form on our website to ask for your tracking information. It is possible that your original tracking email went to your spam folder.
Though we are making thorough attempts to pay for the VAT, customs, and duties on your parcel (for orders placed on or after March 22, 2025) so that it can deliver to you at no additional expense, there are going to be situations where VAT, customs, duties, or other fees are still assessed against your shipment. You the customer are responsible to pay any of those fees. Not responding to the carrier or not paying the fees does not make us responsible for these fees. Our company is based in the United States of America. We are simply not in a position to pay all local fees levied in your country or territory, and HEADSTAMP PUBLISHING LLC DISCLAIMS ALL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE PAYMENT OF VAT, CUSTOMS, DUTIES, AND ADDITIONAL FEES levied by any entity or organization outside of our original international carrier with whom we have contracted.
Failure of the customer to respond in a timely manner to communications from our international carrier will typically result in either (a) storage of the parcel in a warehouse or (b) destruction of the parcel through a process referred to a “abandonment”.
In the event of warehousing the parcel, additional fees will typically be levied by the carrier or warehousing agent. These storage fees are the sole responsibility of the customer.
In the event of parcel abandonment/destruction, the loss of the parcel is the sole responsibility of the customer. Headstamp Publishing is under no obligation to replace the abandoned/destroyed parcel.
In the Event of Damages, Lost, or Undelivered Parcel
As-Is Condition:
All items in parcel that we ship internationally are shipped in an AS-IS condition. That means that Headstamp Publishing disclaims, and the customer acknowledges, that Headstamp Publishing is not responsible for any damaged or defective merchandise.
Lost/Stolen Parcels:
If an international parcel, or any contents therein, is lost or stolen, the sole recourse of the customer is for the customer to file a claim with the international carrier. Headstamp Publishing disclaims, and the customer acknowledges, that Headstamp Publishing is not responsible for any lost or stolen parcels or merchandise.
Undelivered Parcels:
If an international parcel is not delivered to the customer for any reason, including but not limited to customer rejects or otherwise fails to accept the parcel, customer does not reply in a timely manner to the carrier or carrier’s agent, carrier or carrier’s agent is not able to get into touch with the customer and therefore destroys or abandons the parcel, then the customer’s sole recourse may be to seek a refund utilizing the following equation:
Refundable Amount = total amount customer paid to Headstamp Publishing minus all shipping and fulfillment fees paid by Headstamp Publishing minus 25% of the retail price of each item in the parcel.
If the Refundable Amount is $0 or a negative number, then no amount shall be refunded by Headstamp Publishing to customer. Because it can take approximately 30 days for all customs and shipping fees to be calculated and billed to Headstamp Publishing by the international carrier, the customer agrees to wait as long as reasonably necessary for Headstamp Publishing to be able to quantify all related costs and expenses relevant to the calculation of the refund.
International Returns
International returns are NOT ACCEPTED in any situation. All merchandise is sold on an AS-IS basis and is not returnable or refundable.
Please understand that we want all of our customers to be happy with their products/merchandise, but the complex realities of international customs and exorbitant costs involved in shipping packages internationally make returns impracticable.
If you have any shipping questions, please contact us here: