Shipping & Purchasing Information

NOTE: Our warehouse will be CLOSED for the holiday on December 25th. Orders will be shipped out on Thursday, December 26th. 

🎄 All Christmas shipping deadlines have now passed - there's still time to get an electronic gift card emailed though! 🎁

Current Order Processing Time: 1-2 business days. 🎁See our holiday shipping time tables below to receive your order by December 24th. 🎁

 

Most orders are shipped from our warehouse facility in West Virginia, USA. Approximate transit times for each shipping option will display in the shopping cart after you enter your shipping address, and reflect the amount of transit time after order processing. (In other words, please add 1-2 business days to the time frame estimates in the shopping cart.)

 

2024 Holiday Shipping Deadlines Within the United States

Recommended order-by dates for expected delivery before December 25th. Please order before 11:59pm Eastern Time on the date indicated below for the best chance of receiving the order before Christmas. Clicking a date will bring up a new tab with a time zone conversion for the cutoff in your local time zone.

Contiguous U.S.:

• Free Economy Shipping: Order by 11:59pm Tuesday, Dec. 17
• Standard: Order by 11:59pm Tuesday, Dec. 17
• Express: Order by 11:59pm Thursday, Dec. 19

Alaska & Hawaii:

• Free Economy Shipping: Not recommended, may travel by boat
• Standard: Not recommended, may travel by boat
• Express: Order by 11:59pm Thursday, Dec. 19

Military Mail (APO/FPO/DPO):

• USPS Ground Advantage: Order by 11:59pm Tuesday, Dec. 3
• USPS Priority Mail: Order by 11:59pm Sunday, Dec. 8

Dates above are for estimated delivery before December 25. Actual delivery date may vary depending on destination and other conditions.

2024 Holiday Shipping Deadlines for Outside the United States

Recommended order-by dates for expected delivery before December 25th. Please order before 11:59pm Eastern Time on the date indicated below for the best chance of receiving the order before Christmas. Clicking a date will bring up a new tab with a time zone conversion for the cutoff in your local time zone.

Actual delivery date may vary depending on destination and other conditions, including customs delays. 

*Shipping cutoff dates for First Class Mail International are provided by the United States Postal Service (USPS) and are only an estimate. Packages shipped by these dates are not guaranteed by USPS to arrive by Christmas. We strongly encourage FedEx shipping for all time-sensitive orders.

‡FedEx International Connect Plus estimates are based on our experiences of when this service usually delivers to these areas, as FedEx does not give delivery estimates for this service to most areas. International Connect Plus is not a guaranteed delivery date service.

Shipping to Canada? Due to the Canada Post strike, only FedEx shipping options are available for the time being. USPS shipping options to Canada deliver via Canada Post and are no longer accepting packages to Canada. FedEx options are still available and are not experiencing any delays.
USPS orders to Canada that shipped before November 28th may not be delivered until two weeks or more following the end of the strike.

 

Important Purchasing Information

* Please note that all prices on our site are in US Dollars ($). Shipping prices are determined by weight, carrier, and class of service.

What payment methods do you accept?

We accept PayPal, VISA, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Facebook Pay, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Jcb, and Diners Club.  We also accept cryptocurrency payments through coinbase. Furthermore, we also offer payments with terms through Shop Pay.

Returns, Exchanges, and Refunds 

• General Returns, Cancelations and Exchanges: Each Mini Museum is a limited edition collectible, and all Mini Museums are sold as-is. There are no exchanges available.  However, if you are unhappy with your Mini Museum we can offer your a refund if you return your Mini Museum within 30 days of purchase.  Please contact us prior to making a return. Once the return package has been processed, we can issue a refund of the full amount as a store credit, or process a refund to the original payment method minus a processing fee (~2.5-3% as charged by the payment processor depending on your payment method.) Processing fees also apply to order cancelations as credit card fees are non-refundable.
• Shipping Refunds: Please note that you will be responsible for paying for return shipping costs. We can provide you with a return label but the costs for return shipping will be deducted from your refund.  Original shipping costs are also not refundable.
• Shipping Insurance: Every package we send is insured against loss and/or theft.  If your package does not arrive, please contact us immediately and we will investigate. We will issue a refund after the investigation is complete, which depending on the destination could take several weeks.
• Discounted Items: All discounted Mini Museums are sold "as-is".  No exchanges or refunds are possible.

Special Shipping Note for Very Large Orders (Over $2000):

All shipping prices are calculated by weight and class of service. However, for orders over $2000 there may be additional charges for dimensions of the package or for additional insurance. If this applies to your order, we will contact you prior to shipping to arrange payment. If this sounds a little scary, you can always contact us before placing your order and we can see if this applies to you. Again, this is only for very large orders.

Contacting Mini Museum Service

Email is the best way to contact us.  Our email address is service@minimuseum.com.  Every email sent to this address is assigned to a Mini Museum Helper and all replies are tracked.

Authenticity

Every specimen in our shop is real, authentic, and unique. We take great care to source our specimens in the most ethical and sustainable manner possible. This includes abiding by local mining and heritage laws around the world.

It is also important to note that our Acrylic and Touch collections are assembled by hand and the production process lends itself to variations. All Mini Museums are sold "as-is" and by purchasing a Mini Museum, you acknowledge such variations will occur. There might be tiny air bubbles, or a specimen may be shaped and sized differently than the images on this page. Specimens and the limited edition label have also been known to shift or fragment slightly during the acrylic curing phase, which can cause variations in alignment and appearance. Such variations highlight the artisanal nature of this project, as each Mini Museum is assembled by hand with real specimens and absolutely unique.

Frequently Asked Questions

International Customs and Taxes (VAT)

For shipments going to the United Kingdom, we collect VAT upfront for orders below £135 but we do not collect any additional import duties/tariffs to be paid. For UK orders with a value above, £135 VAT and duties will be due directly to HM Revenue & Customs to upon receipt.

For all other countries, we do not collect international customs or sales tax (VAT) up front.  Your purchase price reflects the product and shipping cost only. As the purchaser of a Mini Museum, you will be responsible for all duties and taxes imposed on the import of the Mini Museum.

Special Note for Australian Customers: If you are purchasing more than 1000AUD of merchandise, you should anticipate import duties. The Australian Border Force is quite serious about this. FedEx will handle the required paperwork for orders of this size but there will also be fees associated with this as well (typically around $90USD). You can read more about Australian import duties on the ABF's website.

Our products are generally classified as educational displays and, which should eliminate customs tariffs in most cases, but sales tax (VAT) is always a possibility and you should plan accordingly.

If you refuse import charges, your Mini Museum will be returned to us and we will not reship.  Assuming the Mini Museum is not damaged, we will refund your purchase minus shipping charges.

How long will a Mini Museum last?

An acrylic Mini Museum, if properly cared for, should last for many, many years, but it is not indestructible.  We have taken great pains to protect your Mini Museum, and though rare it is possible that it may arrive with a few micro abrasions.  Most abrasions are simple to remove, but we always recommend taking your Mini Museum to a professional jewelry repair shop for buffing and polishing.

Do you ship to APO/FPO addresses?

Yes!  We use the US Postal Service to ship to members of the US Military and are proud to do so.

Do you ship internationally? 

Yes!  We've shipped Mini Museums to more than 120 different countries around the world!  Please be sure to read the section above about International Customs and Taxes (VAT). 

We recommend using FedEx for international shipments but we also offer US Postal Service for some countries as well.  Shipping methods vary by country and pricing is determined at the time of the sale based on weight.  You may check the price of shipping by placing the items you wish to order in your shopping cart, then proceeding to the checkout and entering your shipping address information (you do not need to enter any payment information to reach the point where shipping quotes will appear).

Please note: At present we do not ship to Brazil or India.

New FedEx International Connect Plus Service - If available in your country, you may see a shipping service called "FedEx International Connect Plus". International Connect Plus is a discounted FedEx service that uses the local post office for final delivery. Shipping works just like any other FedEx service until the package clears local customs. This means you will be contacted by FedEx to pay any duties (if required). There is no difference in tracking from any other FedEx service, and in our tests it has worked flawlessly in countries where local post office tracking might be a bit difficult. Is it as fast as regular FedEx? No, but it is faster than regular postal service and the tracking seems to be a bit better in certain locations. The price is also very competitive with USPS and so we are happy to offer this to our customers around the world.

A Note About USPS First Class International Shipping:  Please note that we do offer USPS First Class International Shipping. In many countries, the tracking of these packages is simple and easy. In addition to the USPS website, you can also use the tracking number on the destination country's postal service website (e.g. Royal Mail for the UK). However, there are some countries that do not provide additional tracking once the package is handed over to customs. Sweden for example does not track the package after handoff. In general, we've still found USPS First Class very reliable but on occasion it can take longer.

Do you require signatures on shipments?

Not always. If you are shipping FedEx International, you'll need to sign. That is their policy on orders over a certain amount. In the United States, we no longer require a signature to receive delivery of the Mini Museum.

Help! My package has gone missing before I got it, or it arrived damaged!

Not to worry! We carry insurance on all of our shipments and are happy to help with a replacement on any missing or damaged packages. Please contact us right away at service@minimuseum.com so that we can help you out. (Please note that missing or damaged packages must be reported to our insurance with 120 days of the shipment date.)

Still have questions?

If you have further questions, do not hesitate to contact us directly. As noted above, email is the best way to contact us.  Our email address is service@minimuseum.com.  Every email sent to this address is assigned to a Mini Museum Helper and all replies are tracked.