General Information
How private is my information?
At no time does Americana Resources, Inc. hand out, sell or by any other means, make our client listing
available to ANYONE. All client information, including E-mail addresses, purchases, etc. is kept strictly
confidential.
While we do keep credit card information on a computer system in our office, this system is isolated from the Internet
and credit card data is stored in a proprietary encrypted format.
Can I come to your shop and look around?
That depends. We have two locations: the Emittsburg Antique Mall in Emmitsburg, MD and our warehouse.
We currently have 7 spaces in the Emmitsburg mall. The inventory that you will find there is not
listed on the web site.
Our warehouse is not really set up for browsing.
Inventory Questions
How many dealers are in your mall?
We are not a mall. Americana Resources owns 90% of the items that you see listed on this sight. The remaining
10% are on consignment from various individuals around the United States.
How many items do you really have?
At last count, we are listing over 30,000 items. This does not include the approximately 3,000 items located
in our antique mall spaces or the items in our warehouse that we haven't gotten to yet, plus many items that
we have in quantity.
Where does your inventory come from?
Our inventory comes from a wide array of sources. We do the usual flea market/yard sale/auction circuit.
We also make several road trips each year looking for unusual items. In addition, we occasionally buy items
from persons that contact us. We also have a consignment service available to those persons that wish to
dispose of a collection.
Why don't you have more pictures available?
We are slowly working our way through getting pictures of our inventory. As of the
20-Dec-2004 update, we have just over 35% completed.
Note: Items priced at $10.00 or less will not be photographed.
How ofter do you update your site?
We try to update the site at least once a month. Since we 'cross list' areas of our inventory with other services,
more frequent updates are too difficult to manage at this time. Hopefully, we will be able to work this out
in the future.
The Ordering Process
I ordered something, but received an E-Mail that it wasn't available. Why?
While we have duplicates of many, many items, even more of our inventory consists of a single piece being
available. Since we update the site monthly, it is possible that the item you are interested in sold
earlier in the month, and will be removed for the next update.
If you send your order, along with payment, via postal mail without inquiring about item availability in advance,
we will process you order to the best of our ability and issue a refund check for the remaining balance.
How long does it take to get my order?
This depends on several factors: method of payment, number of items in the order, size/weight of package and shipping
destination.
Credit card orders are usually processed within 5-7 business days. This is because we can process
the payment as soon as we determine item availability. Non-credit card orders take longer as we must notify you
of availability, and then wait for you to send payment.
Large orders take time to fill. If the items are coming from several different catalogs, this complicates the effort.
We make every effort to get orders, or notification in the case of non-credit card orders, processed in 4-7 days.
Physically large items may need to be sent via freight.
We are located in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Orders that qualify for regular postal service, going to destinations East
of the Mississippi river, tend to arrive in 3-5 business days. Delivery to other parts of the country, including Canada,
will take longer. Orders destined for overseas addresses (Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Alaska, Hawaii, South America, etc.)
can take up to 10 weeks for delivery if sent using surface transportation. Air mail may be used in most cases, but
the costs are quite high.
Payment Methods
What credit cards to you accept?
We accept VISA, MasterCard, Discover and American Express. We also accept checks and money orders.
Why can't I enter my credit card information on-line?
Our shopping cart does use a secure server. If you have placed an inquiry on an item via E-Mail,
and have decided to purchase it after receiving a response, you may order the item using the shopping cart
or call 301.926.8663.
Do you accept checks?
Yes, we accept personal, corporate, cashier's and travelers checks drawn on a US bank.
We also accept money orders. All prices listed on the site and quoted in availability inquiries are in US dollars.
Do you accept PayPal or BillPoint?
No. As we provide a secure server for placing orders, and are an authorized credit card processor,
we will not use other services.
Shipping, Returns and Damaged Shipments
How do you ship orders?
We ship all of our orders using the U.S. Postal Service. Over the years, we have found them to be the most
reliable and cost effective.
How much is shipping for my order?
Because each order is different, and subject to availability, we can't provide shipping costs on-line.
If, during the order process, you indicated that you will be paying by check or money order, we will
send you a confirmation E-Mail indicating what items are available and what the shipping and insurance
costs are. Please DO NOT send any payment until you receive a confirmation E-Mail from us.
If you are paying by credit card, we will ship your order and add appropriate shipping and insurance
costs to the final amount charge to your card. In the event of large or 'express' shipments, we will
charge your card for the amount of the order and then charge it a second time with the actual shipping
costs. When this happens, you will receive two invoices from us, one for the order and one for the
shipping costs. This is also true for many orders being shipped outside of the United States.
Does the shipping amount quoted reflect import taxes?
In short, No. You, as the buyer, are responsible for all federal, state and local sales and use taxes.
If the order is being sent to a destination outside of the United States, you are also responsible for
all import duties and taxes such as VAT in Europe.
I live in a non-U.S. location. When I picked up my package, I was questioned about the materials inside.
Please be aware that all shipments outside of the
United States require that we include a Customs Declaration with the shipment. We will accurately indicate
the contents of the package on the declaration form. In some cases, this may result in your package
being detained by Customs officials in your country. Americana Resources, Inc is not responsible for any
damages or costs associated with receiving items in non-U.S. locations. In addition, Americana Resources, Inc
will not re-imburse the client if any package is retained or damaged by local Customs officials in such
a manner as the item(s) ordered are not longer useable for the intended purpose.
Is my package insured?
We will automatically insure all orders over $25.00 that are going to a destination within the United States.
Orders totalling less thatn $25.00 may or may not be insured, depending on the item(s) purchased.
The United States Post Office will not provide insurance coverage options to many countries. In the event that
your order is being shipped to one of these areas, Americana Resources, Inc assumes no responisbility for
delivery. Clients that desire their order to be sent to such locations do so at their own risk.
I ordered some stuff and paid for it. But, I haven't received anything yet. What's up?
Receipt of your order may be delayed due to the method of shipment and/or destination address.
Most orders are sent insured. However, the U.S. Postal Service requires that 30 business days
elapse before an insurance claim will be accepted.
My order arrived, but I've changed my mind and want to return it.
If, for any reason, you would like to return your order, we must hear from you within 10 days. At that time,
we will give you instructions on how to proceed. Please do not return items without first getting
our approval.
My order arrived, but it was damaged. Now what?
If your order was insured, a claim can be filed with the carrier.
However, you must retain ALL original
packaging and paperwotk. If your package arrives and appears damaged, notify the carrier immediately.
If the package looks ok, but the merchandise is damaged, please contact us on how to proceed.
Other Services
I have a collection that I want to sell. Can you help?
We are no longer buying inventory.
I'm looking for something in particular. Can you let me know when you find it?
Sorry, but no. Having only 2 employees (1 full time and 1 part time), we can't operate a 'search'
service or maintain 'want lists'. Any requests that we receive (and we get several a day) asking us
to look for a particular item will no be answered.
Site Design
You say that the site is best viewed with NS6/IE5 or higher, but you don't use any of the new features.
We only make use of enough features to aid in the display or our site. We try to keep things viewable by the
maximum number of guests possible. We realize that not everyone has a high-speed connection to the Internet
and a super-fast machine on their desktop.
We DO not and WILL not use Flash objects. It's not that we can't or that our ISP doesn't support it. We feel
that from a useability point of view, using Flash lends nothing to the site and would prevent access to a large
number of guests.
Advertising on the Site
Do you accept advertising on your site?
No.
Where are our customers located?
Where have we shipped to?
We have customers located in the following countries around the world. Can we add yours?
Australia |
Canada |
Finland |
Germany |
Ireland |
Italy |
Japan |
Mexico |
Netherlands |
Portugal |
Scotland |
Singapore |
Spain |
Switzerland |
United Kingdom |
United States |
*Flag note: It you would like us to use an animated version of your national flag, it must be 68x50
pixels in size. You can either send it to us as an E-Mail attachment, or send us a URL where we can pick it up.
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