Shipping & Returns

Order Inquiry

If you are trying to find out information about an order you placed on our website, including tracking info and order status, please send an email to:

- Order Number 

- First and Last Name 

This information will allow our customer support representatives to locate your order as fast as possible. 

For all other questions regarding general product information, please direct emails to sales@gardeningzone.com 

Pricing

Rates for shipping are set by FedEx, UPS, and USPS. Live beneficial insects CANNOT be shipped USPS or ground and therefore should not be considered. This limits the shipping of live beneficial insects to Second Day Air or Overnight shipping and is not negotiable due to the nature of the product. Choosing the wrong shipping method does not guarantee live delivery. Longer transit times and rising temperatures will kill the insects during shipment. Many different factors are involved in determining this decision including customer location, day of shipping, and the contents of your shipment. We have researched this thoroughly and using this information have created a system in co ordinance with Fedex, USPS, UPS, State, and Federal laws and ordinances that helps us pick the best carrier and shipping method available to you so that you receive your package fast and with the best service. 

Shipping Schedule

We are located in California and are in the Pacific Time Zone. For all 2nd Day shipments, orders must be placed before 12:00 PM Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday to be received the same week otherwise your package will ship the following Monday. For all overnight shipments, orders placed Thursday – Sunday will be shipped the following Monday. We do not schedule Saturday deliveries. The reason behind this schedule is that postal carriers will leave your package in a warehouse over the weekend which will ultimately harm or kill your insects altogether. We want you to receive your insects alive and ready to take action, and this schedule achieves this. if you placed your order with the incorrect shipping on accident, you may call our offices at (805)445-9981 to perform a shipping upgrade but please be aware that this must be done BEFORE YOUR ORDER HAS SHIPPED.

Processing

Please allow 1 -2 days to process your order. While every effort will be made to expedite Next Day and 2nd Day shipments, we cannot guarantee same day order processing. Tracking information for UPS and Fed Ex deliveries will automatically be sent to you if and when that information is available. 

Packaging

Some of these items must be kept cold during shipment and therefore are shipped using an ice pak (unless climate is such that it is not required). These ice paks are NOT dry ice and therefore do not expect these ice paks to retain size and shape through the duration of their shipping. These paks are meant to simply keep the temperatures inside the package from climbing above their allowed limit as to preserve the life and quality of your insects. Additionally we may also include a Styrofoam box inside the packaging to keep a safe environment for your valuable organisms. 

Out of Stock Items

Please note that while we make our best attempt to keep all of our products in stock, Nature sometimes thinks differently! We need to work with the natural reproductive cycles of living organisms, which means that on occasion your order will be delayed. In such a case, we will make our best attempt to send your order as soon as possible, or notify you through email or phone if there will be a significant delay. 

Return Policy

Our customers’ happiness is one of our most important driving factors to success. If you have received an item that is damaged, defective or incorrect, please contact us within 5 working business days of when you received your shipment to schedule a return. We cannot accept the return of live insects, however we can issue a reship if you contact customer support. One of our agents will assist you in analyzing common problems associated with receiving dead insects that include temperature, postal carrier mishandling, and receiving a wrong product. We will then advise on how to avoid receiving dead bugs again when we reship. 

Please note that while we will happily replace packages that have been damaged, incorrect, or lost, we are not responsible for dead insects in the following situations. The situations listed below are exceptions that ARE NOT covered under our live insect/returns policy and for all orders that require a refund with the below exceptions, a 20% restocking fee will be withheld from the total amount of your order and a 50% restocking fee if the items are not in the same condition as they were sent:

1. Customer's inability to receive the shipment in a timely fashion after delivery. If a customer is not home to accept the package when it is delivered, it is either taken back to the post office or left exposed to the elements in your yard or mailbox and this will cause stress to the insects, potentially resulting in insect death. Make sure that when you place an order you arrange a convenient time to be home to accept the shipment when it is delivered. We provide tracking information on all shipped orders so that the customer can be aware of when they should be expecting their order. Do not place an order you do not think you will be home to accept as we will not replace packages that die out of customer negligence.

2. Customer selecting the incorrect shipping method for live insects: For all live insects, special shipping requirements are necessary ESPECIALLY during the hot summer season. We encourage our customers to select FedEx 2day or Overnight shipping for these items in order to be covered by our live delivery policy. Although the shipping costs are cheaper, the transit times for ground are much longer and can cause all sorts of problems. Selecting USPS or FedEx ground for shipping on any live insects nullifies the live delivery policy and should be used at your own discretion and risk. This information can also be viewed on each applicable product page as well as a large warning image towards the end of the checkout process.

3. Customer input the incorrect shipping information: If the customer contacts our help line BEFORE their package has been shipped to correct an address error we will be able to perform this change for you so that you can receive your order. However, if the customer input incorrect information and it was not discovered until after our shipper has attempted delivery then this is not covered in our policies. If your order requires special shipping requirements, such as a preferred delivery date or if you cannot accept USPS/FedEx packages, then you *MUST* note this information on your order in the "note" or "comment" section during checkout. Make sure you enter your shipping details EXACTLY as they would appear according to the USPS shipping code which is as follows:

FIRST NAME LAST NAME
STREET ADDRESS
APT #, STE #, BUILDING #, or other note goes on this line
CITY STATE ZIPCODE

Adding any additional information not in the order shown above will result in errors during the shipping process.

4. Customer did not follow the instructions included with the shipped item: All of our items including our beneficial insects are shipped with detailed instructions on proper use. These instructions are not guidelines -- they are mandatory instructions. Failure to follow the printed instructions or using a product other than for its intended uses will result in unsatisfactory results. Each case of unsatisfactory results are unique, therefore a customer service agent will help assess if the instructions were followed before any further actions can be taken on a claim.