Shipping Schedule Effective May 6, 2013:

• Shipping Days are Monday through Friday
  
• Orders received before Noon (12:00 PM) Central Time will ship the same day.
  
• Orders received after Noon (12:00 PM) Central Time will ship the following shipping day.
  

As of 10/14/12, 10 Gram Samples of all non-clearance priced tea are once again available on the site. 

Please understand that each sample is packaged individually when ordered, so, in an effort to make rapid order fulfillment possible for all orders, a limit of 10 samples per customer order has been set.

Because of the structure of our inventory management system, we are unable to limit the number of sample purchases with our shopping cart system, so if an order is placed with more than 10 sample portions, we will automatically refund the full purchase price and mark the order as cancelled.

It is not my intention to impose an unreasonable restriction on anyone or anything, so please let me apologize in advance if this causes any inconvenience.  If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me directly at norbu@norbutea.com.

Thank you,

Greg

Important Notice: Effective October 13, 2012, the rewards points program is ending, and the shopping cart system will no longer automatically add points to user accounts with each purchase. 

Points that have been accumulated will still be honored for product purchases and/or shipping charges until November 13th, 2012. 

We are switching to a new website/shopping cart system sometime after this date, and existing points are not compatible with the new system. 

To avoid losing any of your accumulated rebate points, please use them before November 13th, 2012.

---------------------------------------

Terms:
All customers who purchased products from www.norbutea.com on or before October 13, 2012 were eligible to participate in the reward points program. Please remember that the system is automatic, and you must be registered and logged in before placing your order to redeem your reward points.

Redemption value of reward points:  20 points = USD $1 

Points can not be redeemed for cash and are only for use in purchases and/or shipping charges at www.norbutea.com. 

At this point, our operations are online only.  We do not have retail space for use by the public.  We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

As of May 3, 2012, direct Credit card payments via our website can only be accepted from the US and Canada.  All other delivery destinations will need to use PayPal from this point forward. 

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

US Orders:

US orders now have the option to ship via USPS Standard Post** (formerly known as Parcel Post), USPS First Class Mail, USPS Priority Mail or Express Mail.  USPS Mail Service Rates are based on total package weight (product PLUS packing materials), shape and/or distance from our physical location in Texas, and they are calculated through an automated interface with the United States Postal Service. Please see http://www.usps.com/prices/welcome.htm for rate information.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us via email at norbu@norbutea.com.

**Standard Post (FKA Parcel Post) Rates are quoted via our interface with the US Postal Service. $0.19 is automatically added to the quoted rate for Delivery Confirmation of all Parcel Post shipments.  Standard Post is available for parcels with a total shipping weight of 2.5 Lbs or more.

Important:  Please double-check that you have provided us with the correct shipping address!

If the address entered in our shipping system returns an error or can not be verified through our interface with the USPS, we will attempt to contact you via email to confirm/correct the shipping address before shipping. 

If our attempts to verify a customer's address are not answered within two business days, we may still ship your products to the address provided with the understanding that the parcel may be returned to us.  In the case of a parcel being returned to us because incorrect address information was provided, we will be happy to refund the customer's full purchase price minus shipping costs when we have actual physical possession of the shipment after it is returned to us by the postal service (a process which generally takes weeks, not days).  Of course, we are more than happy to re-ship to the customer at their expense, provided that they have confirmed/corrected their shipping address with us beforehand.

International Shipping Rates:
International shipping rates are calculated via our interface with the USPS International Shipping rate calculation API.  Rates are calculated based on product weight, size and country of destination.  Please see the country-specific postage prices and other mailing conditions listed on the US Postal Service website here:  http://pe.usps.com/text/Imm/immctry.htm

Update 08/10/12:  First Class Mail International is no longer a shipping option we are able to offer to our international customers.*  This service has been unreliable at best for shipments outside of North America, and we are no longer willing to accept the losses associated with shipping using any unregistered international service. We apologize for the inconvenience and increase in shipping costs.

*First Class International is still available to Canada for the time being.

The policies listed below are posted for reference on all outstanding First Class International shipments only:

No guarantees on precise time to delivery can be made by Norbu Tea Company, LLC. 

• First Class Mail International time to delivery varies greatly from country to country.  Please allow 4-6 weeks for all First Class Mail International shipments to arrive.  If your shipment does not arrive within a 6 week time-frame, we will investigate and rectify the situation.
• A delivery confirmation number will be provided, but will not be updated during transit.  This is a delivery confirmation number only, not a tracking number.
• Please see the country-specific postage prices and other mailing conditions listed on the US Postal Service website here:  http://pe.usps.com/text/Imm/immctry.htm

Available International Shipping Methods*:

Priority Mail International

• Expected delivery in 6-10 business days (varies by destination country)
• Country-specific maximum weight limits range from 22 pounds to 70 pounds
• Please see the country-specific postage prices and other mailing conditions listed on the US Postal Service website here:  http://pe.usps.com/text/Imm/immctry.htm
• Parcel tracking number will be provided upon shipment of your order.  Shipments can be tracked here:  https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction_input
  

Express Mail International

• Expected delivery in 3-5 business days (varies by destination country)
• Country-specific maximum weight limits range from 22 pounds to 70 pounds
• Please see the country-specific postage prices and other mailing conditions listed on the US Postal Service website here:  http://pe.usps.com/text/Imm/immctry.htm
• Parcel tracking number will be provided upon shipment of your order.  Shipments can be tracked here:  https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction_input

*Disclaimer: No guarantee of time to delivery or any other service provided by any shipping or mailing service used by Norbu Tea Company, LLC (the US Postal Service, FedEX, UPS or any other affiliated or non-affiliated company) is stated or implied by any verbiage or link presented on this website.  The information provided above is provided as a guide only and is subject to change at the discretion of the Shipping company (the US Postal Service, FedEX, UPS or any other affiliated or non-affiliated company).

We are NOT willing or able to mark your shipments with an non-truthful or artificially low product value or as a "Gift."  Please do not ask us to do this.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at norbu@norbutea.com.

We are no longer able to ship fragile or breakable items outside of the United States.  Despite our best efforts at careful packaging, we have been having immense problems with breakage in international shipments, so we have been forced to disallow all fragile (glass, ceramic, porcelain, etc) international shipments.  We apologize for the inconvenience.

Some countries impose customs duties and clearance fees on tea, tea ware and international parcels. We have no control over this and CAN NOT be held responsible for these fees. Please contact your local customs office regarding this matter if you are unsure of the fees you might be responsible for upon the arrival of your shipment.

Norbu is a word from the Tibetan language meaning "precious jewel."  It is a nickname given to me when traveling parts of the Old Tea Horse Road in the Dechen (Deqing) Tibetan Autonomous Region of Northern Yunnan.    

We are happy to accept E-Check payments via PayPal.  Please note that orders paid via E-Check will not be shipped until the E-Check clears (usually 3-5 business days).

If for any reason you are not satisfied with your purchase, you may return most unused items purchased at www.norbutea.com within 2 weeks of the original delivery. At this time we can only refund shipping costs if the return is due to an error on our part.  If the item is returned for any other reason you are responsible for the return shipping amount.  We will credit you in the same manner as your original payment within 7 days of receiving the returned item.

NOTE: All returned items must be unused and in their original condition when we receive them.  Please appropriately package your items (Gaiwan Lids should be upside down with the handle/knob inside of the cup, with a layer of padding placed between the cup and lid) and mark package "Fragile" if you are shipping glass, porcelain or other ceramic items.  If an authorized returned item is broken in transit due to improper packaging, we are not able to refund your original purchase price.  We strongly urge you to purchase insurance against breakage from USPS for all returned shipments.

The following items may not be returned:
-Opened loose or compressed teas which are not defective. Simply not liking the tea or item does not constitute a defect. 
-Teawares that have been used and are not defective are non-returnable.

Ship authorized returns to the following address:
Norbu Enterprises
PO BOX 800697
Dallas, TX 75380
USA

For questions regarding our return policy please contact us at norbu@norbutea.com.

A user account is required to post a review on norbutea.com, and all reviews are moderated & approved by the site admin prior to being posted to the site. 

We will approve all positive and negative product reviews that are posted to the site, provided that product reviews are objective, reasonably thorough and there is no profanity or any type of malicious code in the body of the review.  Please limit any reviews that you post to the specific product you are reviewing.  Reviews containing explicit references to other vendors or their products will not be approved. 

Examples:
Will not be approved:
"This tea rocks."
"I hate this tea."

Will be approved:
(excerpts from an actual review) "This tea rewards attention with a complex layering of the mild roastedness and floral tastes...There’s a lot to appreciate here."

If you have questions about our reviews policy, please do not hesitate to send us an email at norbu@norbutea.com.