Shipping

We want you to be satisfied with everything you get from us, and a big part of that is getting every item to you in one piece. Here’s the fine print about our shipping process.

Standard Shipping within the Contiguous United States

If your order weighs up to five pounds when packed and labelled, and your delivery address is within the Lower 48, we have a range of USPS and UPS shipping options for different budgets and levels of urgency.

Our listed UPS options are Ground Saver, 3 Day Select, and Next Day Air Saver. For each of these options, if that UPS service is not available or another UPS service is expected to get your order to you sooner, we may choose that other service instead. For example, we may choose to ship your order by UPS 2nd Day Air in place of 3 Day Select. We will never, without getting your approval first, use a shipping service which is expected to be slower than the service you ordered, or charge you a higher shipping fee than you agreed to pay.

If you have special requirements, for example you want us to ship to you using FedEx, or you need a Signature Required or Saturday Delivery endorsement, you may request a custom shipping quote.

Standard Shipping to the rest of the US

If you want your order sent to Alaska, Hawaii, a US overseas territory or associated state, or a US military base served by the US postal network, our standard shipping offerings for orders up to five pounds when packed and labelled (or up to two pounds if you choose USPS Priority Mail or USPS Priority Mail Express) are through the US Postal Service only. UPS, FedEx, or other courier service options may be available as a custom shipping quote.

We do not offer USPS Ground Advantage as a standard option for packages expected to weigh more than one pound and sent to US military facilities in Canada or outside the Americas (ZIP codes starting with 09 or 962 to 966), as USPS Priority Mail is faster and more economical for delivery to these addresses.

Custom Shipping

If:

you want your order sent to a foreign country, or
you want your order shipped by courier to Alaska, Hawaii, an overseas US territory or associated state, or a US military base abroad, or
your order is expected to weigh more than five pounds when packed and labelled (or more than two pounds if you want your order shipped USPS Priority Mail Express to anywhere, or USPS Priority Mail to many destinations), or
you want same-day shipping (see below), or
you have special requirements such as Signature Required or Saturday Delivery,

we will need to do a custom shipping quote for you. Please select the “Custom shipping quote” option and our web site will guide you through the process.

International Customs Requirements

If you ask for your order to be shipped to an international destination, then except as otherwise agreed with us or required by Texas or United States law, you are, or the intended recipient is, responsible for paying all taxes, duties, and other import and delivery fees and charges levied on your order by the government or the in-country carrier at the destination. We are not responsible for any delivery delay or loss of or damage to any goods to the extent that the delay, loss or damage is caused by non-payment, or late or incomplete payment, of any such tax, duty, fee or charge.

With any international order, we will provide such description of the goods shipped and their value as is required of us by applicable law and by our contract with our chosen carrier.

You are responsible for ensuring that possession or importation of all items ordered is lawful at the intended destination. We do not have to give you a refund if you find out at any time, whether before or after you place and pay for your order, that any of the items you ordered must not be imported to or possessed at their destination, or if your order or any part of it is lawfully seized or destroyed by police or officials in the United States or in the destination country.

Shipping Times and Same Day Shipping

In general, orders where all items are in stock will be shipped out (handed over to the carrier) one or two business days after the order and payment are received. Exceptions include, but are not limited to, days when we are closed or are attending a trade fair, conference, or professional development. Orders to be shipped out the same business day must be received by 10:00 a.m. Central Time and paid for by 12:00 noon Central Time (after we have responded with a shipping quote based on using a high-priority shipping service such as UPS Next Day Air), and the “Custom shipping quote” option must be requested. We may not agree to same day shipping on any given order. If we do, an additional fee will be charged to cover a team member’s travel to and from a drop-off facility.

If you ask for same day shipping and we do not agree to that, we will let you know same day shipping is not available for your order and quote you a shipping rate based on our ordinary shipping timeframes and whatever other shipping requests you make that we agree to.

We do not ship orders out on weekends or on public or business holidays.

Local Pickup

You can request to pick your order up in person, or ask to have a family member, friend, or business (like a freight company hired by you) collect your order on your behalf. If you request a local pickup, title to the goods does not pass until you, or your agent, collect the goods.

Local pickups are by appointment only. Collection appointments will be between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Central Time, Monday to Friday, unless in exceptional circumstances, and depend on Mad Scientist Goods team availability.

The person picking up your order must be able to tell us your name and the order number to be collected. We do not verify the identities of people who collect orders.

We reserve the right to refuse a local pickup option on any order. We may exercise this right at any time before we hand over the goods, including while you are, or your agent is, on our premises to collect your order.

Once your order has been collected, risk in the goods passes to you, and we take no responsibility for loss of or damage to your goods while they are in transit. If you are having the goods collected by a freighting company or similar business, that company may offer an insurance option.

If you have requested a local pickup and:

we decide not to allow local pickup on that order, or
you don’t, or your agent doesn’t, make and keep a collection appointment with us, that appointment being within one week of you placing your order (unless we allow a longer collection window),

we will give you the option of paying for an appropriate shipping method other than Local Pickup. If in that case you do not, within a week, choose to have your order shipped to you and pay the shipping fee in full, we will make reasonable efforts to refund any money we have received in connection with that order, to the person or persons who paid us that money, for example by arranging for a refund to the card to which your order was charged, and we will return the goods you ordered to our stock.

Please note that, if you request a local pickup, we will collect Texas sales tax as if you intend to consume all your products at our address, as required by law. You are (or the recipient is) responsible for paying any sales or use taxes due on your order where it is consumed, less any credits your State or local government may issue in respect of sales and use tax collected by us on behalf of Texas authorities.