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How to Purchase from Tools-n-Gizmos
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Basic Information:
 This is an online store - you order and pay online.
The posted quantity of surplus parts in stock is correct (and ready to ship).
Call if you need more than the quantity posted - I may have more in process.
It is possible that factory "Std Stock Items" come up short of your order.
 If this happens I will contact you immediatly with your options, including immediate refund, BackOrder or ??/.
No minimum order requirements.
Shipping is automatically calculated based on Zip Code and Weight for the shipping method you select during CheckOut
See My bias on shipping methods
I ship same or next working day.
 I normally ship same day for orders placed before 2 p.m. Pacific Time
Washington State sales tax will be added for all Washington State shipping addresses.
If you have a Washington State Tax Registration/UBI number and the purchase qualifies for tax exemption,
complete the order as is and contact me for instructions on getting a refund of the Sales Tax.
Once I have your Reseller Permit on file, all it takes is an email reminder and you get instant refund of the Sales Tax.
Order Process Overview:
Add items to Cart. 
Go to Checkout. 
Input Shipping info. and Verify Order. 
Approve Order. 
Make Payment via Super Secure PayPal site. (PayPal account not required)
I ship same or next working day.
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Detailed order process:
Input quantity to order in White Box.
Note: It is important that you do not input a number greater than the "In Stock" number.
Contact me if you need more than the "In Stock" quantity.
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Click
When ready, click  or
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Change order quantity if necessary.
To remove items from the cart: Click  ,
Select items to Remove,
Click again.
To modify item quantity: Click  ,
Change number in Qty column,
Click again.
To purchase other items: Click  ,
or
Click  .
Note: if you use your browser "Back" function after making changes you will be displaying old screens that
may not reflect the changes you made. It's best to move forward not back.
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CheckOut:
On the Checkout page you enter your contact and shipping information.
(none of your financial info is asked for - all of that is done later on a Super Secure PayPal page).
Note: to check shipping cost all you need do is enter zip and click Verify.
Click and verify info is correct with no red error messages.
Payment:
After you have provided and verified the contact and shipping information,
Click and you will be taken to the following Super Secure PayPal screen
Note: PayPal keeps changing the layout of this screen, so what you see will most likely be different,
but the key functions will be present (a way to login to your account and a way to pay via credit card
without a PayPal account)
To pay via Credit Card click  on the left side of the screen
Note: when using Credit Card it is required that you provide the "exact actual" billing address for the card
and the "exact actual" name on the card.
To pay via your PayPal account - login on the right side of the screen
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International Orders:
If shipping outside the USA, you can't complete the order on-line because the software can't
automatically compute shipping outside the USA.
Fill the shopping cart with everything you want.
Email me all the shopping cart info (Qty, Item#, description, etc.) for each item you want.
Also include all the checkout page information (Name, Phone, Email, Complete shipping address, etc.)
I will get back to you with your shipping cost options
(I charge actual shipping + insurance + $5 or $10 for the customs paper work hassle)
If you approve and wish to complete the purchase, I will invoice you via PayPal.
You will receive an email with a link in it that will take you to the same screen as above.
You can pay by Credit Card or log into a PayPal account to pay.
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My bias on shipping methods:
I ship via the method you select during checkout.
I prefer USPS priority mail.
I do not offer Fed-Ex as a shipping option.
I do not normally offer USPS Express Mail because it requires an extra 16 mile round trip in the wrong
direction and at the wrong time of day for me.
Recently I've had serious problems with UPS. See my Rant on UPS.
UPS Saturday delivery costs extra. If you order on Friday and select UPS Next Day Air (1DA), the UPS software
shipping quote does not include the special fee for Saturday delivery so you will get it on Monday. If you want
UPS Saturday delivery, please contact me so we can figure out the actual shipping cost for Saturday delivery.
USPS Priority Mail is just as fast as UPS 2nd Day Air and a lot cheaper.
I have made several test shipments to California, Midwest and East Coast and in each case
the "USPS Priority Mail" package arrived within an hour of the "UPS 2nd Day Air" package.
Granted, Priority Mail is not guaranteed 2nd Day delivery as is UPS 2nd Day Air.
But the UPS guarantee is next to worthless. See my Rant on UPS.
In some situations USPS will not leave packages at your unattended door and will take them back
to the local post office for later delivery or pickup. UPS will generally leave packages at your unattended door.
If you select USPS Priority Mail, my Policy is to use USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes whenever possible.
In no case will you be charged more than the amount of shipping you approved during CheckOut
If the savings (regular PM vs. PM Flat Rate Box) is small (a few bucks) I keep the difference.
If the savings (regular PM vs. PM Flat Rate Box) is significant I refund the difference (less a few bucks) to you.
The excess shipping refund is a manual process that relies on me catching the difference during my
bookkeeping process, If I miss it (which has happened), please remind me.
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my Rant on UPS:(mid 2010)
I've never had a problem with any of my US Postal Service shipments (that I know of).
Until last year I never had a problem with any of my UPS shipments.
In the last 12 months, I've had 3 UPS packages left on the wrong doorstep (over 2 miles from the correct address)
and 2 Next Day Air (1DA) packages delivered a day late.
The major problem I have with UPS is embodied in the following incident:
On 12/7/2009 I busted my butt getting out a rush order for a customer in Michigan. The customer needed the parts
the next morning and paid $57.83 for UPS Next Day Air. I made it to my local UPS store with time to spare.
But the parts arrived a full day late in Michigan. I contacted the UPS store owner (JR*) and he assured me
that the package got on the UPS truck to the local UPS distribution center in time (and had scans to prove it).
JR contacted the Arlington UPS distribution center manager and was told that the delay was the UPS distribution
center's fault and that they would back me up in a claim against UPS for failure to deliver on time. I called UPS
to file a Guaranteed Service Refund claim for the difference between Next Day Air and 2nd Day Air (approx.
$30 difference) so I could at least get that back for my customer. After some hassle with an underling I spoke to
UPS Customer Service Supervisor, DG*. I was informed by DG that I could not file a claim because
a Midwest weather alert was in effect on the 8th of December. He flat stated that even though the weather did not
cause the delivery delay, and even if the delay was caused by a UPS error on the other side of the country,
the existence of the Midwest weather alert invalidates any and all claims for Guaranteed Service Refund.
This is not the type of operation that I wish to do business with if I can avoid it.
* Names and Phone numbers withheld to protect the guilty (at the insistence of
SWMBO).
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