​Dear Customer,
You may have read about problems in the supply chain.  Well, sadly one of the impacts is in package shipping.  Federal Express has just advised its customers that there will be no guaranteed deliveries until at least mid-January.  UPS has not sent us a formal statement like that, but their policy has been to deny guarantee claims for months now.  The Post Office has also recently decided to raise price while reducing service levels.  All of this has a huge impact on getting your holiday gifts to you in time for the holidays.
 
Please heed this warning….we want you to receive your gift purchase in a timely fashion….but achieving that requires early decisions from you.  Please plan to make your purchase by no later than the following:
For items weighing more than 50 pounds, please plan for 2-3 weeks for crating and shipment. 
For items weighing 20-50 pounds please plan for 10-14 days minimum required time for boxing and shipment.  The closer we get to the holidays the longer the required time period will become.
For items weighing under 20 pounds, if you are willing to accept a shipment that is not insured against breakage, we can pack and ship that to you in 7-10 days.  If you choose to have insurance against breakage…… timing need will be 10-14 days as above.
We would like to continue to meet your expectations for great customer service as well as our outstanding assortment of natural art products. Please help us by shopping early.

Please check for our new arrivals on our website and in our three gallery locations. As always, thank you for shopping with us as we continue to shop the world to bring you the most fascinating and unique products produced by Mother Nature herself.

Kind regards,
Joe Wilhelm
Owner Touchstone Gallery

Fine Print:
Our terms of sale are FOB shipping point.  This means ownership transfers to you when the shipment is made.  We make every effort to ensure that your purchase is safely packed and delivered through a reliable shipping partner.  All that said, there are occasional damages and/or other problems that arise during shipping.  For that reason we insure your purchase AND we lend every bit of assistance to getting your damage claim processed and paid out in a timely fashion.  It also means we need you to share photographs and commentary, plus save the damaged package and contents until the shipping company releases it for destruction, or comes and inspects it for their claims processing.  In the case of the Post Office, they sometimes require that the damaged package and contents are dropped off at one of their locations.  If you choose to not help in these industry standard ways, then any resulting loss is (sadly) for your account.  We use large shipping companies like UPS, FedEx and the US Postal Service.  They do not make any rules exceptions for Touchstone and they follow strict rules and procedures in everything they do.  During this pandemic period, they refuse to guarantee the exact date of deliveries no matter how much we pay.  We hope you appreciate that the gazillion dollar companies carrying your package are not truly manageable by Touchstone Gallery.
 
Happy Holidays from Touchstone Gallery.  If you are still looking for a gift you can carry out of our galleries in time for holiday gift giving traditions, we encourage you to visit or call one of our gallery locations.  We do have several categories of items below $125 in purchase price that are on a promotional offer.
 
Sedona Galley call: 928-204-4405
Santa Fe Gallery call: 505-984-1682 
Taos call: 575-737-5001



Touchstone Gallery Shipping Policy

1. We Ship Both Domestically and Internationally.  We are not duty and cultural law experts, so international customers are responsible for any import duties required in their respective countries. Our international customers are also responsible for ensuring that importing our products are not regulated by their respective national laws. In some cases countries regulate the import of fossils which our international customers should consider before placing an order. For large value international orders, our customers are advised to consider retaining an import broker who is familiar with the respective country’s import laws and duties structures. 
   
   
2. Order Processing.  We process and deliver orders Monday through Friday. At this time we do not offer shipping or deliveries on weekends or holidays. 
   
   
3. We charge for shipping equal to our costs.  We will organize crating or packaging, shipping and insurance on any of the products offered on our website. Many of our products require special crating to protect the products from the shipping process. In many cases the products are physically heavy and as a result we recommend that our customers consider the somewhat higher cost of “white glove” service where our shipping partners uncrate the piece and place it inside of your home or office. We charge for these services in order to recover our costs and to ensure that our standard retail prices can be as low and fair as possible. Many shipping related costs vary based on your location and the exact kind of delivery service requested. To keep the costs of these services as low as possible, many of the physically large pieces have descriptions that ask you to contact us with your shipping details so that we can find the lowest cost solution that meets your needs. 
   
   
4. Limited Items Ship Free.  For a few of our small, easily packaged products, we offer free shipping and insurance. In these cases we will always choose the lowest cost shipping service that will safely deliver your purchase to you. For international shipments most of the time this means we will use the US Post Office and its respective postal partner in the country of delivery. The Postal Service does a great job of securely delivering your purchase, but it often takes a longer time period to finish delivery. If you need faster delivery on these items please contact us to make appropriate arrangements. 
   
   
5. We Ship as Quickly as Circumstances Allow.  We only offer items for sale that we have in our inventory. As a result we ship as quickly as the crating and packaging process allows. Almost always this means the product will ship 1-4 days after you place your order. If crating or packaging will take longer than that we will advise you by email to the address you provide upon making an order. 
   
   
6. For Parcel Shipments.  For small and medium sized parcels we use the US Post Office’s “If It Fits It Ships” service, First Class Mail, United Parcel Services or Fed Ex Ground services depending on who gives the best service at the lowest price. 
   
   
7. For Large Item Shipments.  For large and very heavy items we use specialty crating and shipping partners. These shipments generally travel by truck freight and as a consequence it can take a week to ten days to receive these types of products domestically. These kinds of products ordinarily travel by ship to international destinations, so transit times are highly variable, but almost always more than a month. 
   
   
8. Expedited Delivery.  As a very small business with unusually shaped products, we do not routinely offer overnight delivery services. If you are interested in rapid delivery of a large value order (greater than $500) please contact us and we will endeavor to meet your needs. 
   
   
9. Email Notification.  We will notify you by email when your purchase ships. We will charge your credit card at the time of shipment. Your order may be delayed if your billing and shipping addresses vary so that we can ensure the security of your credit card information.