Terms and Conditions

Below please find our terms and conditions for your purchasing from Crystal Palace Gems & Minerals ONLINE STORE. We will refer to ourselves as “Crystal Palace”, “the store”, “ONLINE STORE”, “our” or “we”. These terms collectively affect all categories of products available on this website. The customer will be refered to as “patrons”, “purchasers”, “your” or “you”.

By purchasing from our ONLINE STORE, you agree that you have fully reviewed the information provided here and on the product page to the best of your abilities. Crystal Palace will note in the product description if the individual product being sold has qualities that the product image does not emphasize clearly, for example, a natural crevice on one side of a mineral stone that some customers may not value.

Store Policy

Crystal Palace strives to provide its customers with quality natural gems and minerals, as well as unique specimens of same. We value patronage and respect each individual’s use(s) of our products once it has been purchased. For these reasons, we will, to the best of our abilities, provide the most accurate, up-to-date information on our products either on the its product description or our online encyclopedia.

Physical mineral properties such as colouration, inclusions, or crevices are considered to occur naturally and may not be reflected in the pricing. If we feel the natural variations in gems and minerals may affect the patron’s decisions, it will be duly noted on the product description to the best of our abilities. For details please read our Refund Policy in the following paragraphs.

We currently only ship within Canada only. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Payment Options

• We only accept PayPal as our method of online payment
• We reserve the right to cancel an order at any time

Crystal Palace has designated “PayPal” as the ONLINE STORE’s secure online payment method. The purchaser is not required to have a PayPal account in order to make a purchase but must agree to be 18 years of age or older, and be able to provide valid credit card information through this service. Crystal Palace is not responsible for any misinformation the customer provides.

We reserve the right to cancel an order at any time due to low stock, change in price, change in product description, or similar. If the order has already been placed, or if the customer’s payment has already transpired, we will refund the amount paid in full.

Shipping Information

We only ship products via Canada Post’s regular parcel service. Depending on your location, it may take up to nine (9) days for customers to recieve their package(s) after the order has been processed (which is forty-eight (48) hours after the order has been placed through out website). Please refer to the Canada Post Delivery Standards Guide. Products will be shipped from our warehouse located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

After placing your order on our website, we will process and send out your package within forty-eight (48) hours.

Exchange Policy

• Toronto: Exchange only within 7 days of the post-marked package by Canada Post regular parcel service
• Ontario: Exchange only within 10 days of the post-marked package by Canada Post regular parcel service
• Canada: Exchange only within 14 days of the post-marked package by Canada Post regular parcel service
• For hygenic reasons, earrings may only be exchanged if left in its original, sealed clear box packaging.

Due to the nature of natural gems and minerals, the ONLINE STORE only offers exchange for a similar product (for example, jewelery may only be exchanged for other jewelery) of equal or lesser value within a short period after the purchase has been mailed out. For hygenic reasons, earrings may not be exchanged nor refunded.

We only allow exchange if the customer returns their purchase within 7 days of the post-marked package if delivered within Toronto (local), 10 days if within Ontario (regional), and 14 days for within Canada (national). For example, if you live in Toronto and we ship your purchase out on January 1, based on regular Canada Post parcel service, you should recieve the package within 2 days. You then have until January 8 to send the package back by return mail should an exchange be deemed necessary. The purchaser is responsible for paying for the cost of the return package.

Refund Policy

We offer full refunds on a purchase only if the customer has a registered PayPal account (signing up is free, please refer to Paypal Money Transfer Services), resides within Canada, has followed the steps required for refund in the paragraphs below, and:

• if the product recieved is broken upon recieval of package;
• if the product recieved is largely misrepresented on the store’s product description; or
• if the product had been sold out and was not reflected on the website. We will contact you via e-mail if this is the case and issue the refund.

Any naturalities in the gemstone or mineral rock that may not be accurately reflected in the product image will be duly noted in the product description, to the best of our abilities. If the product recieved by the customer appears significantly different than that mentioned on the original product description, customers may return the product to us in its original sealed packaging. We only use clear box or bag packaging, as such if any large discrepancies are found on the product, it can be returned without being opened.

Steps for refund of purchase:

1. Recieve package and inspect your purchase through the sealed clear box or bag packaging.

2. If discrepancies are found ie. product is broken or largely inaccurate to that of the product description, send an e-mail to staff [at] crystal-palaces.com (replace ‘[at]‘ with the @ symbol) with the following:

• The e-mail address of your PayPal account; and
• The date you recieved the product.

3. After sending the e-mail, send the product to us by return mail. Please allow up to 2 weeks for processing. Once we have recieved the return package, we will notify you by e-mail the amount to be refunded, which will include the postage paid for returning the package to us. You will then recieve the amount in full in the PayPal account designated in your e-mail in Step 2.

Privacy Policy

To help our customers feel secure when shopping at our ONLINE STORE, this section will describe our privacy policy practices for the collection and use of your personal information. Personal information is information you have given through our website, whether by e-mail or through the store’s checkout page, that identifies you as an individual. This includes:

• Contact information such as your name, mailing address, telephone number, and e-mail; and
• Transaction information such as credit card number, amount and the type(s) of product(s) purchased.

Crystal Palace will only use your personal information for business or statistical purposes to complete your online requests (including purchasing a product at our ONLINE STORE or addressing questions or comments about our service) or to expand our market, respectively.

When browsing our website, users remain anonymous unless they participate in our other services such as purchasing through our ONLINE STORE, in which contact and transaction information will be given to Crystal Palace, with the purchaser’s consent.

We are always looking to improve our services for customers, and therefore this page will be continuously revised and added upon to reflect new changes without notice.

Last Revised January 12, 2011 at 9:33pm GMT -5