Our Policies

Your use of our website constitutes your agreement to our policies, terms and conditions of use.

Mission: It is our goal to ensure you are totally satisfied with each and every item you purchase from us, and to that end, the following are Spirit Rock Shop's operating procedures.

We are NOT professional geologists nor do we claim to be "experts" in the field of rocks and minerals. We are experienced rock hounds with over 35 years experience. We do the best we can. If you know something we don't or we have stated something incorrectly, we are happy to receive your input, just e-mail us at ncspiritrock@gmail.com

Rocks and Minerals are " Found " items and as such are not museum quality perfect. Specimens have naturally occurring flaws or faults due to the nature of each type of specimen. We will always try to describe the specimen accurately, including the natural faults, chips etc. We will never "over-describe" any item or present altered photos which hide imperfections or make the item look different than it does in real life. We may take some photos with the item "wet" to show color definition or what a polished appearance would be like. We will state in our description "Item Shown Wet" if we picture the specimen wet. In most cases photos are taken under natural sunlight or in our photo booth with "daylight" lamps. Some photos are taken with flash on to get an accurate photo.

Our fluorescent photos are taken under a 9W "Way too Cool" triple wave light SW/MW/LW (254/312/368 nm) with Hoya Filters. We photograph our specimens with a Nikon Coolpix L1 camera or a Nikon Coolpix L110. Unless listed with "Quantity Available", all items sold are "One of a Kind" and are not available in quantities of more than (1) one. If you order more than one each item not marked for multiple quantities, we will ship the one item and refund the difference.

In the unlikely event you are not satisfied with the item you purchase, a full refund will be issued (minus shipping costs) if you notify us by e-mail within 7 days of receipt (or attempted delivery) of the item. We will e-mail you a RETURN (RTS) AUTHORIZATION. Items must be returned in original condition and packaging. Failure to get a RETURN AUTHORIZATION will result in a 35% restocking fee. When we receive the item with a copy of the RETURN (RTS) AUTHORIZATION e-mail and the item is in the same condition as it was when we shipped it to you (not damaged, cut or altered) we will issue your refund within 30 working days via PayPal or by Spirit Rock Shop check depending upon how we received payment from you for your original purchase. We ship all items insured mail, we suggest you return them the same way. If the item being returned is damaged in shipment, we will not issue any refund. We will not accept any returns sent with shipping costs due (COD shipping). All sales of tools, lapidary equipment or Items that were sold with a discounted price and/or negotiated price reduction are Final...returns of these items will not be accepted. Items purchased from our Christmas or other offered Rebate Sales may be returned, rebate will be adjusted accordingly in refund.

In the event that we ship you the exact item that you ordered and you fail to accept delivery of the item and it is returned to us as "undeliverable" at the address you provided us the following is our policy. We will deduct the shipping costs as well as a 50% restocking fee for the item. You must request this refund within 10 days after the item is returned to us. We attempt to insure this does not occur by sending you the tracking number of your shipment so you can actually track your package and know when it will be delivered. Signature requirements are automatically added by our shipper for total Insured prices over $200.00.

ALL USA orders are normally shipped insured USPS Priority Mail. We automatically combine shipping for multiple purchases. Shipping charges are based on weight. Items that are too large or cost prohibitive for Priority Mail shipment will be sent UPS Ground. The USPS postal rate increase effective 01/26/2021 is what we currently pay. We have a small charge for packing materials, and delivering to US Post Office (30 minute round trip). We always include insurance in the shipping price. Your shipping costs will be weight and size based with insurance. Every item shipped is carefully packed. We normally ship an item within 2 days of payment clearing. (Personal checks or PayPal e-checks may take up to 12 days to clear) Holidays and weekends may extend the packing and shipping times, but we try to ship as quickly as possible. (we know you want it quickly!) We cannot be responsible for delays in delivery caused by USPS or delays caused by incorrect address information from purchaser. Please include correct mailing address with payment.

In the event of damage has occurred during shipping, save all original packing and boxes which will be required to be taken back to your Post Office along with broken item(s). Contact us immediately upon receipt of damaged merchandise. We will file the claim with the US Post Office and then ask you to return the item, and all packing to your local Post Office.

In the event that you do not receive your shipment contact us and we will check USPS tracking. If the Post Office loses or fails to deliver your package it will be covered by the insurance which we always purchase. If the Post Office tracking shows the package was delivered to the address you provided as your shipping address, our responsibility for your shipment is over. If you live in an area where packages are often stolen or "missing" after delivery let us know and we will ship your purchases with a signature required. We always will ship purchases over $200.00 Insured Priority Mail, Signature required.

Effective September 1st 2021 we no longer ship outside the United States or Canada. Please do not purchase items and ask for International shipping. In the event that you do make such purchases we will refund your payment minus processing and transaction fees which we must pay and are not refundable. Refunds will be held for up to 30 days to ensure payments have cleared before refund is issued. We are sorry to have to do this but we have lost too much money on unclaimed shipments which are returned to us three or four months after their initial delivery with shipping fees due and the contents destroyed. 

We accept Credit Cards or Checks through PayPal. You do not have to have a PayPal account to use PayPal for making your purchase. PayPal will allow you to make payment with your credit card. We have found PayPal to be the safest method of payment for both purchaser and seller! We will never see your credit card number. Basically, you pay PayPal, then they pay us.

Purchases made online will be honored based on "First Come...First Served" basis. It is possible for two or more purchasers to purchase an item before the item is marked "SOLD" and no longer available for purchase. In this event the purchaser who purchased the item first will be honored, and purchasers whose transactions occurred after the initial purchase will receive a full 100% refund via PayPal.

Money Orders or Cashiers Checks are also accepted. Please call or e-mail us your purchase item name and item # and we will "reserve" it until Money order or Cashiers check is received. We DO NOT accept payment by credit card over the phone. All credit card purchases must be made online at our website (or paying an invoice we send you) through PayPal. We will make verbal reservations for you by telephone and hold that On Reserve status for your purchase for ten (10) days. Please send mail orders and On Reserve payment to us at the address at the bottom of this page. Make checks payable to Spirit Rock Shop.

We do not charge sales tax on orders that are shipping outside the state of North Carolina. Sales tax for orders shipped within the state of North Carolina are at the prevailing rates, currently 6.75%.

We may have a Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday Rebate Sale every year. This sale runs from around mid-November through and including New Years Day. It includes all items from Spirit Rock Shop and Ernie's Rock Shop. The Sale works like this...If your purchase total is $150.00 or more you will receive a 5% rebate which we will refund to you within two business days after order is received. If your purchase total is over $300.00 your rebate will be 10% These purchase totals and rebate amounts exclude shipping and handling fees. Rebate refunds will be sent via PayPal or check depending upon your method of purchase.

Rebates are based upon a single total shopping cart purchase that adds up to the rebate qualifying amount. In other words, we do not add up several purchases over several days to reach rebate amount. We will however credit separate purchases made on the same day. There is no limit to the number or amount of rebates a customer may receive. Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Spirit Rock Shop and Ernie's Rock Shop. We hope you all have a really great year!

What information do we collect? We collect information from you when you place an order exclusively for processing and shipping your order. We will keep your name, address, e-mail address and items purchased and shipping costs for our accounting and tax purposes ONLY. This information will not be given out or used for any other purpose. We require the use of any payments made online to go through PayPal. We never see your credit, debit or checking account information…that is between PayPal and you. You may visit our site anonymously at any time, we do not track you. Your information, whether public or private, will not be sold, exchanged, transferred, or given to any other company for any reason whatsoever, without your consent, other than for the express purpose of delivering the purchased product or service requested.

To contact us about improving our website as we continually grow, we encourage our customers and visitors to send us feedback e-mail to ncspiritrock@gmail.com and let us know how your shopping and visiting experience may be improved or you can always tell us if you like our website.

We offer the use of PayPal's secure server. All supplied sensitive/credit information is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and then encrypted into our Payment gateway providers database only to be accessible by those authorized with special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. During and after a transaction, your private information such as credit cards, social security numbers, etc. is not seen by our site and will not be stored on our servers. We receive notification from PayPal that a payment has been received. We are given necessary information to complete shipment and e-mail customer as to status of purchase and shipment. We do not use cookies.

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information. This does not include trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others rights, property, or safety.

http://www.coppa.org/comply.htm

We are in compliance with the requirements of COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act), we do not collect any information from anyone under 13 years of age. Our website, products and services are all directed to people who are at least 13 years old or older.

By using our site, you consent to our privacy policy and other policies listed on this page.

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page and update the Privacy Policy date below.

This policy page was last modified on February 2, 2021

If there are any questions regarding this privacy / policy page you may contact us using the information below.
Spirit Rock Shop
6567 Silversteen Rd.
Lake Toxaway, NC 28747
ncspiritrock@gmail.com
828-989-8001

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