Safe & Secure Shipping

Step 3 is the one that surprises people. Because payment is arranged outside the website, the clock on preparation does not start when you place the order — it starts when the payment is verified.

We ship only to countries and markets currently enabled by the store administrator and shown in the storefront market selector. Product availability, pricing, and delivery support can all vary by destination, so a product listed for one market may not be available in another.

Choosing your market before you browse is worth the two seconds: it sets the currency, the shipping charge, the free-shipping threshold, and whether duties-paid pricing applies.

The storefront does not collect an online card payment when an order is placed. There is no card field in checkout, and no card details are stored by this website. Follow the offline payment instructions provided with your order, and keep any reference the payment produces — it is what lets us match the payment to your order quickly.

Preparation and dispatch begin after our team independently verifies that payment and records it. Until then the order sits waiting, so if you have paid and heard nothing, tell us and include the payment reference.

The current standard shipping charge and the free-shipping threshold are shown in the currency for the selected market. Checkout applies the configured charge automatically, based on the qualifying item total after any discount — so a discount that takes an order below the threshold will also remove free shipping, and the order summary will show that before you confirm.

Standard Shipping is the only delivery method currently offered at checkout. There is no express option, and the estimate below applies to every order. Please review the order summary before placing the order.

Where the storefront labels pricing as duties-paid for the selected market, applicable import duties are already included in the displayed price, and no additional import duty is collected at delivery. That is the point of the label: the price you see is the price you pay, and nobody arrives at your door asking for more.

Where a market is not labelled that way, any charge raised by the destination country's authorities is separate from what you paid us and is not something we control or collect. If you are unsure which applies to your market, ask us before ordering.

Typical delivery is estimated at 15–20 days after dispatch. This is an estimate drawn from ordinary conditions, not a guarantee, and international routes are genuinely variable.

A stretch of tracking with no updates is normal on a long route. Scans are added at checkpoints, and there can be a long gap between one checkpoint and the next.

• Home and work addresses are both fine. A work address is often the better choice if a signature may be needed.
• PO Box and military addresses can be used only where the delivery service supports them for that destination.
• Include an apartment or unit number, a building name, and a postal code. A missing unit number is a common cause of failed delivery.
• Give a phone number that reaches you — some carriers call or message before attempting delivery.

Check the address on the order summary before you confirm. If you spot a mistake afterwards, tell us straight away: before dispatch we can usually correct it, and after dispatch we usually cannot.

Orders are packed in plain, discreet outer packaging wherever practical. The outside of the parcel does not describe its contents. Customs documentation, however, is a legal requirement and must describe what is inside — that part is not something we can make discreet. The three parcel formats, and what is printed on the outside of each, are shown on package & packets.

Items are packed to survive an international journey, but if a parcel does arrive damaged, photograph the outer packaging as well as the item before unpacking further. Those photographs are what let us resolve a damage claim quickly.

When tracking is available it is sent by email after dispatch, and a tracking link also appears on the order in your account, so you do not have to keep the email. Some deliveries require a signature, or are held at a local depot or post office for collection — the carrier's notice will say which.

If tracking has not moved for a long period, or shows a delivery you did not receive, contact us with the order number and we will investigate with the carrier. The timing windows for reporting a delayed or missing parcel are set out in the return and refund policy.

A parcel that cannot be delivered is usually held for collection for a period and then returned to sender. If that happens we will contact you to confirm the address and arrange a reshipment; a further shipping charge may apply where the original address was incorrect or the parcel was not collected. Where an order cannot be reshipped, the return and refund policy sets out what happens next.

We collect only the customer and order information reasonably needed to provide the store, arrange delivery, communicate updates, and provide support. The website does not request online card details for this offline-payment order flow, so there are no card numbers held here to protect in the first place.

Delivery providers receive the name, address, and contact details needed to complete the delivery, and nothing more. How the rest is handled, kept, and deleted is set out in the privacy policy.

For help with a shipment, email care@essentialmedicine.store with your order number, or use Contact & support. Include the tracking reference if you have one — it saves a round trip.