Ordering

About Our Plants

The majority of our plants are for a 2.5-4 inch pot size, though you may occasionally receive larger plants. Larger sizes of plants are often available and these will have a separate listing or will be noted by a 'b' following the regular item number (for BIG). Some plants are sold simply as rooted or unrooted cuttings, and these are denoted by 'urc'. Generally, prices reflect either the rarity of a given plant, the size, availability, or rate of growth. As our plants are in different stages of growth throughout the year, you may occasionally receive plants which are smaller than we would like. In these instances, we will either send multiples of the same plant, or a larger version of another plant in your order. Please be aware that some plants are of a naturally small size, even when mature, and plants of this type will of course be smaller. The original collection data is given where we have it.

These pages are updated frequently with new items. We generally do this about once a month, so check back occasionally to see what we've added.

As is often the case in plant taxonomy, many of the names used in this catalog are up for debate and have several competing synonyms. Generally, we sell plants under the names by which we receive them originally, excepting only those which are grossly outdated or simply wrong. These we change to the most commonly accepted name we can find, as this tends to help the collectors who are not up on the latest revisions in the nomenclature (we sometimes miss them ourselves).

Inquiries

We try our best to answer all of the questions we receive, but due to our busy schedule, it sometimes takes us a little while to respond. Please note that as all orders are processed in the order that we receive payment, and because we may have a fairly large stack of orders in queue, we cannot always answer questions related to the availability of a given plant. We do try to update this website at least once a month and the catalog listings are usually quite accurate. Inquiries may be sent to inquiry@shoalcreeksucculents.com.

Ordering

Your ordering options are:

1) Email us your order. We will confirm stock and send an invoice. order@shoalcreeksucculents.com

2) Fax us your order. Fax # 630 563 9066. Please include your email address, we will send a confirmation and an invoice.

3) Mail us your order, Shoal Creek Succulents, 8N655 Dittman Rd., Elgin, IL 60124. Please include your email address, we will send a confirmation and an invoice.

4) Phone in your order. 847-464-1494

Fax and Mail orders should include the following information:

*Shipping name and address
*Phone Number
*Order info including items, shipping amount, etc.
*Billing address
*Card type (Visa or Mastercard), with 3 digit security code, unless you choose to send payment.
*Name as it appears on card
*Card number(unless you are calling it in) or payment type
*Expiration date

Payments:We accept payment in the form of checks, money orders or credit cards (Visa or Mastercard).

Please note that credit card orders are charged at the time of ordering, after we confirm stock.

Heat packs:Orders are accepted year round, and 72 hour+ heat packs are available in the winter months. Heat packs can be used as long as your night time temps are above 15F and you're in the southern 2/3rds of the US. The button to add heat packs is in the shopping cart. Only one is necessary per order unless it's extremely large.

International Orders: Due to recent changes in the regulations regarding the issuance of phytosanitary certificates, we are no longer able to reliably provide this document. We do not sell plants internationally - but are investigating doing so in the near future. Pls email us to be notified when this option becomes available.

Refunds:If you are not completely satisfied with the plants you receive from us please return them immediately. Your money, plus return postage, will be refunded immediately. Lost or damaged items: As of Jan. 2005, we will be adding free insurance to all orders over $200. Optional insurance for orders below this amount will cost $1.65 (we will cover the additional fees). As plants are perishable, the post office will generally only accept claims for lost parcels. Damage by heat or cold is not covered, and general postal abuse is only covered if the box is badly damaged. We will no longer be held responsible for lost orders unless the customer has requested insurance, or if we have provided it ourselves. Please bear in mind that our loss rate is very small. We provide this service to help protect our clients (and ourselves).

We do everything in our power to insure that orders are well packed and able to withstand the rigors of travel, but occasionally plants have been known to arrive in a less than optimal condition. Damaged orders are assessed based on the items in question, the time of year, and the attitude of the customer. If you receive plants damaged in transit, we will usually replace them at no charge if a) the claim is relatively small, b) we are not short on stock, c) the damage was not due to heat or cold (we assume the customer will exercise good judgement about the time of ordering), and d) the customer is generally friendly and polite (this goes a Very long way with us). Since we have absolutely no control over the postal system or any damage it might inflict, we consider this policy to be very generous. Basically, our policy is this: If you're nice, we'll return the favor if we can. As we do not offer refunds on damaged plants, claims are limited to replacement of the items in question.

Shipping and Shipping Costs

Upon receipt of your payment, shipping generally takes between 1 day and 2 weeks, depending on the time of year (in spring it may take a little longer than normal). We will contact you if we think your order will take much longer. The majority of our plants are shipped unpotted or bare-root, but the more herbaceous plants and some of the caudiciforms are often shipped potted or packed in moist sphagnum. This is to retain moisture or to avoid damaging the developing caudex, respectively. All plants are shipped via USPS Priority Mail.

Shipping & handling costs are calculated by the shopping cart by a fairly complicated method, but the basic breakdown is as follows:

1 plant	5.65
2-5 plants	7.25
6-11 plants	9.35
12-17 plants	11.15
18-27 plants	13.25
28+ plants	15.15

Some especially heavy plants may incur extra shipping costs.

Shipping for international orders will be figured based on our shipping and handling costs.

Trading

We are firm believers in trading, and are always interested to hear what you have available. Keep in mind of course that we are a business and do try to turn a small profit on trades. Though especially with stapeliads, we're often willing to trade plant per plant if you have something we want. We're always interested in seed as well, even if only in small lots.

Substitutions

Occasionally, where availability issues arise, we may opt to send a substitution for a plant of which we are out of stock, and generally we try to send out the most closely related species we can. If substitutions are ok with you, but you have specific things in mind, please note these in the comment box in the shopping cart. If you do not wish to accept substitutions, simply select the 'no substitutions' option in the shopping cart, or let us know somewhere in your email or letter, as the case may be. For those who check this box, and who are paying by credit card- we will refund the excess amount directly to your card. For those paying by check or money order, we will issue you a credit slip for the amount in question. This can be redeemed at any time, but you MUST inform us of your intention to do so.

How secure is this website?

This website uses industry standard SSL security, and does not store your credit information at any time. Credit info is sent directly from the website to our credit card processing company via a secure server, and is never stored on the website or on our computer at the office.

Visiting Us

Customers are welcome to set up an appointment. Saturday appointments are preferred. Please give us a call or email a few days in advance to insure that we will be at the location during the time you wish to visit.

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