*This supersedes the shipping chart above in the listing.

If you want combined shipping PLEASE email us,
BEFORE PAYING.

Ebay's shipping calculator does not work correctly. 

NEW POSTAL RATES AS OF 01-17-2016  These are guidelines.

*Canada ($1usd = +/- 1.45cad)
**Worldwide $1usd = +/-1.08 euros ( exchange rates change hourly)

NEW INTERNATIONAL USPS First Class Rates – First class (not a true or good name) takes 60 to 90 DAYS to get to you, MINIMUM.  I do not care what eBay says, They are WRONG.  This is a new service from the US post office USPS and a real bad idea.  Yes it takes 60 – 90 days!!!  No there is nothing I can do to speed that up.  IF you want faster delivery, please chose USPS Priority shipping.  However if you insist on the lowest price, we reluctantly offer it…  IF YOU chose this First Class service, I do not want any emails asking, “where is my package.”  Sorry to sound like a grump, but you need the truth to make an informed decision.

*Anything larger than 4 pounds has to ship Priority Mail.  Box and packing add at least 50% to item weight.

If you want combined shipping PLEASE email us,
BEFORE PAYING.

International shipping - There are over 200 countries in the world.  The USPS has a different rate for each country.  So for a $10 item, we would have to do 200 different shipping entries for each item, which is ridiculous.  It would take us 2 days just to calculate shipping on one $10 item. 

Luckily the USPS has Flat Rate Shipping Boxes.  Motto - "IF it fits, it ships." Great for shipping heavy rocks around the world.  Sizes and prices are in the chart above.  Yes I know that it may seem high sometimes, however we have to assume that it goes to the most expensive country.  And more importantly in the Flat Rate Box.   You may go to USPS and verify these prices.  That is what they charge....  We make no money on shipping, in fact it cost us money sometimes....

EXACT International Shipping to your country - We will be more than happy to give you an "actual" shipping price for the exact item to your country.  Just email us thru ebay.  Remember to include the 4 or 6 digit item number in the title.  "And the country you live in".  EBay does not tell us, where you live.  We will be happy to give you the actual shipping.  So you may make an "informed decision" before buying.  We would like to save you some money.  We don't want you to pay anymore than you have to....

It is usually cheaper in the Flat Rate Box, but not always.  The USPS charges by size AND weight in regular boxes.  So light items and smaller items can save you money sometimes.  Why not simply ask?

International shipping Customs – shipping can take 21 to 30 days MINIMUM with USPS Priority. New First Class International takes 60 – 90 days.   Your country's customs can keep and inspect packages as long as they darn well like.  And they do sometimes.  We CANNOT do anything about that. 

Canadian customers - we no longer ship United Parcel Service - UPS.  Yes initially UPS is slightly cheaper, however we have had terrible problems with UPS making customers get a customs broker.  This has cost the customer over $100 extra.  On two other occasions they have sent back packages, because the address was street instead of drive (the customer inputs the address, not us).   So we no longer will ship UPS.  For some reason the US postal service does not do all this.

Combined shipping - You can save quite a bit by buying several items and shipping them together (in a flat rate box).  So send us a list.  We will give you our best price AND the actual shipping. 

MULTIPLE ITEMS – We can save you a lot of money on shipping by starting you a box.  Ebay requires that we ship within 24 hours after you pay.  However we can start you a flat rate box, as long as you don’t pay.  Ebay does not get the idea that you want to save money on shipping. So what we do is send you a ‘special invoice’ with your first item.  I charge you the full shipping amount and mark it “local pickup”, just to get eBay off our backs.  I know you will not be crossing the ocean to pick it up.  This will bypass eBay’s stupid rules.  With over 13,000 transactions and over 4,000 positive feedback, I am not a jerk.  Just trying to save you money on shipping multiple items in one box.

Tracking- go to USPS d o t  c o m.  Insert the tracking number in the top left of the website.  This will show you every stop your box makes.  Some English speaking countries continue the tracking in your country, some do not.  That is up to your country, NOT the USPS or myself.  You MAY be able to use ‘the tracking number’ to track it in your countries postal website.  However many countries, do not offer this service.

Your address - Please, Please make sure that your address is correct in paypal and in ebay.  They are two separate companies now.  We have no idea of where you live.  Nor of your address.  We now have 8 returned international shipments for wrong addresses: France (though he put Belgium in the address.  He should know what country he lives in.), 2 for Spain, Italy, UK, another France, Singapore and Dubai.  These all were returned by the home country post office, not USPS.  Some come back in 45 days.  One took 2 years, not kidding.  So we cannot refund any money until we get the item back.  We do not have any control over your local post office and your customs.  Your customs office can hold your package as long as they darn well please.  In addition, if we send it back out, you will have to pay the postage again....
So PLEASE make sure your address is Correct.

Room in the box - For simplicity sake we have gone to 4 box sizes.  You need to add a minimum 1" (2.5cm) to EACH side of ALL minerals for bubblewrap.    1"inch bubblewrap top, 1" bubblewrap bottom, and 1" on each side.  So a 2"x2"x2" mineral becomes 4"x4"x4" with bubblewrap.

Insurance - Insurance is now included with the shipping price.  And may be added to the above shipping price depending upon how fragile and/or expensive items.

Parcel post - US customers, we no longer ship parcel post. It saves a few pennies sometimes, however it now takes 8 to 10 days to get your shipment- Which is too long for most customers to wait.

Combined shipping -  If you want combined shipping PLEASE email us.  WE have no way of knowing when you are finished bidding.  Ebay sends automatic invoices.  Ebay will charge the maximum shipping PER item, if I do not override the invoice.  So bid all you like, but let us know "You want combined shipping."  And we will send you a combined invoice, the next day to pay.

 If you want combined shipping PLEASE email us

NEW Photograph information- In an effort to have more accurate photos, we started photographing in a indoor "photo studio cube" with a white background, as of June 2015.
Advantages -
-Better detail of crystals.
-More consistent photos.
-Weather - It is sometimes 5 degrees (-17 Celsius) in Texas.  Sometimes 110 degree (43 Celsius).  Both make it unpleasant to photograph outside under natural daylight.
-No clouds distorting picture color...

-Hard to photograph in the rain too.
Disadvantages -
-Never wear a pink shirt.  My daughter found out the hard way, camera picks up the reflection of your clothing, sometimes on one half of the ammonite.  Sometimes the other.  Depending where you stand...
-Tends to show translucence more than the actual ammonite.  (you can back light it if you like the effect.)  This occurs on thin yellow areas sometimes.
-Browns look a little more red.  Depending on how we edit.
We are working on this, and it is a work in progress.

Keep in mind different monitors display colors differently.  We edit with item "in our hand", so we can get as close to the correct color as possible.  However when we move the very same laptop from living room to office, sometimes the colors look slightly different, even on the same computer.  Your color monitor WILL VARY.  IF you don't like the item just send it back.  No problem.  We have a “14 day unconditional return policy”.

Returns -  We try to be fair.  One return -was because it did not match her drapes – not kidding.  So in that case, she paid both shipping fees.   We don’t guarantee to match drapes. 

Rarely we shipped the wrong item (less than 1 per year), which never happen since we are supposed to match the item number AND match the picture before shipping.  But say we sent the wrong item, we pay both shipping to and from the customer.  IF we miss measured by more than 10%, we pay both shipping fees.  Most of the time, and we rarely get returns, we pay one way, the customer the other.  IF we made a mistake, we will only pay the original amount of shipping on the listing OR the actual shipping whichever is lower.  IF someone wishs to add other fees that would be at their expense.

OFFERS – On items over $100, we do accept offers.  Just email us here thru eBay.  Keep in mind sale prices and fossils are already low margin items.  As we say in Texas, “there is not much meat left on the bone.”  Ridiculous offers will not get a response. 

New paulstaberminerals website is under construction.  We are working on our website, it is not operational yet.  This will save you and I eBay’s 10% commission.  Yes they charge us both.