DELIVERY & PACKAGING
Last Posting Dates
Tracked 48 – recommended last date for pre-Christmas delivery is Thursday 15th December
International orders – Saturday 3rd December
Christmas Closure Dates
24th – 27th – Orders received will be dispatched on the 28th of December
28th – 30th – Open and dispatching orders
31st – 1st – Orders received will be dispatched on the 2nd of January
How We Deliver Your Products
We use Royal Mail Tracked 48 for all UK deliveries at a cost of £3.65. Once your item has been despatched, you will receive an email from Royal Mail informing you of an order on its way from Mail Shot International – our distribution partner. This email will contain your tracking details so you can see exactly where your order is on its journey from door to door. All orders received before midday will go out for same day dispatch and should be delivered within 2 to 3 days.
Royal Mail operates Monday – Friday, which means all orders received on a weekend (or after midday Friday) will go out for delivery on the Monday.
We offer free delivery on all UK orders over £60 to encourage purchasing more than one product so you can share your favourite items with friends and family. We believe that there is no such thing as ‘free’ delivery because there will always be an impact on the environment to have an item delivered, so buying more, less frequently, will actually save on additional deliveries to further reduce our impacts on the environment.
We also deliver to Europe for a flat rate charge of £11.98 and the US & Canada for £16.79 with Royal Mail Standard International. We do ask our overseas customers to see whether they are able to find these products (or similar alternatives) that we sell in their home country first, so that we can minimise the amount of air freight we send out and reduce the impact this has on our environment. Please allow 5-7 working days for shipping to Europe.
We are not a marketplace; we’re an online store. We hold stock of all the items we sell through our website, which allows us to send all the items you order in one package, and one delivery slot (unless clearly stated otherwise). No hanging around for more than one delivery each time you order different brands, and no additional fuel emissions to make duplicate drop-offs. Just one package delivered, neatly wrapped, with a gentle consideration to our environment.
Please note: if you complete your order with a wrong or incomplete address and consequently your order is returned back to us, you will be asked to pay for shipping again or receive a refund minus the cost of shipping
How We Package Your Products
We use varies sized cardboard boxes and corrugated card to package and deliver your products in. All of our boxes are made from responsibly sourced materials and FSC Certified. Naturally, they are also fully recyclable and biodegradable. We also reuse boxes and void filler that we receive from our suppliers when we get new deliveries. We believe it’s better to reuse all the void filler we have delivered to us instead of throwing this away and opting for a single, consistent package filler.
When we are packaging your fragile and delicate products, we use packing peanuts which help to absorb any bumps along the way by gently compressing around your product. These eco peanuts are made from G.M-free corn starch and are fully compostable, biodegradable and made from sustainable materials.
Lastly, we secure all of your packages with brown paper tape. This is also recyclable, biodegradable and made from sustainable materials.
Please see our Returns & Refunds section if you would like to read up on how we process returns at Friendly Turtle.
European orders – Brexit update
As of 1st January 2021, the UK officially left the European union. As such, orders taken from Europe may be subject to Customs and Duties tax which may need to be paid before your order is delivered within your home country.
We understand that this is still all very new, and these additional charges may come as a surprise, but unfortunately we’re unable to let you know before completing your order whether or not you will be asked to pay these taxes in your home country.
As we always have, we’re asking our international customers to seek sustainable alternatives from their own countries to minimise the distance orders need to travel whenever possible.
Royal Mail are also experiencing delays of up to 60 days with International orders as a consequence of this. We know they are working hard to bring this back to normal, but right now they are experiencing a lot of issues with all of the new processes.
Unfortunately we are not able to put through any claims with Royal Mail before 60 days after shipping, so please be aware that your order may take a lot longer to arrive, with very little we can do before 60 days.
Sorry for any inconvenience this might cause.