Policies
GENERAL INFORMATION:
Our web site is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year for your convenience. However, the rest of us need to to sleep occasionally, and play a little (with clay or any number of other fun toys), so our standard business hours are 9 to 5, Monday through Friday and 10 to 3, Saturday, Central Time Zone. Feel free to contact us (1-888-822-1982) during those times, however, our busiest days are Tuesday and Saturday. We are closed during standard holidays (sometimes an extra day or two around the holiday). Notice of any upcoming closed days will be posted on our home page as applicable.
HOW TO PLACE ORDERS:
Orders may be placed here online or by phone, mail, fax, or e-mail. When picking up an order at Bracker’s (in Lawrence, Kansas) please allow sufficient notice for materials that need to be weighed out and assembled. For a small order (for example: a couple of weighed out chemicals or 500# of clay) we might only need 15-20 minutes, but as orders get larger and more complex, we need more advance notice. Please consider giving us a day or two warning to prepare large orders during busy days or the back-to-school busy season (mid-July to mid-September). As of Jan 1, 2022, we are requiring all orders to be paid at the time of the order. This is due to high order volumes coupled with extreme supply challenges. If you submit an order with call me back as your payment method, we will not begin processing your order until we receive payment. Thank you for your understanding.
BULK DRY CLAY COMMENTS:
Most of the bulk dry clays are available in 50# or 100# bags (there are a few exceptions, like 55# bags). Please order the number of bags you want.
SALES TAX:
Sales tax is not charged on orders shipped outside the states of Kansas and Missouri. This will change due to the new federal sales tax laws recently passed, but details have not yet become clear to us. If you are in the state of Kansas or Missouri and have a sales tax exemption number already on file, your first order will show tax. Once we receive it and identify that you are tax exempt, we will enter that in the online database so it applies to your first order and subsequent orders. If you don’t think we have your sales tax exemption number on file, please contact us and we’ll advise you on how to submit that information for our files.
INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO SCHOOL ORDERS:
If you are ordering for a school or institution, include a purchase order number or use your school issued purchasing credit card. In most cases, we cannot do anything with the order when a purchase order number is not given. Most schools, as well as other organizations such as PTOs or PTAs are sales tax exempt by statute. Check with your state Department of Revenue if you are unsure. As of January 1, 2006, school orders are only exempt when the payment comes from the school (a check or purchasing card issued by the school or district). If you pay for a school order with personal check, cash, or a personal credit card, we will have to charge sales tax. Although we trust you, apparently the government doesn’t. Sorry!
CANCELING ORDERS:
If you place an order and wish to cancel it, please call us as soon as possibly. Most orders are packed up and prepared for the shipping company to pick up that same day. In all situations, we will try our best to work with you, but some of our manufacturers have penalties for canceling an order. If the order has already been shipped, please see our return policy.
RETURN POLICY:
Our standard policy is returns must be made within 30 days for in store credit only. A15% restocking fee may be applied when the order was filled correctly and the customer changed their mind or made an error in ordering. Special order items are non-returnable. Large equipment such as kilns, wheels, slabrollers, extruders, pug mills or mixers are non-returnable. That said, because returns happen so rarely, we try to just be reasonable and make the right decision for the situation. Particularly in the internet age with shipping times and such, it is not atypical for us to accept a return or exchange for up to 60 days. the restocking fee is rarely charged, but we reserve the right to do so if the returned item can not be sold as new. Exceptions to the in-store credit part of our policy are exceedingly rare and are almost always only approved i a situation resulting from our error.
PRICING, DISCOUNTS & BIDS:
We welcome the opportunity to submit competitive bids for institutions and qualified dealers on any or all of the equipment, materials, and supplies for your ceramic needs. Our prices and the availability of materials are subject to change without notification.
Based on item and quantity, we have already included generous discounts in our chemical and clay prices.
PRODUCT LIABILITY:
All descriptions, advice, or information, written or verbal, is given for general guidance and to the best of our abilities. Any guarantee, with the exception of warranties or guarantees specifically offered by manufacturers or suppliers, is not implied. Bracker’s Good Earth Clays, Inc. does not guarantee the merchantability or fitness for purpose of these products, and is not liable for any injury, loss or damage (direct or consequential) arising out of the use or misuse of these products. Caution should be taken with most ceramic materials as they may contain toxic or siliceous materials and can enter the body through inhalation, ingestion, and/or absorption. Material Safety Data Sheets are available upon request for all materials purchased through Bracker’s Good Earth Clays, Inc. Testing is recommended for all materials. Use of a NIOSH approved dust/mist respirator (dust masks) is strongly encouraged and recommended when working with any dry materials or when spraying glazes.
A SPECIAL NOTE TO INSTRUCTORS:
Due to OSHA specifications for toxicity, we reserve the right to substitute items that do not comply with regulations.
IT IS A FEDERAL LAW THAT ONLY AP NONTOXIC PRODUCTS BE USED IN SCHOOLS WITH KINDERGARTEN THROUGH 6TH GRADES.
LEGAL MUMBO JUMBO:
This is where we should place a stern warning about copyrighting our web site and describe the gory details of any consequence if you try to use anything without permission. But basically, we trust that you won’t use anything from our web site for nefarious, dangerous, or otherwise untoward uses and that you are generally an honest person who understands how hard we worked to create this site. If you want to copy information for your own use, that’s fabulous, go right ahead. We even encourage teachers to use whatever they want as handouts for classes or teaching materials. If you want to use something on our site for other purposes, contact us. And if you’re one of those types who uses this type of stuff willy-nilly without any regard to gory consequences, you probably aren’t even reading this in the first place. However, keep in mind that if you do use our information or products in the aforementioned willy-nilly style, you may be subject to fifty (50) lashes with an extruded, wet, noodle of clay. Said lashes will be carried out within fifteen (15) days of the violation by staff members or a contracted security firm. If the violation is not punished within the allowed time frame, the violation is forgiven and you will be placed on indefinite artistic probation.
We don’t sell, give, or auction our mailing list (nor any other personal information you provide to us during the usual course of doing business) to anyone else, nor do we provide specific demographic information – not even if someone asks us really politely, offers us tons of money, or gives us lots of chocolate (although our own e-mail addresses can easily be bought with Godiva chocolate). Any information that you provide to us is for our own sordid and sundry uses, such as figuring out what items to stock or finding new potter’s toys to carry. However, if you really, really feel the need to have your e-mail account flooded with spam, just send us your e-mail address and we’d be happy to forward you all of the junk mail that we get.