A question for merchandise affiliates from YouTube, Twitch and other platforms often is “where can my merch ship?”. Altacolor currently fulfills merch to 35 countries around the world.
Who does this apply to, and what does this document call them? For the purpose of clarity, this document will use certain terms and names and will refer to Altacolor LLC variously as “Altacolor”, “the company” and/or “fulfilment center” and merch sellers may be referred to here as “merchandise affiliates”, “affiliate”, “sellers”, “store owners” and/or “sponsors”.
What areas does Altacolor service for merch sales?
Currently, we service the United States, including Hawaii, Alaska and the territory of Puerto Rico, as well as Canada and Mexico. We ship through our European production partners to the countries currently admitted to the EU, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. We also ship to the UK, including England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Service to Australia and New Zealand is planned for Q4 2024.
Can all the merch in a store be available everywhere?
Not all merch is available everywhere. Certain “bespoke” products handmade by Altacolor in the U.S. are only available in the U.S. and territories, Canada and Mexico, however, these products can ship virtually anywhere in the world, except where prohibited by law or international resolution. For instance, we may not ship product to Cuba as a trade embargo has been in place since 1962 for majority-owned U.S. business which prohibits trade with that country. Trade restrictions to Russia that are currently in place similarly restrict general trade.
Besides the question of “where can my merch ship” is “how much does it cost my fans?”.
In the United States and serviced territories, a fixed fee for shipping is assessed at a standard rate that may change from time to time. Altacolor tries to keep these rates as reasonable and competitive as possible so as to positively encourage insofar as possible successful and complete checkouts for each store. These rates do not impact the earnings of individual affiliates and covers the actual cost of shipping, packaging, handling and insurance, as applicable. For the EU and UK, the rate is also fixed but is multiplied by total weight in 1 lb / 0.45 kg increments.
How is VAT and other taxes handled?
GST, VAT or any similar national or local taxes are included in the selling price of the product except where product is shipped directly from our U.S. facilities to points overseas. U.S. state sales taxes are collected in any state where Altacolor LLC has established a nexus that would obligate the company to collect such taxes, such as the U.S. states of Texas and New Jersey or other states or localities where certain thresholds are met that would require the company to collect and remit sales taxes to those jurisdictions. Import duties, tariffs and similar levies, if applicable, are the responsibility of the addressee of the shipment.
Can merch stores ship to only certain places?
It is not required to for any store to ship to every country that Altacolor services. Certain affiliates may have licensing agreements that preclude the use of their trademarks or the sale of copyrighted products owned by the affiliate because of pre-existing licencing agreements between the affiliate and other entities or for any other reason.
How is a store set up for shipping outside North America?
By default, stores are set up with North American domestic shipping only. In order to ship to other locales, the affiliate store sponsor must express that desire to Altacolor’s account representative, at which point, the service representative will coordinate activation of additional fulfillment regions. The availability of expanded fulfillment regions will be subject to certain requirements and qualifications as determined by Altacolor.
What happens if a shipment is delayed or lost?
Any orders that are tracked as delivered by the transport carrier closes the transaction. Any payment dispute arising from the alleged non-delivery of an order will be resolved directly with the payment provider by Altacolor. The company may at its discretion cease servicing certain regions that experience what Altacolor considers an inordinate number of non-delivery claims. For regions without shipment tracking reporting or where Proof Of Delivery is not available may not be serviced by the company. For a shipment not delivered or otherwise showing a shipping status of “in transit” within the allotted transit time stated by the shipping carriers servicing that shipment, Altacolor may at its sole discretion replace the undelivered product or provide a refund.
The foregoing information does not form Altacolor’s entire policy or Terms of Sale or Terms of Service for affiliate stores and is subject to change without notice.
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