QUESTIONS & ANSWERS


QUESTIONS ABOUT DELIVERY TIME

Q. Why is my order taking so long to come?
A. We always try to get orders sent to our customers as soon as possible. We offer a very large catalogue of over 7000 products for you to purchase from and some items will need to be ordered specially from our suppliers or made to order, to ensure the freshest product with longest use-by date. This, along with the seasonal nature of some organic products and their ingredients, means your order may take up to 2 Weeks to dispatch. Though this is not usually the case.

If we are out of stock of an item you have ordered we have usually ordered it already from our supplier/producer and are waiting for a delivery from them.

Keep in mind that the organics industry in still young and there is not yet a very reliable and regular supply of some organic products. Supply can suddenly stop without warning (to us) or be delayed for all sorts of reasons, such as:

• Many organic or natural products are seasonal in nature and the producers are not large multinational companies with large warehouses full of preserved stock. This means that there can be a delay due to the producers being out of stock and busily trying to catchup with demand, or because we are sourcing an alternative supply.
• Almost all of our suppliers and producers are small operators with a genuine and sincere commitment to producing high quality organic products. Because they are small they often don't have large quantities of stock stored and can easily run out of some products temporarily if demand increases suddenly.
• Because many of our products are organic or made from organic ingredients (with the quality of products heavily influenced by the weather, seasons, animals and insects) with few preservatives and other chemical additives, sometimes a particular batch of a product does not meet the standards of the producer or of Organics Australia Online this can cause a delay while we wait for a new batch of a product to be made or we source a new supply of the product.
• Also because some products are organic or made from organic ingredients they don't have the long shelf life of products packed with many preservatives and other additives. This means that they can't be stored for long periods and we can only keep a small supply of stock on hand to prevent spoiling and waste. We therefore have to order more frequently from our producers/suppliers.

In the end, our main aim is to ensure that you receive high quality organic, natural and biodynamic products. Just sometimes it might take a little longer to get them to you.

QUESTIONS ABOUT POSTAGE & DELIVERY

Q. How will my order be sent?
A. If you live in Australia, your order will be sent through Australia Post registered E-parcel. This is because their costs are lower and this helps keep the prices for delivery lower for you. You also have the extra security of having your order/parcel registered and tracked.

Orders normally take between 3-7 Working days to dispatch, but can take up to 2 Weeks to dispatch depending on stock availability (See above), and the size of your order.

A. If you live outside Australia, orders usually take 10-14 business days to reach their destinations by International Airmail after we dispatch them. We now provide parcel insurance for orders to destinations outside Australia. This is now included in the shipping cost. NOTE: Should your country's postal service no accept insured parcels, we cannot be responsible for the loss of parcels once they leave us here in Australia.

Q. What is the most cost-effective way to order?
A. We suggest that you consider ordering more than one or two items from us in case we are unable to supply one and have to refund for it - we would still need to charge our flat shipping fee (see below) for what we do send you and this might prevent you from getting the full advantage of our discounted freight offer.

Q. How can I calculate the delivery cost without purchasing?
A. At Organics Australia Online we know that freight costs are a major concern for customers shopping in our online store.

Our subsidised freight charges provide major savings for our customers with orders to destinations within Australia costing no more than $8.50 for orders up to $100.00*, and Free Freight for orders over $100.00*.

Please note: the discounted freight offer applies to the product portion of the order and does not include the freight fee where applicable.
Our discount freight offer is not available for orders to destinations outside Australia - to which international freight costs will still apply, or for orders shipped by other suppliers on our behalf.

The website automatically calculates delivery costs and tells you the total freight charge at the checkout before you confirm or pay for your order.

If you choose not to proceed, then you can leave that page and none of the details you already entered will be stored in any way by our systems.

This means your order will not be recorded, but you will know how much the shipping would have been cost had you decided to proceed.

Q. Why so much packaging?
A. May of our products come in glass bottles or other fragile bottles and packets. To ensure that you get your order in one piece, and undamaged, we use environment-friendly packaging and take some time to carefully pack your order and think about the rough handling it might receive on trucks, planes and trains all over the world. As a result, we have very few (less than 0.2%) damaged orders and our customers receive their orders exactly as they left us.

Please note that the bead packing we use is made from fully biodegradable andcompostable cornstarch (it is even edible) - not foam or polystyrene. The boxes we use to send your order are made from 100% recycled cardboard and paper.

QUESTIONS ABOUT ORGANIC & BIODYNAMIC TERMS

 

Q: What do the terms Certified Organic & Certified Biodynamic mean?

A: It is prohibited under international organic standards to use food irradiation or genetic engineering in the production of organic/bio-dynamic food and fibre. Organic /biodynamic produce is therefore free of these processes. Certified Organic/ Biodynamic products are created through land management practices that do not use artificial fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides, growth regulators, antibiotics, hormone stimulants or intensive livestock systems. These practices must have been in place for at least three years.

 

Q: Why is organic food certified?

A: No laws currently protect the use of the word ‘organic’. Therefore, organic certification of a product provides regulated processes to assure consumers that strict guidelines and goals have been undertaken and achieved.

 

Q: What does Certified in Conversion mean?

A: This term is similar to Certified Organic and Certified Biodynamic except that the
farmer has been farming organically for less than three years and has not yet
achieved Level A certification.

 

Q: How do I know it’s certified organic?

A: Certified organic foods are produced by growers who have been inspected annually by an independent certification body there are many of these bodies all over the world.

 

Organic producers are subject to an annual audit by their chosen independent certification body. Products labelled as Certified Organic/Biodynamic and Certified in Conversion must have the appropriate documentation verifying authenticity, so retailers can clearly label the products for the consumer to select genuine organic/bio-dynamic products.

 

Q: Why should I buy certified organic food?

A: Conventional (non-certified organic) food is everywhere. The way in which food is produced affects you and future generations. Your choices as a consumer can change many of the destructive practices currently used:

• Protect future generations - The average child receives exposure to at least eight widely used cancer-causing pesticides in conventional food.
• Keep chemicals off your plate - Pesticides are poisons designed to kill organisms and have been implicated in cancers, birth defects, nerve damage and genetic mutations.
• Support a true economy - Conventional food prices don’t reflect the hidden costs borne by taxpayers such as hazardous waste disposal, environmental clean-ups, sickness and disease.
• Stop the human experiment - The public is expected to consume irradiated and genetically engineered conventional food without any labelling or warning of their true effects.
• Prevent soil erosion - Soil, the foundation of our food chain, is eroding seven times faster through excessive chemical use. Organic farming naturally replaces nutrients in soils.
• Protect water quality - Toxic pesticides are increasingly contaminating the water we consume daily.
• Promote biodiversity - Conventional farming methods are leaving soils lacking in natural minerals driving a dependence on fertilisers to replace nutrients.
• Save energy - Compared with conventional farming methods, organic farming uses 65% less fossil fuel energy and produces 60% less CO2 emissions.
• Protect farm workers - Conventional farm workers exposed to herbicides have six times more risk than non-farmers of contracting cancer.
• Help small farmers - Organic and biodynamic farming is one of the few survival means left for family farms in the wake of chemical-driven mass production. 

 

QUESTIONS ABOUT REFUNDS/CREDITS

Q. When can I get a refund or credit?
A. Because we debit your credit card when we receive your order (this is a security measure to ensure that we receive full payment for goods before we send them), if we are unable to supply a particular product, we will refund the value of the product(s) back to your credit card, PayPal account or by cheque or Direct Deposit.

We will send a refund advice (with the electronic refund docket or cheque attached) with your order.

We will refund or, if possible, provide a credit to the value of a product if it is faulty (i.e. has missing parts or has a fault that prevents it from working at all), or damaged, but it will be necessary for you to prove to us that this is the case. This might be via a digital picture emailed to us showing the fault or damage to the product. We may also request that the product be returned (at our expense) to be examined more carefully.

We do not normally give refunds if you simply change your mind or make a wrong selection. We provide as much information about each product as we can so that you can make an informed choice.

Need to find a product fast?
Just enter some key words into the SEARCH box at the top of each page. All the information we have about our products is recorded on our website. We are constantly updating product information as it comes to hand from manufacturers.

If you have any questions we have not answered here, please email your question to email@oao.com.au.

 

Discount Freight - Free Shipping on all orders over $100.00*. Freight is just $8.50 for orders up to $100.00*.
*Note that our Free Shipping & discount freight charges only apply to delivery to Australian addresses