Do you dropship?
No! Absolutely not. That would be very unethical and unsustainable for a brand like ours. Unfortunately, many people assume dropshipping is how we make our prices affordable. When in fact, only a few months ago I was still shipping out all of our orders by myself from my home. Thankfully with recent growth we were able to partner with a fulfillment center in Texas :)
Where do you get your products from?
We get almost all of our products from the US - whether that be from Etsy sellers, local brands, or other zero waste brands. We get a couple of our products from Europe, when we can't find a sustainable and affordable option in the US. And we get 2 of our products from China, from a supplier that is 3rd party certified to uphold sustainable manufacturing & fair wages. We also carbon offset all our shipments.
Are your products vegan and/or cruelty free?
We will never sell products that aren't cruelty free. However, we do sell some non-vegan products. One being our beeswax wraps (made with local beeswax), and two being our certified peace silk floss. If you're ever curious about the ingredients in a product, they can always be found under the applicable "ingredients" tab.
Help! I sent my package to the wrong address.
Please contact us ASAP. We ship our orders within 24 hours of receiving them unless it's a weekend, so, if we haven't shipped it out, we can manually change the address. However, after your order has shipped, we are unable to change the delivery address. If this is the case, click on your tracking number and see if you're able to intercept your package with the applicable shipper. If you have any questions, reach out to us.
I did not receive my package...
More often then not, this is because you entered an incorrect shipping address. However, in rare cases, your package can be shown as "delivered", and arrive 24 hours later.
If you want to track your package, click on your tracking number link sent in your confirmation email.
If you think this is a bigger issue, please contact us on our contact page!
Do you carbon offset packages?
Yes, we've partnered with carbonfund.com to offset our carbon emissions on all orders.
Do you donate to nonprofits?
Yes! Ecoternatives actually started out as a store that donated to nonprofits as customers shopped. Every single product would donate a portion of it's price to a nonprofit OF YOUR CHOICE, and we would show you that exact number.
However, we had to relaunch as the worlds most affordable ecostore. As that was really the core issue we found consumers needed solved. We really want to be able to donate more in the future (we are still a very small business), but can manage a donation of 1.5% of our sales right now.
It's hard to donate to nonprofits + also have low profit margins. We hope to donate more as we grow :)
What is the shipping time?
If you order between Monday and the end of the day Friday, your order will be sent out within 24 hours. From there it will be delivered in 2-5 days. Weekends are closed for workers.
Do you use eco-friendly packaging?
Yes! we either use mailers that are 100% made from ocean bound plastics, or from post consumer recycled cardboard.
Our social ocean plastic mailers:
These mailers are made of 100% recycled ocean plastic, with a social aspect. Our supplier pays people in impovrished communities to collect ocean bound plastic. They've built a market for a material that would have otherwise gone to waste and pollute our oceans. While at the same time developing the economy and providing jobs for extremely poor families. They also carbon offset their manufacturing by 200%!
Recycled cardboard boxes:
We ship out in a recycled cardboard box with paper tape and no plastic. We'll use paper filler if needed.
Regardless, we always ship 100% virgin plastic free!
Do you offer free returns?
If the product has not been used and the packging is not worn then we can certainly take returns. Just contact us at support@ecoternatives.co or on our contact page and we can get something set up for you.
