Do you dropship?
No! Absolutely not. That would be very unethical and unsustainable for a brand like ours. many people assume that is how we make our prices affordable, but it is absolutely not. Only a little while ago I was still shipping out all of our orders from my bedroom. Where I also keep all our inventory. It's crammed! Thankfully with recent growth we were able to get a small fulfillment center on the mainland.
Where do you get your products from?
We get most all of our products from the US. Whether that be from etsy sellers, local brands, or other acreddited ecofriendly brands. We get a couple of our products from Europe (we carbon offset shipments). We get the products from Europe that we can't find in the US that are very sustainable. We get 2 of our products from China from a business that is certified by 3rd parties to uphold sustainable manufacturing practices and fair wages.
Are your products vegan and/or cruelty free?
We will never sell products that aren't cruelty free. You don't need to worry about that with Ecoternatives. In terms of being vegan or not, we display our ingredients in the "ingredients" tab with each applicable product. We generally source vegan products. However, we do sell beeswax wraps (that use locally made beeswax), and floss refills, that use certified peace silk.
Help! I sent my package to the wrong address.
Please contact us ASAP. We ship out orders within 24 hours of receiving them unless it is a weekend so, if we haven't shipped it out, we can manually change it. However, after your order has shipped we are unable to change the delivery address. If this is the case, USPS offers a Package Interception that allows you to redirect a package that is not out for delivery or has already been delivered. You can learn more at
this link: https://www.usps.com/manage/package-intercept.htm. We are sorry that this happened to you :(
I did not receive my package...
We've found that often times the reason is because you entered an incorrect shipping address. If you want to track your package you can do so by entering your number
here: https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction_input. We sent you the tracking number in your confirmation email. If you think it is something else, USPS can sometimes *but rarely* 'lose' a package. If you think this is the case, you can also call the USPS help phone number at: 1 (800) 275-8777, or fill out a missing mail form:
https://www.usps.com/help/missing-mail.htm. If you have security cameras please also check that it wasn't stolen.
If you think this is a bigger issue, please contact us on our contact page! We are sorry your package is missing :(
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 people 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 that 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 and also have these very low profit margins. But we want to donate as much as possible 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.
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. This company 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 rarely use boxes, and only when we have a fragile product. We'll ship out in a recycled cardboard box with paper tape and no plastic.
Regardless, we 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 surely take returns. Just contact us at support@ecoternatives.co or on our contact page and we can get something set up for you.
