Collection: SHIPPING PROCESS & RATES

Thank you for considered Aquarists Across Canada (AAC) for your Aquarium Fish:

Shipping live animals that live in a water on an airplane is a bit more complicated than shipping a phone case, or T shirt in the mail, therefore it is important to review the process below before placing an order, to obtain a bit of knowledge of the process.

Shipping Notice: From Mid Nov to Mid march…

• Tropical Fish via Air Canada (AC) or West Jet (WJ):  From Approximately end of Oct to about mid March we must use AC or WJ for any shipment that takes 2 nights or more via FED EX. Some examples are in BC Kamloops, Williams Lake & PG, AB Grand prairie, and  East of Quebec City.  See below “To Find out if you are a 1 or 2 night service.”
• Tropical Fish via Fed Ex:  From Approximately end of Oct to about mid March we cannot offer FED EX overnight shipments that take 2-nights to deliver. We simply cannot guarantee to keep the fish warm enough in for 2 days in the winter months. We also cannot ship if the overnight temps are less than -10C at destination, we will post pone the shipment until a warmer night. Lastly we may not offer home delivery when very cold, and will ship to a Fed Ex Authorized pick up point. See below “To Find out If a Fed Ex Pick Up Point is close to you.”
• Gold Fish and other cold-water species: Exempt from this notice.
  
• To Find out if you are a 1 or 2 night service: Follow this link and enter the following info below. Right click and open in new tab - Calculate Shipping Rates | FedEx Canada
• From:  Victoria BC
• To: Your postal code or city/town. Then skip to weight of package
• Weight: Use 5kg (you do not need to add package dimensions just weight)
• When: Don’t use a Thurs or Friday for ship date, it may only give today and the next day, if so wait until beginning of week to try again. Friday may show as arriving Monday for an overnight, also watch for stat Holidays.
• Click: Show rates. Look at arrives on date for Fed Ex Standard overnight.
• To Find out If a Fed Ex Pick Up Point is close to you and is overnight service: These are location that will hold you package for you to pick up, like Staples office stores, you can follow this link to see what is close to you. Right click and open in new tab https://www.fedex.com/en-ca/retail-locations.html
• Ok I am a 2 night service, now what? It means we will need to quote you for a AC or WJ shipment, they are approx. $50 more than the Fed EX, place order and select Quote Request for the ship method. See cancelling below 1st.

How to make a fish / livestock order:

1) Review: This Shipping Page: This will familiarize you a bit on how to shop with AAC, review the flat rate shipping chart below. There is no minimum order size but the bigger the order the less shipping you pay per fish.

2) Review: Shipping Policy Page, this tells you our basic terms and conditions of shopping at AAC. Placing an order with AAC you are agreeing to the shipping polices.

3) Review: Arrival Guarantee & Acclimation this tells you how we back our fish and process.

4) Account: Make an account. Be careful you enter in the correct email address, phone number and shipping address. Mistakes here result in no communication, or fish sent to the wrong address, and will likely die. No refunds are given when this happens, please take your time. The billing address must match the credit cards billing address that you use.

5) Order: Select the livestock and or products you want using the tabs and sub menus and place in your cart. Note, the word “Sexed” in the description means they are male, unless otherwise noted in the description.

6) Out of Stock: Add your email below the “Sold Out” button and get a notification when back in stock.

7) Done Shopping: Go to cart, add special instructions, notes, etc, consider the following:

• Only Ship If…
• Do Not Ship if…
• Must be delivered to my house…
• I can pick up at Authorized Fed Ex Pick up sites.
• Substitutes…
• I want it to arrive on these days only…
• Unrealistic requests will be ignored such as “Males only please” when the fish cannot be sexed at the size you are buying.

8) Check Out: Ensure the shipping address is where you want us to ship to. Important Note: Rural and small communities may not get FED EX delivered to your door, but rather to the closest town / city. If you do not agree and you live in a small or rural community contact us 1^st or add Special Instructions. See All Done above.

9) Shipping: *IMPORTANT* At check out select shipping methods with care.

• Select the preset "FED EX" rates for fish orders.
• Select "Add On" Only to add to an existing order.
• Select "Canada Post" only for non living products.
  
• Select "Quote Me", when no preset rates are shown, or if buying 1 or 2 Very High Priced fish these result in low weight high price orders.  Cancelled Quote Me orders incur a 3% non refundable fee.
• Select "Quote Me" your order only contains Plants, Invertebrates, or Live Foods. These orders can be sent via cheaper non Fed Ex & slower methods. Cancelled Quote Me orders incur a 3% non refundable fee.
• Selecting incorrect shipping methods may result in a follow up quote invoice, or in some cases the order being cancelled.
• FYI you can still go back and add any Notes or Special Instructions. See bottom of shipping instructions while in the cart.
• Group orders: please see instructions in the FAQ section.

10) Payment: Final Step: We accept Visa and Master Card Credit Cards, Paypal and E Transfers. E Transfers are done manually this means you need to sign on to your bank and E Transfer the money to Creatures2010@gmail.com. Orders that do not receive E Transfer payments within 48 Hours are cancelled. A message can be added to mention the order number.

11) Our Turn: We will pick, pack and ship your Order with Care. We video record the packing process to ensure accuracy. We pick and pack from 9 am to 2:30 pm PST Monday thru Thursday. Generally we pack from oldest to newest orders.

12) Add On / Deletions / Subs

• Add Ons, simply make another order. In the Special Instructions box type "Add to Order # XXXX", or if it subs a previously ordered fish "Sub out fish code #XXXX with Fish Code XXXX on this order, and the quantities if more than 1. We will add / substitute as long as the shipment has not been finalized. Select appropriate "Add On from shipping". Use ADD ON ship codes to accommodate an ADD ONs, please choose appropriately to ensure your order is not delayed.
• We will add the fish to the order when the ADD on shipping fee of $25.00 covers the fish you add on. 
  
• If you add on more fish than the total shipping fees paid covers( shipping paid on original order +the $25 ADD ON ) we will send you an additional shipping fee quote. 
  
• If you choose incorrectly, we may email you an additional shipping invoice to cover the Add Ons requested.
  
• If an Add On is important, phone us (250-382-0726) we could be packing your order and we may not see an email requesting us to add a fish. You must speak directly with the picker or packer.
• Deletion requests can be phoned (250-382-0726) or emailed and if not packed up can be executed. On occasion we may not be able to ship a fish due to various reason's, and will delete from the order and process refund. See Shipping policy for more details. If you wish to delete a fish, phone us, message thru chat or email, If we are on the floor packing orders we may not see an email requesting us to not ship a fish. 
• Subs: Subs need to be of similar pricing and are simply shipped in place of what was originally paid for. We do not sub unless both parties are in agreement. You can simply create a new order as an ADD On. See above ADD On for subbing a fish.

13) Canceling: You can request your order to be cancelled at anytime before your order is packed and get a full refund, less 3% when paid by Credit card or PayPal. Your PayPal and Credit card fees are non returnable to us or you, the processors keep them. Your order is not considered cancelled until you receive the cancellation notice from Aquarists Across Canada. If the order has been packed but not picked up you will get a refund less the late cancellation fees indicated in the shipping policy. Please allow for a few days for your refund to be returned to your Credit card, PayPal Account or E Transferred.

No Minimum Order Size

WE ARE THE ONLY COMPANY IN CANADA THAT DOES NOT CHARGE A BOX CHARGE OR HEAT PACKS. THE FLAT RATE SHIPPING INCLUDES EVERYTHING. (Flat Rate Shipping Chart: Includes Freight, Box Charge & Heat Packs when required:)