Drop Shipment Guidelines

Some of our products (like Metagenics) are often DROP SHIPPED from the manufacturer's warehouse to you, usually via UPS Ground.¹²³⁴  This is to fully expedite delivery to you. 

Our "Standard Shipping" option as shown in the shopping cart applies to DROP SHIPPED products. However, these are likely to ship via UPS Ground rather than US Mail. ¹²³⁴ 

When you order products which require drop shipping (such as Heat Sensitive Liposome Labs brand products) in addition to products which do not require drop shipping (such as Nutricology items), your drop shipment will arrive in a separate box, and is likely to arrive on a different day.  The fact that your order requires more than one shipment may incur additional shipping fees. You will find that our Shopping Cart automatically calculates all applicable shipping options and fees.

If you need 2nd Day Air or Next Day Air shipping service, and your order consists of both drop shipped and non-drop shipped items, you will be responsible for the cost of each shipment. This will be made evident in our Shopping Cart when you see two windows for shipping appear.

Please note that a street address is always required as the shipping address for delivery of these products.  Please list your street address as your shipping address in our shopping cart, as well as the best daytime phone number where the carrier can reach you.


Timing of Shipping: Your drop shipped products usually ship out from the manufacturer's warehouse within 24 to 48 hours after we receive your order (Monday through Friday). The manufacturer reserves the right to use any suitable carriers (for example: United Parcel Service (UPS)) to insure the best and fastest service possible.


Expedited shipping:  For orders within the 48 Contiguous United States, you may indicate your desire for expedited delivery directly in our shopping cart. Simply select the "Next Day Air" or "2nd Day Air" option and review the respective shipping fee.

Next Day Air and 2nd Day Air orders placed by 12:00PM Eastern Time are processed and usually shipped out on the same day (Monday-Friday).  Next Day Air and 2nd Day Air orders will receive special consideration after the 12:00 pm cut-off and may well go out that same day (although this is not guaranteed after the noon deadline).  Please note that we and/or our carriers do not consider weekend days as delivery or transit days. Thus, a 2nd Day Air order placed by 12:00PM Eastern Time on a Thursday would be delivered the following Monday. 

How reliable are shipping services such as UPS Ground, UPS Next Day and UPS 2nd Day Air?  Please see the USA Shipping Info page to learn more about our experience with these options.


Drop shipments are often not possible to Hawaii, Alaska, other U.S. Territories and APO/FPO addresses.  Shipments to these locations may require special processing and shipping, wherein we order the product(s) to be shipped to our warehouse, then ship directly from our warehouse to you.  This incurs additional shipping transit time.  The shipping fee and estimated transit time for orders to these destinations will be calculated automatically in our Shopping cart.   


Saturday Delivery and No Signature Required: Please note we and/or our premium carriers do not consider weekend days as delivery or transit days for ground and expedited shipments (such as UPS Ground, UPS 2nd Day Air and UPS Next Day Air).  However, the US Postal Service may include Saturday as a delivery or transit day at their discretion.

While special Saturday-delivery expedited shipping services (such as UPS Next Day Saturday Delivery and UPS 2nd Day Air Saturday Delivery) may be available to some locations within the 48 contiguous United States, Hawaii and Alaska, we do not use these services and you will not find them in our shopping cart.  In our experience, these services are too expensive, too complicated, and too often end up leaving our customers discouraged and unsatisfied.

Shipping involves an inherent risk of loss due to lost or damaged packages.  Retail sales involve an inherent risk of order fraud and loss.  To best protect Organic Pharmacy and our customers from incurring such losses, we cannot ship orders officially designated as "no signature required."  Please be advised that shipping carriers may reserve the right to deliver packages, especially unexpedited packages, without a signature, according to their policies and at their discretion.


Heat Sensitive Products: Some of the products we carry are sensitive to prolonged exposure to high temperatures. If the product you are viewing on our website is heat sensitive, we will clearly display it as "Heat Sensitive" on that product's web page and in the shopping cart.  For such products, we strongly recommend that you choose expedient shipping, especially during hot summer weather.

Throughout the year, and especially during the hot summer months (May 1st - October 31st), we strongly recommend that you consider choosing 2nd Day Air or Next Day Air as your shipping option. This is because the micro-organisms contained therein are delicate and may be perishable from prolonged exposure to intense heat (short-term exposure is not an issue).

Heat Sensitive Products shipping within the USA via 2nd Day Air may ship (depart from the warehouse) on Monday through Wednesday, but cannot ship out on Thursday nor Friday due to the potential for spoilage and lost potency. Similarly, such orders shipping within the USA via Next Day Air may ship Monday through Thursday, but cannot ship out on Friday.

Customers who choose to ship Heat Sensitive Products via Standard and Ground shipping services agree to take full responsibility for the condition of the products received. 

Note: Heat Sensitive products are NOT shipped with ice packs and are NOT shipped in styrofoam containers.


Communication: As we are an internet company, we communicate with you primarily by email.  Please provide an accurate email address with your order.  We encourage you to provide an accurate email address and to investigate your internet browser and security programs to ensure that you will receive emails from us regarding your order and shipment(s).


Back Orders: In the rare event that a popular item is out-of-stock, or shipping must be delayed, we will place your order on 'temporary back-order status' and email you with the projected shipping date.  Once we have received the back-ordered item(s), we will email you with notification that your order has shipped. You will be able to determine your order status at any time, including any notifications of back orders and shipping delays, by accessing your "order status" page through the link provided on the confirmation email sent to you at the time the order was placed.   

If your order contains multiple items and you would like the in-stock items to be shipped right away, please contact our customer service and we will gladly ship the items we have on hand.  The remaining back ordered items will be sent at no additional shipping cost once they arrive in our warehouse.  If your order is split, the shipping method used for the remaining back ordered items is determined as follows:  If you selected Standard Shipping as your shipping method, we will ship the back ordered item(s) to you by USPS Priority Mail or UPS Ground at our discretion.  If you selected UPS Next Day Air, UPS Second Day Air, or UPS Ground as your shipping method, the back ordered item(s) will be shipped by UPS Ground, unless otherwise requested (additional shipping charges may apply if you wish to upgrade).

Due to the high cost of international shipping, international orders are not candidates for split shipments, and will be held until your full order is filled. Once all of the back ordered items have been received in our warehouse, we will ship your order in its entirety.      

Please note that shipping costs are not refunded if your order is delayed or if items are back-ordered.

Returns:  Please do not return your drop shipped products to the manufacturer.  Call Organic Pharmacy in advance of your return to verify the return address and strategy. 

Returning Unused Products: Should you choose to return a new, unopened, re-saleable product(s), you are entitled to a full refund, less shipping fees and subject to a 15% restocking fee ... if they are returned with 30 days of purchase. 

This does NOT apply to Heat Sensitive products (and Frozen products such as CarTCell and NatCell). These products are simply NOT returnable.

To return a product for a refund - assuming it is in new, unopened, re-saleable condition, send it to:

   Organic Pharmacy, Inc., Attn: Returns, 3 Tingle Alley, Suite E, Asheville, NC, 28801

   Please include your name, address, original invoice number and receipt, email address, and daytime phone as well as your reason for returning.  Please call in advance to approve the return.

Returning Used Products: We cannot (& do not) accept returns on items that have been opened, used or have their safety seals broken.

If you open it - you own it.

Important: Shipping fees are not refundable and will be deducted from the total amount of refund.  All returns will be subject to a 15% re-stocking fee - this will be deducted from the total amount of refund.  Refunds will be sent to you in the form of a company check.  Alternative means of refund may be available to international customers (customers outside of the US).  We strongly recommend that you ship the return to us by a safe, trackable shipping method such as UPS– we must receive your return in order to issue a refund.

Please call in advance to approve the return.


Help Us Help You: Additional charges will be applied if the delivery address you provide is incorrect or if the package needs to be forwarded to a different location due to an error in communicating the information to us. Don't forget those apartment, suite and unit numbers and your daytime telephone number. We cannot be responsible for problems your order may encounter due to inaccuracies in the information you provide. Please be precise in the Shopping Cart!

Failure of you to receive, miss the delivery of, or refusal to accept your shipment does not relieve you from the shipping/handling incurred by your order and may not relieve you from the cost of the products shipped.


Special considerations:
¹ On a small percentage of items, their weight, bulk and/or special qualities (i.e. drop shipment, need for refrigeration, or highly discounted pricing) requires a slightly higher shipping amount and/or different delivery method. If this is the case, it will be prominently noted on that product's web page and you will see that also clearly reflected in our Shopping Cart.

In these cases, the $5.40 Standard Shipping Charge & "Shipping Free Over $100 Offer" do NOT apply.

² Orders to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and/or US Virgin Islands are shipped via USPS Priority Mail.  Please note that orders to these destinations may require special processing and shipping. The shipping fee and estimated transit time for orders to these destinations will be calculated automatically in our Shopping cart.   

³ APO-FPO Addresses are shipped via USPS Priority Mail. Please note that orders to these destinations may require special processing and shipping. The shipping fee and estimated transit time for orders to these destinations will be calculated automatically in our Shopping cart.

⁴ Expedited service to Hawaii, Alaska, other U.S. Territories and APO/FPO addresses is not always possible (depending upon your actual geographic location).  If expedited service is possible to your location, you'll see that option available in our Shopping Cart.  Please note that orders to these destinations may require special processing and shipping. The shipping fee and estimated transit time for orders to these destinations will be calculated automatically in our Shopping cart.

Military Personnel: Due to current world events, our delivery partners inform us to expect some packages to take up to 8 weeks for delivery to certain "hazardous zone" APO/FPO U.S. military addresses and U.S. Territories.