Japan




California




FAQs:

1. Why do some products not have an "Order" button?
2. Does COVID-19 affect shipping times?
3. Where do you ship?
4. What are USA shipping charges?
5. What are Canadian shipping charges?
6. What are UPS Ground shipping charges?
7. How can I track a shipment?
8. Are my orders taxed?
9. What about duties and customs for Canadian shipments?
10. What is the return or refund policy?
11. Why do I see a double billing on my credit card?





COMPANY ADDRESS (Shipping Address, not our store location)

Japan Incense
2370 Market Street #321
San Francisco, CA 94114

More company information is available by clicking here.


Contact/Support Phone Hours of Operation: We are available 11 AM -7 PM Pacific Time, 6 days a week (Wednesday through Monday). We are closed on Tuesdays. Please leave a message on our phone if we miss you:.


Phone: (415) 931-7002
Fax: (415) 931-4002

email: info@japanincense.com

We are an on-line internet reseller (JapanIncense.com). We also have a physical "brick and mortar" store (Kohshi, Master of Scents) Please check this link for the operating hours of Kohshi: Kohshi - Master of Scents,. Kohshi is located in San Francisco's Japan Town, Suite 335 (see Kohshi's home page for more details). Come by and look at our newest lines of incense and gift items. We believe we carry one of the largest collections of Japanese Incense in North America.

About our Logo

The symbol stylizes the red Japanese sun with the whisps of smoke from burning incense. We hope you like it.


WHY DO SOME PRODUCTS NOT HAVE AN "Order" BUTTON? This means the product is temporarily out of stock. You may email us at orders@japanincense.com to request a date when the product will become available.

info@japanincense.com


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NOTE: If you have a very urgent shipment, and are not concerned about a very high shipping cost, please contact us at orders@japanincense.com so we can assist you and offer some options.


WE SHIP TO:

* To the 50 United States, we ship via USPS Ground Advantage and Priority Mail, or UPS Ground (United Parcel Service); your choice.

* To APO and FPO addresses (AP,AE,AA, & FP). we ship USPS Ground Advantage and Priority Mail only.

* To US Territories and Possessions including AS, CZ, GU, MP, PR, and VI, we ship USPS Ground Advantage and Priority Mail only.

* To Canada, we ship USPS First Class International Mail only. However, in this case, our actual cost of the shipping is calculated and added to your order AFTER we ship (there are no handling charges). USPS rates went up 21 Jan. 2024 and the minimum charge will be $16.46 for packages up to 8 oz. Most packages come in at a $23.54 shipping charge. See table below, please.

* Note to overseas shoppers: Except as noted above, Japan Incense does NOT ship to any address outside of the USA or Canada. However, you may order from outside the USA and Canada, so long as the SHIP TO address is within USA or Canada. Our shopping cart should support your non-USA/Canada credit card address. If you experience problems, please contact us at support@japanincense.com.

What is USPS Ground Advantage? In July 2023, the US Postal Service changed from offering First Class shipping for packages. They now call it USPS Ground Advantage. Shipping times and costs are nearly the same as First Class but the one advantage is it allows shipment of packages weighing 1 pound or more. If the customer's order is of very high value, we will use Priority Mail to expedite the shipment.

HOW WE SHIP (all shipments will include a tracking number, which you will receive via email):


Orders shipped to USA, APO/FPO and US Territories: On merchandise that totals $75 or more, Japan Incense will ship your products FREE by US Mail (USPS). Orders totaling less than $75 will be automatically charged a $7.50 shipping fee. This offer does not included UPS shipments. See below for information on UPS Ground shipments.


Orders shipped to CANADA: Your shipments to Canada are first routed via USPS Ground Advantage to a customs clearing house in California. From there it will be mailed via First Class International the rest of the way to Canada. Your order will not be charged for postage when you check out of the shopping cart, however once we pack and prepare your order for shipment, we will add the actual cost of the postage to your order. When we ship, your credit card will be charged for the actual total of your order, plus this shipping charge. We do not charge any handling fee, and our postage rates are better than offered in the US Post Office. NOTICE: EFFECTIVE 22 JANUARY 2023, postal shipping rates to Canada were slightly increased by the USPS. We apologize for this increase.


Here is an example of what it will cost us (and you) to ship to Canada (includes the products, box weight, and packing). Please note that this cost is LESS than what is charged by the US Postal Service. Packages over 64 ounces must be shipped by Priority Mail International, starting at US$50.60 and up.

Ounces
US Dollars
1 to 8
$16.46
9 to 32
$23.54
33 to 48
$34.86
49 to 64
$37.74


SHIPPING VIA UPS: GROUND If you prefer to use United Parcel Service (UPS) Ground, please select the following option (NOTE: UPS GROUND is not a free shipment):
  •  
    • UPS (United Parcel Service) shipments requre a physical delivery address and not a Post Office Box. Sorry, but UPS does not delivier to APO or FPO addresses. We do not support UPS shipments to Canada.

ORDER CONFIRMATION AND TRACKING:

Once you place your order, an automated email will be sent to the email address you provided, confirming your order (unless you unchecked the "E-mail me a copy of my order" box). This should happen within a few minutes. Within a day or two, you should receive a second email with the expected shipping date. Once the order is actually processed shipped, a third, automated email, is sent with the shipping and tracking information.

We use the USPS Delivery Confirmation on all domestic shipments. Please note that the Delivery Confirmation is not actually a "Tracking" feature like offered by UPS or FedEx. It usually tells you only when the postage is processed by us, when the package arrives at the Postal Facility near us, and when it is hand-delivered to you, the customer . You may "track" your USPS FIrst Class or Priority Mail shipment at: USPS Track & Confirm

You may track your UPS GROUND shipment at: UPS Package Tracking

Shipping times may be found here.


California Tax Rate, effective 1 July 2021: California State sales tax rate is 7.25%. San Francisco County adds 1.375% to that state tax rate, totaling 8.625%. The rates apply as follows:

JapanIncense.com ships from San Francisco, CA. Therefore, any shipments mailed to San Francisco or within San Francisco County will be taxed at a total of 8.625% rate on the value of the order and gift wrapping (but not shipping). Shipments mailed to a California address outside of San Francisco County will be taxed at a total of 7.25% rate. Your actual tax, if any, will be shown on your shopping cart page.

Note that Tea is not taxable, as it is considered a Food Product in California.

Shipments outside of California will not be taxed.

INTERNATIONAL DUTIES AND FEES: Please note that shipments outside of the USA, such as to Canada, may be subject to import duty or taxes assessed by your local country (e.g. Canada). Japan Incense is not responsible for these fees or taxes. If you receive a notice from your local postal service or government, you will be responsible for paying those import duty fees or taxes, as they are outside of our control.
Our policy for refunds: The customer must first contact JapanIncense to explain the problem. If JapanIncense determines the customer is due a refund, and the product must be returned to us, JapanIncense will then issue you a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number. This RMA number must be clearly written on the outside of the returned shipping container. No returns will be accepted without first obtaining an RMA.

Refunds are credited back to you within 3 days after we recieve the returned item(s), and determine that the item(s) is/are in original condition. Refunds are only for the sold price of the product(s).

If you did not receive your product within a week of our shipping notification email, or the product you received was not what you ordered, please contact us at orders@japanincense.com. JapanIncense will make every effort to immediately send you the correct product.

WHY WAS MY CARD BILLED TWICE?
Actually, it was not billed twice.

When you look online at your credit/debit card statement right after we ship your order, you may see what looks like two charges. It is not.

- The first "charge" is what is called a "pending charge", and most banks will even list it as "pending" on your online statement. This will be removed by your bank a few days after JapanIncense actually charges your card.

- The second "charge" is the actual final charge which occurs only when JapanIncense actually ships your order, and then processes your card.

Here is the billing process used by nearly all banks that causes this phenomenon:

1. For example, a customer places a $100 total order online with Japan Incense on July 1.
2. The customer's credit/debit card bank immediately places a $100 "pending" charge on their card's account for that amount. This is to keep the customer from accidentally over-drawing on their account with subsequent transactions.
3. The bank also generates a 6-digit "approval code" to the customer's order.
4. Japan Incense receives that order, along with that approval code, to show the transaction amount ($100) will be honored by the bank.
5. Neither Japan Incense nor anyone else actually charges that card until we ship the order. When the order is shipped and the card is finally charged by us (for example on July 3), the bank then shows that "final charge" amount ($100) on the customer's card account.
6. The bank should quickly compare the "pending" approval code with the "final charge" approval code and note that they match. The bank should then automatically remove the earlier "pending" amount and leave only the "final charge".
7. The problem is that maybe 1% of the banks don't immediately do this, and instead take several days to remove the "pending" charge. To the customer, this looks like a double billing (July 1 and July 3 in this example). If the customer does not see the pending charge removed after a few days, they can contact their bank, explain the circumstance, and have the pending charge removed. We are happy to provide the customer with the transaction's approval code if this helps them negotiate with their bank.
8. Unfortunately, banks will not listen to anyone but the customer, so we have no way to influence their dismissing the pending charges any sooner.
9. Note that customers who placed an order from outside the USA have their charges immediately converted to their local currency. Therefore, they may see a difference between the pending charge and the final charge because the exchange rates are re-calculated every day, something we have no control over.






If you experience other difficulties with your order or have questions about our shipping please contact us at orders@japanincense.com