Terms of Service.

The below TERMS OF SERVICE are for all buyers purchasing goods from EARTH AFRICA, whether you purchase goods directly from our website or place an order by any other means. By placing an order with EARTH AFRICA you as the purchaser certify that you have fully read and understood the below and accept the terms.

DISCLAIMER.
1. All products on this website are handmade in Africa and may contain minor imperfections in the tradition of African Hand Crafts.
2. When ordering products of the same type, no two products will be identical in look, size, or weight however they will all be of the general theme advertised.
3. The image on the website may not be identical to the product you receive due to the nature of African crafts however, you will receive products within the general theme advertised. All we are trying to explain here is that if you order a small wood-carved giraffe facing in a left direction you may receive a small wood-carved giraffe facing in a right/forward direction. There also may be colour/wood/stone/ beadwork colour/size variations.
4. If the purchaser orders samples from Earth Africa and then places an order the same conditions above (1.2) apply.

SOUTH AFRICAN BEADWORK.
No beads are manufactured in South Africa, they are all imported, China, India & Czechoslovakia are the main exporting countries. The beads are then purchased by the rural beaders and made into the beautiful products you see on this website. The colour of the beads used in our products may differ slightly from the colour in the shown image, the colour may also differ from batch to batch due to beads being purchased from different suppliers depending on availability. We frequently receive requests for beadwork to match the Pantone colour of a Company logo - this is impossible, as beads are not supplied in exact Pantone colours, the best we can offer is to get as close to the requested colour as possible. Earth Africa will accept no responsibility whatsoever for slight variations in the beadwork colours for any of the products we supply - we deal in 3rd World, handmade African products and there will always be imperfections, such is the nature of African arts and crafts.

REFUNDS/RETURNS/CANCELLED ORDERS.
EARTH AFRICA is proud of our African Crafts heritage and we endeavour to sell the best quality goods available on the continent, however before you buy African products from us or any other African products wholesaler, you need to be realistic and have a clear understanding of the nature of handmade African crafts. Handmade African products ARE NOT PERFECT in any way, if you are looking for
perfection then you may want to re-think your business model and purchase mass-produced goods from other sources. Now and again we receive complaints from a new customer that the goods were "bad quality" and yet we know that the supplied goods were excellent quality - this is the nature of African arts and crafts!

- if you buy a small wood-carved elephant we GUARANTEE it will have small imperfections.
- if you buy beadwork products we GUARANTEE some beads will be out of sequence or colour variations.
- if you buy a bone product we GUARANTEE there will be fine hairline fractures.
- if you buy our paintings we GUARANTEE the borders will not be straight and there will be imperfections.

The above is not unique to Earth Africa - we GUARANTEE if you buy any African handmade products from any other supplier anywhere in Africa you will find the same imperfections.
All we are trying to say is we are selling the best quality handmade products available in Africa but there may be some minor imperfections - such is the nature of handmade African crafts.

Based on the above the best way to avoid refunds is for the buyer to have a clear and concise understanding of handmade African products prior to purchasing them.

EARTH AFRICA may allow products to be returned as long as there is a genuine and valid reason for the return. If you would like to return any goods please supply the following within 3 days of receipt of goods:
- the list of goods to be returned.
- a valid reason for the return.
- clear photographs showing the fault of the product.
We will then validate this claim and authorize the return.  All goods must be returned in their original condition and all return costs are for the buyer. On receipt of the returned goods, Earth Africa Curio will issue a refund.

GOODS MISSING IN TRANSIT: every so often we receive a complaint about an order received with missing goods. Earth Africa packs and seals every order on camera therefore when we receive a complaint of missing goods we simply review the footage, if it shows the goods were packed then we take this up with the relevant courier. It is quite easy for them to confirm this as they have the exact weight of the goods on collection and delivery - if there is a discrepancy in weights then they are responsible. 
WE WILL ONLY ACCEPT CLAIMS FOR GOODS MISSING IN TRANSIT WITHIN 3 DAYS OF DELIVERY.

CANCELLED ORDERS.
EARTH AFRICA does not carry any goods in stock, when you place an order on our website or via email your order will be specifically handmade for you by our rural beaders and craftsmen. Our profit margins are incredibly small and we cannot absorb the cost of cancelled orders. In the event the buyer cancels their order for any reason they will lose their full deposit/payment. Please bear in mind our core business is bulk wholesale - it is extremely difficult to custom-make large orders only to have the order cancelled in production or just before dispatch.

SHIPPING RETURN POLICY FOR INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS.
In the event EARTH AFRICA needs to return any low-value goods to an International customer for whatever reason, the return mode of shipping will be via SA POSTAL SERVICES REGISTERED MAIL which will be sent to your nearest Post Office and needs to be collected from the Post Office. This is unfortunate as your original order would have been delivered to your door via a courier company, however minimum shipping costs for courier delivery are in excess of R1000.00 necessitating us to return goods via the more economical option, SA POSTAL SERVICE - we do apologize for the inconvenience.

BREAKAGES.
A few of our products on our website carry a "BREAKAGE DISCLAIMER" in the main information section of the product category, eg, SOAPSTONE BOWLS, AFRICAN CURIOS, OSTRICH EGGS etc, below is an excerpt taken from our website:

"SOAPSTONE BOWLS ARE BREAKABLE, while every effort is made to securely package these bowls, if they are mistreated by the couriers in transit there is a small chance of breakage, we will accept no responsibility whatsoever for any breakages".

The above is self-explanatory - if you place an order for any product on our website which has a breakage disclaimer in the information section we will not accept any responsibility whatsoever for breakages whether they are caused by courier neglect or any other reason. Please ensure you have your own insurance in place to cover all breakages in transit.

INSURANCE ON ALL SHIPPING/COURIER/TRANSPORT.
All shipping/courier/transport quotes issued by Earth Africa are EXCLUSIVE OF INSURANCE. If you would like your goods to be insured for theft in transit, breakage, political riot etc, please request this in an email and make sure it is included on your invoice as an additional insurance cost. If no insurance fee is included and paid for on the invoice, Earth Africa will accept no responsibility whatsoever for the loss or damage to your goods once they leave our premises. 


INVOICES & PAYMENTS.
​Buyers who place ​orders on our website and check out ​will receive an automated copy of the order form, on the confirmation the order form will be computer generated to an invoice with no risk of error - if for any reason there is a discrepancy between the order form and the invoice issued regarding the value, quantity, colours, size etc, EARTH AFRICA will accept full responsibility.
In the event a customer places an order by email, telephone, fax, EARTH AFRICA will manually generate an invoice that will be presented for payment. ​It is the full onus of the buyer to check all details on the invoice​ are correct regarding the value, quantity, colour, size etc.​ On receipt of payment, EARTH AFRICA will deem the invoice to be correct and will deliver the goods shown on the invoice.

GOODS DELIVERED LATE.
When you place an order on our website there is no payment due, it is only an order inquiry. Upon receipt of your order, we will quote delivery costs and an estimated delivery lead time. 
NB! NB! NB! Most of the products shown on our website are handmade to order by the impoverished rural beaders of South Africa. It is impossible to guarantee an exact delivery date which is why we offer an estimate. We deliver 1000 of orders every year to customers all over the world and most of the time we deliver on time but there will always be circumstances beyond our control where our beaders deliver late, and we then deliver late to our buyers. Please understand we are dealing with 3rd world impoverished rural beaders who face numerous challenges, the least of which is the distance they have to travel from their villages to our premises.
This is the nature of handmade African beadwork and our buyers must understand this before placing an order.

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT EARTH AFRICA.
All rights reserved. No part of this website www.earthafricacurio.com may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including downloading, printing, photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests please download the below Consent Form, in PDF format, and fill out all sections.

EARTH AFRICA welcomes our buyers to use our images/content but only on condition they comply with all conditions laid out in the below APPLICATION: CONSENT FOR TEMPORARY USE OF WEBSITE IMAGES / CONTENT,