General Information
Contact websites and phone numbers:
- FedEx 1-800-GO-FEDEX (1‑800‑463‑3339)
- U.S. Postal Service 1‑800‑ASK‑Postal (1‑800‑275‑8777)
- UPS 1‑800‑PICK‑UPS (1‑800‑742‑5877)
Timely delivery is important at Chocosphere! (Rural and AK/HI Deliveries)
If the destination is far from a major metropolitan area, or the chocolate is going to AK, HI, PR, or GU, it is possible that the delivery may take longer than the '2-Day' or 'Overnight' headings indicate. Be sure to consult with your preferred carrier before ordering if delivery time is critical. They may need to know that the shipment is originating in zip code 97062.
Chocosphere delivers premium chocolate in premium condition!
We provide shipping choices to get your chocolate to the destination in excellent shape, even in warm weather. Chocosphere will stand behind you should the chocolate arrive damaged in any way due to negligent actions of the shipping company. Just let us know of any problem, and we will do our best to resolve the situation to your satisfaction. Chocosphere cannot be responsible for damage if you (or the recipient of a gift) are not present at time of delivery and the damage occurs as a result of the delay in claiming the package.
We highly recommend shipping to an address where someone will be able to receive the package when delivered.
Chocolate left outside your home all day may be damaged by weather that is too hot, cold, rainy or humid. Suggestion: If you are shipping to someone's home and they will be at work during the day, consider shipping the chocolate to the recipient at their office.
An option to use "Warm‑Weather Packaging" is available when you choose Postal Priority Mail, 2nd Day and Overnight shipping to any U.S. destination, and for Value (Ground or Priority Mail) shipping where the destination is three days or less distant from our warehouse.
If we feel it is needed to allow your chocolate to arrive in good condition, we will enclose your shipment in Warm-Weather Packaging (a styrofoam box with gel ice) at no additional charge. Should you want this special packaging to be used unconditionally, the product must be added before you enter the check out process. You will find “Warm Weather Packaging” at the Packaging pull down at the top of the Chocosphere web site. $7.00 will be added to your cart total, but there will be no shipping charged on Warm Weather Packaging.
While this packaging can help your chocolate shipment cope with warm weather, there are limits and we reserve the right to delay shipment when we feel your chocolate may be damaged. Please indicate your preference regarding Warm‑Weather Packaging on the "Checkout" page of the web site, and provide any special instructions in the "Comments" area of the "Checkout" page.
Be aware that we may remove products from outer master boxes to enable efficient shipping.
If products on the shipment come in an outer master box, we may remove the products from that master box but only if necessary to make them fit efficiently into the shipping carton, of course taking precautions for arrival of the products in good condition. (See "If it fits, it ships!" terms and conditions, which apply if you choose that shipping option). Individual product wrapping will of course be left in place. Please put a note in the "Comments" section of checkout if you require products to remain in their master boxes for shipping.
If you are like us at Chocosphere, you probably want your chocolate now! (Cutoff time for next-day shipping)
So, we do our best to ship orders received by 7:00 PM Pacific Time on the next shipping day (shipping days are Monday through Friday, holidays excluded), subject to "Service Bulletins" posted on the web site. Sometimes, when scheduling permits, we may ship the same day you place the order, but this is done only on a best-effort basis and is not our normal service. If you need same-day shipping, it is essential that you call our Customer Service department (503-692-3323 x0, 9A-5P Pacific Time) to discuss your need, and we'll try to help as best we can.
Shipping of "If it fits, it ships" orders may be slightly delayed from our normal commitment when Chocosphere is experiencing heavy shipping volume.
Between the dates of December 1st and December 23rd, please allow an extra day for order processing on Value Shipping and "If it fits, it ships" orders.
Shipping Days
Our normal shipping days during the warm months (holidays excluded) for overnight, 2-day, and ground shipments are Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Overnight shipments are also sent on Thursday, and Saturday Delivery shipments are sent on Friday. This schedule is designed so your chocolate does not sit over the weekend in a warehouse without temperature controls. We may ship on Thursday or Friday if cool temperatures allow your chocolate to be safely transported.
Delivery Days
FedEx and UPS Overnight and 2-Day
Packages are normally delivered Monday through Friday (excluding holidays). Delivery on Saturday is available only to selected locations (contact carrier for details). Contact Chocosphere if you wish to use the "Saturday Delivery" option - please note there will be an extra charge for this service.
FedEx Ground to Business Addresses
Packages are normally delivered Monday through Friday (excluding holidays).
FedEx Ground to Residential Addresses
The FedEx Ground Residential delivery schedule depends on the delivery address. To many, but not all residential addresses, FedEx Ground delivers Tuesday through Saturday (holidays excluded). There are some residential addresses, however, where FedEx Ground delivers Monday through Friday (holidays excluded). If Saturday FedEx Ground residential delivery is important, please contact FedEx at 800-GO-FedEx to determine if the service is available to the delivery address.
UPS Ground
Packages are normally delivered Monday through Friday (excluding holidays).
Postal Shipping
Packages are normally delivered Monday through Friday (excluding holidays). The Post Office also delivers on Saturday at no extra charge to residential addresses and businesses that are open in many locations. Contact the U.S. Postal Service at 800-ASK-USPS for more details.
Let us know if you have any special shipping needs (including same‑day shipping)
Though we are sometimes unable to accommodate special requests, we will do our best to meet your need.
Local Pickup Information
If you live in the Portland, Oregon area and would like to pick-up your order at our Tualatin warehouse, simply select "Local Pickup" as your shipping method at check-out. There is no charge for this service. Please note the following:
- You must place your order online or by phone. Being a warehouse, we do not offer in-store shopping.
- Orders must be placed at least one business day in advance of pick-up. We will contact you by phone or e-mail when your order is ready.
- Pick-up times are during our normal business hours, 8:30AM - 4:30PM Pacific Time, Monday - Friday (but check our web page for holiday closure infomation).
- Our pick-up address location is 19470 SW 89th Ave, Tualatin, Oregon. On your arrival, please ring the bell at our front door, and a team member will be out to help you shortly.
Important Notes for ‘Online Shipping Special!’ Shipping
Orders shipped with this most economical option may be sent by Ground (UPS or FedEx), Postal Priority Mail, or 2-day FedEx, with the selection of shipping method solely at Chocosphere’s discretion. If the shipment is sent by Ground, transit time will normally be between one and five business days, depending on distance of the delivery address from our Tualatin OR warehouse.
If an order using the Online Shipping Special is too heavy or bulky to be viable for this method, the customer will be contacted to make arrangements for the order.
For orders determined by the automatic system to be too heavy, the Online Shipping Special will not be offered at checkout.
If we ship by Postal Priority Mail, the contents of the shipment must be physically small enough to ship in one of the special postal-rate boxes or padded envelopes. If it doesn't fit, we will contact you with information on other shipping options that will incur extra cost, and if we cannot reach you promptly it may delay processing of your order.
Customers may request specific carriers be used or not used. If Chocosphere determines that a customer’s request is not viable with the Online Shipping Special the shipment may be delayed while we contact the customer.
If products on the shipment come in an outer master box, we may remove the products from that master box if necessary to make them fit. Individual product wrapping will of course be left in place.
If the decision about Warm Weather Packaging is left to Chocosphere, we will include styro and gel ice at no extra charge if we feel it is needed and it fits. However, if a customer adds Warm Weather Packaging to an order using the web site a $7.00 charge will be added.
We will pack into the smallest shipping container that your chocolate will fit in, to minimize our shipping cost. If there is chocolate breakage (with wrappers remaining intact), you have to be okay with it. After all, you have to break it to eat it.
This option is only available on orders shipped to mainland U.S., Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands and APO/FPO/DPO addresses. It is not available for Chocolate Clubs.
‘Online Shipping Special’ shipping is only available on orders placed online via the Chocosphere web site by the customer.
Shipping of "Online Shipping Special" orders may be delayed slightly from our normal commitment when Chocosphere is experiencing heavy shipping volume.
Important Note for Value (Ground/Postal) Shipping
The availability of ground shipping for meltable items (most chocolate fits this description) depends upon the temperatures at Chocosphere's Oregon warehouse, the destination, and at all points between the two. Any temperatures at or above 80° along the route may preclude the safe shipping of meltable items by ground to destinations more than three days away from Chocosphere's warehouse.
If you select Value shipping and weather conditions do not permit safe transit of the chocolate you have ordered, your shipment may be delayed as we will need to contact you. (This generally does not apply to shipments going to most parts of Oregon and Washington states.) Value shipping delivery can take 1 to 5 business days, perhaps longer. If timing of your Value Shipping delivery shipment is critical, check with FedEx (1-800-GO-FEDEX / 1-800-463-3339, or www.fedex.com) or UPS (1-800-PICK-UPS / 1-800-742-5877, www.ups.com) regarding transit time before making your shipping decision. Use 97062 as the "From Zip" when checking "transit time".
Shipping to APO/FPO/DPO (Military & Diplomatic) Addresses
Chocosphere gladly ships to Military and Diplomatic APO/FPO/DPO addresses via U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail.
Shipping charges are per the Priority Mail rates. You may select Value Shipping and we will try to ship this way if we can fit your product into one of the economical Postal boxes. If you select this option and the product will not fit into one of the Postal boxes, we will contact you and it may delay the shipment of your package.
Notes for shipments to Military Personnel
If you are in the military, and the destination is to an APO/FPO/DPO address, please provide your rank/title in the comments field on the final checkout page and we will lower the shipping charge if possible. We can do this because the U.S. Postal Service offers special rates for shipments to the military. We appreciate what you do for us!
Also, it will help us determine the type of packaging to use for your shipment if you will let us know (if you can) the city and country of the destination. It could save you the $7.00 charge for the warm weather packaging.
Please be aware of the following limitations:
Since we have no idea how the postal service will route the shipment or how long it will be in transit, Chocosphere cannot be responsible for heat damage in transit. We recommend dark chocolate, hot chocolate powder mix, cocoa powder, and other products that are less sensitive to heat for military shipments going overseas. Milk chocolate, white chocolate, and gianduja melt very easily.
Also, Chocosphere is unable to track packages shipped via postal service to APO/FPO/DPO addresses.
Ground Shipping Information
Ground Delivery Service by FedEx and UPS is available to most Mainland U.S. locations! **
(Sorry, ground service not available to areas with hot weather and states/territories AK, HI, PR, or GU.
An economical option for AK, HI, PR, and GU shipping is Postal Priority Mail.)
| ** | Selection of Ground service may cause shipment delay if Chocosphere feels that weather conditions are too warm for safe shipment of chocolate to a particular location. Also, Chocosphere reserves the right to discontinue Ground service entirely any time it judges overall weather conditions too harsh for safe transit of chocolate. |
“Value Shipping” Information
If we can safely send the shipment by Ground (UPS or FedEx), we usually do so. Depending on the distance from our Tualatin OR warehouse to the destination, transit time is normally one to five business days.
Upgrade to other shipping methods is not guaranteed but may be done at Chocosphere's discretion and at no additional cost to you. If we upgrade to Postal Priority Mail, please keep in mind there is no transit-time guarantee from the postal service. Delivery generally occurs within 2 to 3 business days. If you prefer a certain carrier, UPS, FedEx ground or Postal, please let us know in the comments and we will make every effort to grant your wish. If we are unable, we will contact you and it may delay the shipment of your order.
If your order contains a mix of meltable and non-meltable products, depending on circumstances, we may split-ship your order. If we split-ship, we will let you know in the shipping email or with a note in the box.
Important Notes:
Time-in-transit for our Value Shipping option is not guaranteed. If you need your package by a specific date, please select one of our Overnight or 2nd day shipping options, which cost more than Value shipping or Priority Mail.
On all shipments, we are careful to send packages only on days where we are confident your chocolate will arrive in great shape. This can impact when your order is delivered. Please take this into account when making your shipping choice, and feel free to contact us if you need specific information for the ship date of your order.
During the summer season most shipments of meltable chocolate will require our Warm-Weather Packaging option for safe transport. If you let Chocosphere decide whether it is needed for safe delivery and it is actually used, Chocosphere will supply insulated Warm-Weather Packaging to protect shipments made in warm weather at no extra cost. Should you want this special packaging to be used unconditionally, the product must be added before you enter the check out process. You will find “Warm Weather Packaging” at the Packaging pull down at the top of the Chocosphere web site. $7.00 will be added to your cart total, but there will be no shipping charged on Warm weather packaging.
Availability of this offer is subject to temperatures along the entire path of transit being safe for your meltable chocolate products protected in our warm weather packaging (typically temperatures of 95°F or lower). If we are concerned about safe arrival of your shipment, we may contact you to offer upgraded shipping options at possible additional cost. At that time you will have the option of changing/cancelling the order with no penalty, or working out upgraded shipping or another mutually agreeable option.
Your order confirmation will show your shipping method as "Ground / Value Shipping". However, we may automatically upgrade your shipping in accordance with procedures outlined above, if we choose to do so.
Shipping to Hawaii, Alaska, Guam and the other protectorates may be completed by Priority Mail at the Value Shipping cost, if we can fit the product into one of the economical Postal Boxes.
International Shipping - Canada and Other Countries
International shipping is generally accomplished either through the U.S. Postal Service or FedEx. We currently export regular orders to Canada, and to other countries only if weather conditions, transit time, and importing-country regulations allow us to do so. If you live in a country with a hot climate, we probably cannot ship chocolate to you successfully. If you live in a country with restrictions on the importation of food products, you may want to check with authorities in your country before contacting Chocosphere.
If you are in an export country other than Canada and would like to order, please e-mail us via the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page prior to placing your order to be sure we can ship to your country. If you order without checking first, it is likely that we will cancel your order and refund your charge card.
For orders of the EcoleChocolat “Understanding Chocolate Flavor” Package: EcoleChocolat customers must see the "Learn More" section on the EcoleChocolat page for important details and restrictions covering export shipping, including but not limited to the important detail that there are countries where we are not allowed to ship chocolate.
Payment of duties and taxes are the responsibility of the recipient. Because Chocosphere cannot predict such charges in advance, and Chocosphere has limited or no ability to interact with foreign delivery services, the following statement must be placed in the Comments section at checkout is required on all export orders:
“I accept responsibility if the package does not deliver (if correctly addressed by Chocosphere as shown on the order confirmation), if Customs takes the product or if it arrives damaged. I am responsible for any Customs duties or fees charged by my government. I also understand during the warm months that the products may arrive melted or out of temper, even if Warm Weather Packaging is used.”
If the above-quoted statement is not provided at order time, we will contact you to obtain it and processing of the order will be delayed.
Shipping charges are in addition to the price of chocolate. Because it is impossible to pre-determine export shipping charges at the time you place an export order, we do not show the shipping charge at checkout time (zero value may be shown on the screen but shipping is not free) and we will contact you with an estimate of shipping charges for your approval before we send your order. If you do not approve additional shipping charges, we will cancel your order and refund to the charge card used at order time.
Shipping to Canada 
We export chocolate to Canada only on orders of USD $50 or more in merchandise; This is because of the time needed to fill out export paperwork.
Shipping charges are a pass-through of our cost for FedEx or U.S. Postal Service transport, and you will be directly responsible to Customs for duties and taxes, if any. Chocosphere will offer the shipping carrier (FedEx or Postal Service) that we feel gives the best service cost effectively for a given order. To estimate Postal Service charges, you can go the http://ircalc.usps.gov/ web site. If you know the approximate weight of the shipment, you should be able to come close on shipping charges. Since there is not a corresponding FedEx tool for estimating Chocosphere's FedEx shipping charges to Canada, we will offer a shipping estimate if we feel FedEx is the best way to ship.You can also e-mail us with destination and product details before ordering, and we can reply with an estimate for the cost of shipping based on the information you provide.
Chocosphere cannot take responsibility for risk of loss on export shipments after proof of acceptance of the shipment by FedEx or the U.S. Postal Service. Destination temperature should be below 80°F for successful delivery.
International Shipping (other than Canada)
If you are not in the Ecole Chocolat course, and shipping to an export country other than Canada, please e-mail us using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page to see if we can ship to your country. If you do not follow this procedure and we have not shipped to you previously, we will likely cancel your order and refund to your charge card because there are many countries where we cannot send chocolate due to regulations or weather conditions.
Shipping Carrier
The only valid shipping options for Export are U.S. Postal Priority Mail International and FedEx International Priority. Please select “International Shipping...” as your shipping option during checkout. Presuming Chocosphere can successfully ship to your country, our selected shipping method (FedEx or Postal) will be advised with an estimated shipping cost. Note that transit time will be different than shown on our checkout page, and the cost will be based on the actual shipping weight of your order and actual cost from the U.S. Postal Service or FedEx.
If you want an estimate of shipping cost and transit time for Postal shipping, you can get close by trying to estimate the shipping weight of your order based on the total net weight of the products you've selected multiplied by 1.15 (Note: The weight is around 8 lbs for EcoleChocolat “Understanding Chocolate Flavor” kits), and then go to http://ircalc.usps.gov/. There is no corresponding FedEx tool that you can use to estimate shipping cost, but you can e-mail Chocosphere with address and product details so we can get back to you with an estimate of shipping charge and our carrier recommendation (FedEx or Postal).
The actual weight and resulting shipping cost can vary from such an estimate due to the product mix, type of box selected and whether or not there is a need for warm weather packaging. We will attempt to use flat rate boxes if more cost effective whenever possible, but we cannot guarantee it can be done. If you let Chocosphere decide whether to use “Warm Weather Packaging” to help protect the chocolate from heat, it will be included with no additional packaging charge, but the weight of ice packs will affect the shipping charge. Destination temperature should be below 80°F for successful delivery.
Additional Requirements & Conditions
Chocosphere reserves the right to decline shipping of Export orders, including when in our judgement successful delivery is unlikely. If Chocosphere decides to decline your Export order, you will be promptly notified and all charges will be refunded to the card on which the order was originally placed.
Chocosphere will take reasonable care towards successful and safe delivery of your order, but when it comes to export shipments many factors are outside Chocosphere's control. Therefore, if an order is being shipped outside of the U.S., it must be placed on-line and the following statement must be in the “Comments” section (last field) of the order:
I accept responsibility if the package does not deliver (if correctly addressed by Chocosphere as shown on the order confirmation), if Customs takes the product or if it arrives damaged. I understand and agree that the recipient of this shipment is solely responsible for any Customs duties or fees that may be charged. I also understand during the warm months that the products may arrive melted or out of temper, even if Warm Weather Packaging is used.
If the above statement is not provided in the "Comments" section of your order, we will ask that you provide it by e-mail. If you do not, we will likely cancel your order and refund to the card upon which the order was charged.
Notes: Due to government regulations, there are many countries we are unable to ship to. Among those are Czech Republic, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Russia, and Ukraine, and there are others. If we ship to Nicaragua, Postal allows Express Mail only, and we'll have to check with FedEx.
Shipping Surcharges
Items noted on the web site as having a "Surcharge" will incur a Shipping Surcharge as noted below. "If it Fits, it Ships!" is not subject to the surcharge.
Surcharges are in addition to our normal shipping charge and are assessed on a per-item basis:
| Category | Overnight | 2-day Air | Postal Priority Mail | Value Shipping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy | $15.00 | $7.00 | $7.00 | $3.50 |
| Very Heavy | $30.00 | $15.00 | $15.00 | $7.50 |
| Extremely Heavy | $35.00 | $20.00 | $20.00 | $10.00 |
| Large (Bulky) | $30.00 | $15.00 | $15.00 | $7.50 |
| Very Large (Bulky) | $40.00 | $25.00 | $25.00 | $10.00 |