Shipping & Returns
Everything here is blended to order, which changes a few of the usual rules. This page explains what that means for delivery, changes and returns.
Last updated 21 July 2026
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How long we take to make it
Nothing is pre-mixed and sitting on a shelf. When your order comes in, your oils go into the bottle at the right dilution for that formula, and it's packed once it settles.
Orders are blended and dispatched within 1–2 business days. During busier stretches this can stretch to 5 business days, and we'll email you if your order is affected.
The delivery estimates below start when the parcel leaves us, not when you place the order.
Where we ship
We ship across the United States and Canada. We don't currently ship anywhere else — if you're outside those two countries, checkout won't be able to take your address.
Canadian orders may attract import duties, taxes or a carrier handling fee on delivery. Those are set by Canadian customs, not by us, they aren't included in what you pay at checkout, and they're the recipient's responsibility.
Aerosol and liquid restrictions. Essential oils are classed as flammable liquids by some carriers, which rules out certain air services. If a restriction applies to your address we'll contact you before shipping rather than cancel quietly.
Delivery options and cost
You choose one of these at checkout. Both are flat rates — they don't change with order size or weight.
Business days are Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. Neither service is guaranteed or tracked to the door unless the carrier's own tracking says otherwise.
Local to Folsom? You can pickup at our 813 Sutter Street shop instead and pay nothing for delivery.
Changing or cancelling an order
Because each bottle is made for you, there's a window before we start blending in which we can change almost anything — the blend, the size, the address — and a point after which we can't.
Email orders@herbal-alchemist.com with your order number as soon as you can. If we haven't started blending, we'll make the change or cancel and refund you in full. If we have, we'll tell you what's still possible.
If something arrives damaged or wrong
Tell us within 7 days of delivery and we'll make it right — a replacement or a full refund, whichever you'd rather have. This covers leaks, breakages in transit, the wrong item, and blends that don't match what you ordered.
A photo helps, particularly for anything damaged in transit, because it's what the carrier asks us for. Please don't throw away the packaging until we've sorted it out.
You won't be asked to pay return postage on anything that arrived faulty or wrong.
Returns
Two different rules apply here, and which one you get depends on whether the bottle was scented for you.
Unscented bases, unopened
A base with no oils blended into it can be returned within 30 days of delivery, as long as it's unopened and any seal is intact. Return postage is yours to cover unless the item was faulty. Once it reaches us and we've checked it, we'll refund the price of the item.
Custom blends
A bottle blended with the oils you chose was made specifically for you and can't be resold, so it isn't returnable simply because you changed your mind or didn't get on with the scent.
That's not a brush-off — it's why we'd rather you started small. A 4 oz bottle is the cheapest way to find out whether a blend suits you before committing to a 64 oz one.
If a blend genuinely isn't right, email us anyway. Where we've mis-measured, mislabelled or the oil isn't what it should be, that's a fault and we'll replace it. We'd rather hear about it than lose you.
Essential oil bottles
Unopened oils can be returned within 30 days on the same terms as unscented bases. Once the seal is broken we can't take an oil back, because we have no way to verify what's in the bottle.
Refunds
Refunds go back to the card or payment method you used — we can't send them anywhere else. Once we've issued one it usually appears within 5–10 business days, though the exact timing is your bank's, not ours.
Original delivery charges are refunded when the fault was ours, and not when you've simply changed your mind.
Refills
You've already paid for the container once. Send the bottle back or bring it in, and we'll refill it below the price of a new one — with your original blend or a different one, at the same price either way.
By post
Rinse the bottle and let it dry completely before sending it. Return postage is billed at exactly what it costs us to send it back to you, with nothing added on top.
In Folsom
Drop the bottle off and collect it refilled. Nothing ships in either direction, so there's no postage at all.
813 Sutter Street Suite C, Folsom, CA 95630. Thur - Sun, Noon to 5 ish
What we can't refill
We check every container before filling it. If a bottle is cracked, the pump has failed, or it can't be cleaned properly, we'll tell you before we put anything in it and give you the choice of a new container or having it sent back.
Lost and undelivered parcels
If tracking says delivered and it isn't with you, check with your neighbours and building first — that resolves most of them. Still missing after 5 business days, tell us and we'll open a claim with the carrier.
Parcels returned to us as undeliverable — usually an incomplete address — can be resent once you've confirmed the address, though the postage has to be paid again.
Talk to us
Email orders@herbal-alchemist.com with your order number and we'll get back to you within two business days. Anything on this page can be discussed — it describes what we normally do, not the limit of what we're willing to do.