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****PLEASE GO TO NEW SHOPPING CART**** The
information below applies to our old shop that used CCNow processing. About TopKayaker.Net’s Sit-On-Top Accessory Shop aka Tom's TopKayaker Shop Below you will find some info about the TopKayaker Shop and our old CCNow Shopping Cart, some FAQs, that will help you understand the old shop and how it worked. Any purchase at this older shop from TopKayaker.Net, aka Sit-On-TopKayaking.Com, will appear as CCNow on your card statement. Basically, we do not store nor sell your personal information. See also our Privacy Policey. We now have a direct URL to our new shop: www.TopKayaker.Com Contact us (and CCNow) You can contact us by e-mail, snail mail or by phone. Tom handles the shop inquires and orders. It is preferable to e-mail your questions for accuracy and convenience. You can call if you like, but Tom is not always available to take your call. Letters and packages can be mailed if so desired.
You can call us: Toll Free Phone: 877-893-1726 or: 603-323-8090
You can send us mail here:
Shipping Information Most orders will be shipped the following business day. Orders placed late in the evening (USA time), Monday at 10PM for example, are sometimes shipped the day after tomorrow, Wednesday for example. In some rare cases it may take as many as five days before an order is shipped, never longer. Every effort will be made to get your order to you as fast as possible. Please expect about 3-6 business days to receive your package. Folks on the East Coast will get packages faster than the West Coast, simply by being closer to our NH location. All orders are shipped via the United States Postal Service. We use the USPS because it keeps shipping costs down and goes almost as fast. Delivery Confirmation is standard and will allow us to track the package. Please use your regular mailing address, PO Boxes are OK. Carefully enter your shipping address into the shopping cart. It will be printed on the label exactly as you type it. Be sure to use “Care Of” when mailing to your workplace or other address you may be visiting. Packages with a U.S. destination will be shipped via Priority Mail. This will take 2-3 business days transit time, sometimes 4 to Hawaii, Alaska and other remote U.S. addresses. International orders will also be shipped via United States Postal Service and then delivered by your local letter carrier. International orders will be shipped via Air Mail using the fastest service level within the shipping & handling fee calculated by the shopping cart. The transit time will be hard to predict, most packages will take a week or two, some countries may take longer. All International orders may be subject to import tax. Customs, duties and taxes will be your responsibility. We have no way of knowing in advance the cost or making any arrangements to pay your duties in advance. A Shipping Confirmation will be e-mailed to you when the package has been shipped. In almost every case this will be on the day the shipment has been mailed. This message will go out just before or in most cases after the shipment has been mailed. If may contain a delivery confirmation number, package number, tracking number or other package service info. Your order will be shipped from TopKayaker.Net ~ GeoOdyssey Publications, PO box 482, Tamworth, NH 03886. For large quantity orders and for some back orders the shipment will be made via UPS, FedEx or similar parcel service direct to your address from the manufacture of that product. Many of the products sold by TopKayaker will not fit into mailboxes and slots. If you are not home to take delivery of a package the letter carrier may leave it in a secure location, or give you note to make arrangements to pick it up at your local Post Office or schedule re-delivery. You can leave instructions at your door, or type them into the “special instructions” field during checkout. Shipping & Handling Fee The CCNow Shopping Cart will calculate postage for your order based on the weight of the product(s) in your order. The system is not 100% accurate, but very fair, and monitored by a real human being. Since the postage will not be exact this is why we call it “shipping and handling” or “shipping and packaging”. Small one-item orders, in the USA will be the most accurate. Larger multi item orders and international packages will not be as accurate. There is just too much diversity in postal costs, locations and package weight and service options. USPS has just introduced some flat rate priority mail boxes (for domestic only) that cannot be integrated into the shopping cart system. The shipping and handling charge is watched carefully and those who, by chance, have paid considerably more than the postage costs will have a shipping adjustment made. You will never be billed for more than what the cart has calculated. Packages that are close, by a few dollars, will not have shipping adjustments made. Those orders that were charged too little for shipping will not be billed for more. Anyone can request a shipping adjustment if they feel they are entitled, just Email Tom @ TopKayaker.net. Please bear in mind that by submitting your order through the CCNow shopping cart you have accepted the terms and agreed to the shipping charges. Shipping adjustments are a courtesy. Warrantee, Returns and Refunds All products sold by TopKayaker.Net are fully guarantied against defects. If you receive a defective product please contact Tom as soon as possible for customer service. You may be directed to return the product to the maker. TopKayaker will cover any item sold for up to one year from purchase date against defects in materials and workmanship. It is normal for users of paddle sports equipment to sometimes exceed the intended use of a kayaking product. Situations of product failure and or abuse will be handled on a case-by-case basis. If a product fails to meet your expectations, does not fit, or is unwanted for some reason contact Tom. You have up to 30 days to make your return. Gently used items (tested and found unwanted) can be returned for a refund within this time period. Shipping and Handling charges and Return Postage are not refundable. It is solely at Tom’s discretion to refund these charges or not. In situations of error on our part, defective products, and shipping damage the shipping costs will be covered by TopKayaker. Your refund will not be posted until the product has been returned to TopKayaker.Net or the maker. Please include the original packing slip or copy of it with your return. If you need an alternative shipping address, other than the PO Box above, please email Tom @ TopKayaker.net. Feel free to reuse and re-label the original packaging. You should also use Delivery Confirmation, insurance or other service that provides proof of delivery. Your local post office will have in stock all the supplies needed, labels boxes and such. (Maybe not very large boxes.) Recycle, Reuse, Reduce. All refunds will be made to the card account that the original purchase was made with. It will appear as CCNow on your statement. Exchanges for alternative sizes and models can be made on a case-by-case basis. Swapping items of equal value will be no problem. Swapping an item of lesser value for one of higher value will require a refund of the original and a new order must placed for the desired one. Shipping Damage, Shortages and Other Problems TopKayaker will fully cover any items damaged in shipping. If you receive an order that is incomplete in any way, or mixed up it will be covered at our expense. Please contact Tom within 10 days of receipt of a damaged shipment, wrong quantity or mix-up. There may be at times a delivery problem. Pay special attention while entering your “ship to” info. Yes, the Post Office can make a mistake, misplace a package, but this is extraordinarily rare. If there appears to be a problem contact Tom and your local Post Office as soon as you are aware of it. Email Tom @ TopKayaker.net. Out-of-stock & Back Orders There will be times when the shopping cart will indicate that a product is temporarily unavailable. It may only be identified by a product code after clicking the “add to cart button”. If you get this message you can contact Tom to find out when the product will be back in stock. On items that require a selection, such as Brass Clips or Plastic Buckles and Glove sizes you will be offered those that are in stock. Sizes or options that are out of stock will not be offered for selection. Restocking can take as long as one week or as much as a month or so, depending on the product and the season. Restocking in the summer can take longer than the winter. Bear in mind that production and shipping of these products is out of our control. Every effort will be made to keep an adequate supply in stock on hand. On some rare cases the shopping cart will let you buy a product that is actually out of stock, or the quantity ordered exceeds the quantity currently in stock. We try very hard to not to allow this to happen, but the shopping cart does not really know how much we have in stock. If this happens you will be notified with available options. In most cases you will have to wait a little longer, or that item(s) will be cancelled from the order and you will not have to pay for it. Sometimes a substitution can be made. Tom may refer you to another web site where that item or similar product can be obtained. If you are not available to choose an option Tom will proceed with what he thinks is in your best interest, knowing that it can be sorted out to your satisfaction. The CCNow Shopping Cart System CCNow is a service that allows TopKayaker to sell Sit-On-Top kayak accessories on-line. This allows us the time to answer your questions, write new informative articles and in general provide you with a high degree of education and customer service. CCNow handles the transaction and the shopping cart. TopKayaker.Net stocks the products, creates the TopKayaker Shop pages and ships out the orders. Tom handles all the questions about the products and their use, as well as questions about orders, charges, and shipping. CCNow can answer your questions about the transaction and the use of the shopping cart. CCNow is the “retailer” while TopKayaker is the “supplier” to CCNow, but you can depend on Tom to act as your salesman and customer service person. Your transaction will appear as CCNow on your card statement, NOT as TopKayaker. In addition to credit & debit bankcards CCNow has just added a PayPal option for the transaction. The CCNow Shopping cart is easy to use and fairly similar to other shopping on the web. As you brose through the store pages you will see “Add to Cart” buttons next to products. They are clearly labeled; so take the time to ensure you are clicking the right button. Once the “Add to Cart” button is clicked your browser will take you to the CCNow Shopping Cart. There you will be able to edit the quantity or delete the product that was selected. Use the link “Continue Shopping: Sit-on-topKayaking.com” to return, not your back button, and select more items or browse more pages at TopKayaker. The “View Cart / Check Out” button will take you back to the cart with out adding any new products. At that time you will follow the prompts to select a shipping destination, choice of currency, billing and ship-to address, phone number and e-mail address. The only way to purchase from TopKayaker using a card is with the CCNow shopping cart. We cannot take phone orders. We cannot add items to your order after it has been placed. We cannot upgrade your shipping to “overnight” and bill it to your card. In short we can never add any amount to your charge. Only you can do that by using the CCNow shopping cart. In fact we never have access to your account information or even know what your card number is. That is all handled through CCNow who acts as our “retail billing dept.” through their secure system. Your account and personal information & address are safe and will not be shared, sold or used inappropriately by CCNow or GeoOdyssey / TopKayaker. There is a “special instructions” field in the CCNow Shopping Cart where you can type in a message. You can use this to contact Tom about delivery instructions, shipping adjustments and considerations that apply to your order. Feel free to e-mail Tom directly as well. You can “explore” the CCNow Shopping Cart by following the prompts and clicking the buttons. This will allow you to preview shipping and packaging charges, see the list of destinations, get a total and read the notice from TopKayaker. As long as you do not enter a card number and “finalize” the transaction you can use the cart to “quote” your charge. In fact you will have every option to cancel your order if you authorize it by accident, but please do so quickly. Your order will remain in the CCNow system for a short time if you wish to take a break. A cookie will remember what you put into the cart for a short time. After a bit it will disappear into “e-vapor”. If your card is declined you will be notified by e-mail. At that time you will have the option to view the original order in the Shopping Cart and take a second try with your card or a new card account. Problems with making card transaction on-line, or “credit-techno-phobias” can be addressed with Tom. The shopping cart can act poorly or not at all if your browser and/or security settings are not compatible with the system. You may have to adjust your settings for the cart to function properly. (Or try an alternative computer.) Contact CCNow for technical problems. If you need any assistance with the shopping cart or have any questions please email Tom @ TopKayaker.net. Special Orders Some of the kayak accessories you see in the TopKayaker Shop may be listed as “Special Order”. This means that they are not always kept in stock. If the shopping cart will allow a purchase they are most likely in stock and ready to ship to you, Tom will contact you if not. If the cart says the product is temporarily unavailable contact Tom and he will get this product in stock for you and notify you when it is ready to purchase. You will be under no obligation to buy it when it does become available, but please be serious about any special order item. Tom can stock, and/or find for you, a wide variety of paddle sport and out door accessories, not currently featured in the shop. If you have a need please ask and see what Tom can do for you. We cannot guarantee that we can help you get what you need or do it very fast, but we will give it a try. Affiliate Programs TopKayaker.Net works with other retailers through affiliate and associates programs. We know what kinds of products that you may be looking for or needing. After all TopKayaker cannot stock every thing. So we work with these other retailers to help facilitate your access to kayak and outdoor gear. Tom will often suggest a product to answer your e-mailed or Forum questions. He may suggest a product that is not sold through one of the affiliates or he may suggest a product that is, what ever will best suit your needs. By using one of the many links to our affiliates your purchase will help support the efforts of TopKayaker.Net. The affiliate and associates programs pay TopKayaker a small percentage of purchases made after using one of these links. To ensure your support use the link to the retailer from one of the TopKayaker.Net or Sit-on-topKayaking.com pages. Select the items you wish to buy and try to finalize the transaction in that session. A cookie will make this happen, and will remain in your temp files for a short while so you can go directly back to the retailer to finish your purchase later if so desired. By entering, or re-entering, into the retailer’s site through one of our banner links you will ensure your support. We are currently offering links to Amazon.com, REI, Sierra Trading Post, and MyTop.com. We have selected these retailers based on direct personal experience, good selection of products, value pricing and their reputation in the outdoor industry. We are confident that they will serve you well, if not we want to know about it. FYI
from Tom: We also have a program with ToolKing.com and Bass Pro
Shops. Off-Line Ordering Not surprisingly (surprising to us maybe!) we get requests for a catalog to be mailed to kayaking enthusiast in the USA around the world. We now have a printed catalog. One is mailed with each new order as of July 2005. If you need something in print, in hand, feel free to print out any of our store pages to use as such. We can process orders off line if needed. These cannot be paid with a credit or debit cards. They must be paid with Money Orders, COD or Personal Check. Money orders will be processed immediately, COD is for cash payment only, and personal checks must be cleared (up to two weeks) before the order is shipped. Please email Tom @ TopKayaker.net for additional information concerning off-line orders. You can also request that a catalogue be mailed to you and rest assured that your address will not be used for other purposes. Pay Pal Option Pay Pal is a new service we are just now getting familiar with. If you want to help us experiment with it contact Tom for the details. The CCNow Shopping Cart now accepts PayPal as well as a variety of bankcards. Why we have an on-line store Sit-On-TopKayaking.com started out in 1998 as a little “bill board on the internet super highway”, just a little one page announcement of our first book “Sit-On-TopKayaking, A Beginner’s Guide”. That one page grew by adding a Forum where questions could be answered and a SOT community could thrive. An Amazon bookstore was shortly added to facilitate access to our publications as well as other books applicable to SOT kayaking. The many visitors and questions via e-mail and Forum prompted us to write and publish the articles that are found here. Our paddling place in cyber space evolved into an on-line magazine/encyclopedia of sit-on-top kayak information now called TopKayaker.Net. (A short version of the old name) We now have a Kayak Accessory Shop to supply the needs of the “top paddler”. The predominant question that comes our way, from the very beginning of our site, is: “What should I get? Where can I get it?” With Tom’s background, working in a kayak retail shop, the decision was made to start offering the essential accessories for sit-on-top kayaking. This would help to fund the website and allow us to put more time into running it. Little by little we started adding more accessories as we saw a need for them or found some that we knew would be useful. The shop has proved convenient to many who have trouble finding the specific accessories for sit-on-top kayaks. Tom enjoys very much being there to help you with your questions and provide what it is you truly need. With your support and loyalty we hope to grow the TopKayaker Shop while still maintaining the friendly one-on-one personal service. What we stock, why we have it, and what may be coming soon. The primary focus of the TopKayaker Shop is to serve the needs of sit-on-top paddlers, not only to answer their questions about SOT accessories, but also provide those accessories that may not be readily available to them at other kayak shops. Backrests, kayak seats, knee straps, leg straps, paddle leashes and custom outfitting hardware are the core of the products we offer. In addition to the core offerings there are many other SOT specific accessories. We also like to provide products that relate to the articles on our site like the kayak navigation tools and dive kayak accessories. We have added waterproof cases and paddling gloves in response to Forum topics about keeping things dry and what to wear. The TopKayaker Shop does not carry the big-ticket items such as kayaks, paddles PFDs, roof racks and wet suits. While it would be nice to have those available it is not currently practical for us to stock them. These products are widely available at your local kayak shops and should not be hard to find. For those who prefer to shop on-line we recommend our affiliates. Tom can offer his opinion on any of the kayak gear offered by them. Our plan is to slowly expand the gear selection in our shop. In the future you will see more kayak accessories such as dry bags, compasses, custom outfitting kits and apparel. Sit-in-side kayak accessories may be added as well to the line up. Your suggestions on what to carry will be welcome. Thank
you for your support and for shopping at TopKayaker.Com! Tom welcomes your own reviews and recommendations:
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