Delivery Exceptions

There may be occasions when your order is delayed or not delivered - this could be for a number of reasons. When there are delivery exceptions, these will generally be visible on the tracking.

Find out more about where to find your tracking number and how to track your order in the following article - How can I track my order?

It is important to note that whilst we are happy to assist you with any information and advice regarding the delivery of your order, Artfinder will be unable to contact the courier on your behalf. This is because as Artfinder is neither the sender, nor the receiver of the parcel, the couriers will not provide us with any information relating to shipments or allow us to make any changes on your behalf.

You will find some of the most common delivery exceptions listed below.

Transit delays

All parcels can experience delays in transit due to various reasons:

• The shipment is being routed to an incorrect address or courier hub, and this will need to be relabelled;
• The parcel has been damaged in transit and this is delayed with the courier as it needs to be repackaged;
• Other circumstances such as wars, inclement weather, road works and other similar delays over which ourselves or the courier have no control.

In all of these instances, the problem will most often be handled by the courier, or it will resolve on its own and no action will be required on your part.

There will however be instances when you might need to contact the courier directly in order to receive the delivery of your parcel. We have listed these for you below.

Order held at the post office or courier's hub 

When a shipment is being held with your local post office or with your courier, this can be for several reasons, such as:

• The courier tried to deliver but there was nobody present to receive the parcel or a safe space at the delivery location;
• The parcel requires a signature;
• Customs duties and import fees are due on the parcel;
• The courier does not deliver to the address or had issues reaching the delivery location, so the parcel was taken to the local post office/hub for collection.

In all of these cases, you will need to contact the courier or your local postal service in order to rearrange delivery or collect the parcel. 

Order held at customs

All international shipments will need to be processed and cleared by the customs authorities of the country of destination and customs duties and import fees may be imposed on the parcel depending on local regulations. It is important to note that it is the responsibility of the customer placing the order to pay any local import taxes and duties.

If an order is being held at customs, it could either be pending charges, or in some cases, further information may be required from the sender or the receiver in order for this to be cleared.

Information that may be required from the sender:

• Commercial invoices;
• Artwork export documentation;
• Sales VAT invoices;
• Transactional invoices.

Information that you may be required to submit:

• Taxation information such as in the case of US imports above $2500;
• Proof of payment for the goods - your Artfinder order confirmation email should suffice;
• The recipient's ID which might be required in order to release shipments;
• Any other information the customs authorities may need from yourself in order to clear the parcel.

Order returned to sender

A parcel can be returned to the artist for a variety of reasons, the most common ones are as follows:

• The courier tried to deliver but nobody was in to accept the parcel (they will usually have a maximum number of times they will attempt delivery before returning to sender);
• The shipping documentation was incomplete, and the courier hasn’t received the information they need in time;
• There was an error with the shipping address;
• There were pending customs duties and import fees which weren’t paid in time, or the receiver refused delivery of the parcel due to not wanting to pay these.

If an order is being returned to the artist, they will likely contact you to find out if you wish for this to be reshipped, or if you wish to receive a refund. If you notice that the tracking for your order says it has been returned to sender, and the artist has not contacted you, please contact our Support and Operations Team on customers@artfinder.com.

In cases where the reason for the return is due to an issue such as the incorrect delivery address being given at checkout, or pending customs duties and import fees not being paid on time, if you still wish to receive the artwork, then the cost of reshipping would fall to you. It is not possible for any additional payments to be made once you have placed your order, so in such cases, the order would be refunded, and you'd then be able to place a new order.

For your own safety, please ensure that no payment details are exchanged with the artist via the messaging system, and that no payments are processed outside of the Artfinder platform.

In cases where the reason for return is due to the shipping documentation being incomplete, or an error with the address made by the artist at the time of shipping, then the artist is likely to cover the new shipping charge should you still wish to receive the artwork.

If you wish to receive a refund for the returned order instead of having it reshipped, then please let the artist know, or contact Artfinder directly and we will be able to process this once the artwork has been returned to the artist.

It is important to note that there may also be occasions where the tracking advises that your order has been delivered, but you haven’t received it. For further information on what to do if this is the case, please have a look here: I haven't received my order, but the tracking shows it's been delivered - what should I do?