The Plate Lady Site Information

Site Information
What's On This Page:

How To Use Our Site | How To Place An Order | Shipping Charges |Order Cancellations | Return Policy

Welcome to The Plate Lady of Tampa Bay web site.

We are here to help you in any way we can.

Site Notes:

*We maintain pictures of Limited Edition collectible plates that are not in stock within our plate galleries so that our visitors may view these fine art plates for reference. We try to show entire series whenever possible, as we have not found this service available elsewhere. Pictures are representative only and are not of the actual product. Representative picture colors may differ slightly from the actual product and borders may not always be viewable in the picture. You can always be assured that any new or previously cherished plate we sell will be in mint condition .

* We also offer decorative display accessories for one-stop shopping convenience.

* We also offer other art collectibles that would be considered home decor gift ware. We have a number of authentic museum reproductions as well as artistic interpretations of authentic antiquities. We feel that reproductions offer a cost effective and responsible way to bring the charm of the ancient world into your home or office for your personal enjoyment.

How To Use Our Site:

1. Navigation:

We provide a complete web site map on almost every page of our web site.

*The map can be found on either side of each page, except the home page, where it is found below the entrance pictures, and the plate list pages. This is to make it easier to navigate. You can use this site map to jump to any page on our site, just clicking on one link.

*Pages that do not contain this map have links at the top or bottom of the page that will take you to other areas of the site that do have the complete map on them.

We also included 'What's On This Page' sections - located at the center/top of most pages - that will jump you down to specific areas of interest on the page. They are similar to the links at the top of this page. 'Return To Top' links are also provided after each section for your convenience.

We also have a traditional 'site map' page that may be of help. It organizes the pages by category and may be helpful in searching.

2. Search Boxes and Plate Lists:

We have placed a search box at the bottom of each page, so that you can search for specific artists and plate series. We also maintain an extensive plate list that can be re-sorted alphabetically by the artist's last name, the plate name, the series name, or the manufacturer's name at the click of a button. This provides help when you only know the artist's name or just the plate name. However, these lists do not contain every plate on our web site.

*You can find this list by clicking on the links to the top-left corner of this page that are under the heading that says 'Plate Lists".

*Please be patient while the plate list page is loading for the first time. This is an extensive list and may take up to 3 minutes to load completely, depending on the speed of your connection.

*Unfortunately there is nothing we can do about the loading time required, because we could not make the list sortable if it were split up, but we hope that the information and images we have provided will make your wait worthwhile.

*However, once the page has loaded for the first time, the loading time will be shorter and you can quickly revisit it anytime you like.

*This is because your own internet browser automatically saves a copy of each web site page you visit on the internet in a temporary folder on your computer and only has to re-copy the web site page when the page has new information on it.

*You can clear out your temporary internet files (pages) whenever you like by selecting 'Internet Options' on your browser. However, as stated above, web site pages will load faster when they are available in your temporary folder.

Once you are on the 'plate list' you can resort it by one of four categories: By the Artist's Last name, By the Series name, By the Plate's Name, or By the Manufacturer's name. By clicking on the links at the top of the columns that say 'by plate name', 'by company', 'by series', or 'by artist' that column will be sorted alphabetically from A - Z. In that way you can research what plates were make by an artist, what plates were made by a manufacturer, what plates are in a series, and/or what plates have similar names.

* If you click the link a second time, the plate order will be reversed (ie. from A-Z to Z-A). Clicking a third time will return it to A - Z order.

*Available pictures are accessed by clicking on the name of the plate.

You can click on one of the 'more info' buttons to go to the page on our site where you can order the corresponding plate. You will find an 'add to cart' link next to the plate's description.

*** You can press and hold CTL while pressing F to search the list page if needed.

You will need to use your back button or the links at the top of the page to return to the gallery pages when you are finished looking at the plate list or you can use one of the 'more info' links.

3. Searches:

You can search for items on any page that you are on by pressing and holding the CTL button on your keyboard while pressing the F key.

If you still cannot find what you are looking for, try using the search box that we placed at the bottom of most of our pages to search our entire site.

If you still cannot find it, then send us an email and we will try to find it for you.

How To Order :

INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING NOTE: Due to the high cost of shipping, we are now limiting the amount of cross-border and overseas shipping we do. If you have an account with either UPS or FedEx and can charge your overseas or cross-border shipping costs to your own account, then contact us at mailbox@theplatelady.com for instructions on how to place your order. Otherwise, we apologize for the inconvenience, but we cannot ship to you.

We are shipping to Canada at this time, however, please be aware that Canada is imposing a Goods and Services Tax (GST) and a Canadian Provincial Sales Tax (CPT) or Quebec Sales Tax (QST) on all items shipped from the USA to Canada. In Provinces with a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) a flat rate tax is charged instead.

Some Canadian shipments are subject to customs fees, which must be paid along with the sales tax at the time of delivery. We have no way to pay those fees in advance for our customers.

CALLING IN YOUR ORDER: You can call in your order to us Monday - Friday 10 am - 5 pm Eastern Standard Time. Our phone number listed in the Yellow Pages at SuperPages.com under Plate Lady.

USING OUR SECURE SHOPPING CART:

1. Placing Items In Your Shopping Cart:

First, click on the 'add to cart' link under the item you wish to purchase. This will take you to our secure shopping cart site and place your order information into the order form.

*To change the quantity of items you wish to purchase: Highlight the number in the box and type in the new number, then go to the bottom of the page and press the 'Recalculate' button.

*To Delete an item from the cart, change the number to 0 or delete the number completely and click on the 'Recalculate' button at the bottom of the page.

*To continue shopping, either press the back button on your browser or click on the 'Continue Shopping' link at the bottom of the order form.

*The order form will save your information until you delete it or complete the order process.

*To return to the Shopping Cart at any time, press the "Shopping Cart" button at the top or bottom of most pages on our web site

*To add another item to your shopping cart, click on 'add to cart' next to the item and it too will be added to the order form.

2. Completing Your Order:

If you have any special ordering information, such as a specific date that your order must be received by, you can use the "Special Requests" field to tell us.

If we sent you a discount voucher, then you can copy and paste the number into the empty box that says 'If you have a voucher, enter its code and click on Recalculate". This will add the discount to your total.

When you are ready to complete your order, make sure that all quantities that you wish to order are correct and then press the 'Go To Payments' button at the bottom of the order form.

* You must give us the address your last card statement was mailed to, so that we can verify this with your bank. Your payment will be declined by your bank, for security reasons, if this is not the correct address. Before you can continue, you must also check the box that says "This is my billing address". You can also enter a shipping address if you want your items shipped to a different address.

After you fill in your shipping information, you must click in the box next to the 'Shipping Charges' agreement to continue with your order. See 'Shipping Charges' below to find out how we calculate those costs.

*For orders shipped within the USA, usual shipping charges for orders that weigh less than 5 pounds are approximately $4 - $12, however, costs can be higher as the package weight increases.

*For orders shipped to Canada, usual shipping costs for orders that weigh less than 5 pounds are approximately $12 - $20, however, costs can be higher as the weight of the package increases.

*We no longer do international shipping due to the high shipping costs. We apologize for the inconvenience.

*If you feel you cannot complete the order without an estimate of shipping costs, you can email us for that information.

After you have agreed to pay the shipping costs, press the 'Continue' button and you will see a summary of your order.

Next check the box next to the credit card payment option. You can also use a Visa or Mastercard Check or Debit card, if you like, but we do not accept these if they do not have the Mastercard or Visa logo. To keep operation costs to a minimum and expedite processing, we do not accept personal checks or money orders. We apologize for the inconvenience.

*Any card information submitted will be encrypted and transferred to a secure Cisco Server where it will only be stored until it is retrieved by us within one to two business days.

*After we retrieve your order, all of your payment information will be deleted from the server. We never store your personal payment information online and all of our office papers are burned or shredded on disposal.

Press the 'order now' button and you are finished.

* You should receive immediate confirmation by Email that your order has been stored on our secure server. Please review this confirmation to make sure we have your correct address and phone number. We will only use this information if we need to contact you about your order. We never sell this information or use it for any other purpose.

*The total on your confirmation will not include your shipping charges, as they must be calculated by hand to ensure that you are only charged actual cost. If you have concerns about those charges, please contact us by email and we will calculate them for you.

*For certain items we offer, there could be one to two weeks between the date we receive your order and the date we ship. When this is the case, you will see an immediate charge for the items you have ordered and then when we ship, we will process a second charge for shipping. (See below for how we calculate shipping charges) We find this is more efficient for you and for ourselves, than keeping your credit card funds on hold for an extended period of time while we process your order.

*Sometimes we will have the manufacturer ship the items directly to you and sometimes you will receive your item directly from us. Shipping costs may vary due to these circumstances. Be assured that we will select the least expensive way to ship your purchase quickly and safely to your shipping address.

Shipping Charges:

We can only estimate your shipping charges after we know your complete order and your postal code. The distance the package must travel as well as the weight and fragility of the items you have ordered will need to be used to determine the cost of shipping. Also, whether we will be shipping from our address or from a remote address that might be closer to your shipping address.

*For orders shipped within the USA, usual shipping charges for orders that weigh less than 5 pounds are approximately $4 - $12, however, costs can be higher as the package weight increases.

*For orders shipped to Canada, usual shipping costs for orders that weigh less than 5 pounds are approximately $12 - $20, however, costs can be higher as the weight of the package increases.

Please be assured that we will select the least expensive way to ship your purchase quickly and safely to your shipping address. The Plate Lady's policy is to charge only our actual cost of shipping.

*On some occasions we will have the manufacturer ship items directly to you. Then their actual shipping costs will apply.

Because we calculate shipping charges on each item manually, we cannot give you the exact total of your shipping costs in advance. We will, however, notify you of those charges as soon as your order has been packaged and is ready to ship. If you cannot wait and need to know sooner, please email us and we will estimate them for you.

*We do not inflate the cost of items by adding to the actual shipping costs and we always strive to charge fair market prices or less for all items offered.

***Shipping charges cannot be refunded on orders that are returned to us undelivered, therefore, a phone number where the delivery service can reach you, if necessary, is required.

A working email address is also required so we can send an automated email confirmation to you. Reviewing this notice will ensure that the information you gave us was accurate. If you notice that you typed in the wrong information, please reply to that email with your corrections ASAP.

Special Note For Christmas Mailings:

If you want to ensure that your order will be delivered on or before December 24th, you will need to contact us to make sure this is still possible. Last minute shopping may still be available by Next Day or 2nd Day Air on request. Anything ordered in December, without special instructions, may or may not be delivered before Christmas.

Order Cancellations

Order cancellations must be made within 24 hours. If we notify you that your items are on backorder, you can still cancel by replying to that Email immediately with your cancellation request. Orders that have already been shipped cannot be canceled and you will still be responsible for shipping charges, even if the item is returned.

Return Policy

We stand behind the products we sell. This is reflected in our 100% Guarantee:

If the product you ordered arrives defective, we will replace it free or refund the full amount of your charges.

*You will need to report any packages with external damage to the shipping company first so that they can assess the damage to the contents, and then notify us so that we can send replacements.

All returns must be pre-authorized by our Customer Service department.

*You will need to Email us to preauthorize the return before mailing. We will give you instructions on how to proceed and the address where the return can be made at that time. Returns made without authorization will be refused.

*Please include your order number when you contact us, or the name of the person whose credit card was used. No returns will be accepted without prior authorization.

For returns of non-defective merchandise: A store credit can be issued for the amount of the item purchased or we can make a refund of the amount of purchase. Shipping charges are not refundable.

Please make sure the items you wish to order will meet your needs before ordering.

*Refunds may take 30 - 60 days before they appear on your credit card statement.

How To Use Our Site | How To Place An Order | Shipping Charges |Order Cancellations | Return Policy