85+ years holistic experience

Instant answers to BioPreparation and BioSuperfood FAQs

Shipping Charges

Normal shipping is done by U.S.P.S. Priority Mail (2-3 days delivery but not guaranteed). If you have a critically ill pet, please be sure you consider the other three emergency shipping options below. Priority Mail and Express Mail are cheaper but we have found the U.S.P.S. to be extremely unreliable when compared to Federal Express.

Normal Shipping: We ship all orders (Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. territories and International, including P.O. Boxes ) by U.S.P.S. Priority Mail which usually takes 2-3 days for delivery (in the Continental U.S.). If you need faster service, choose the other shipping options below in our shopping cart.

Optimum Choices will assume liability for all orders under $400 for loss or damage. We will routinely insure all orders over $400 and ALL International orders regardless of value, unless specifically requested not to do so by the customer (to save costs). The customer is then liable for all uninsured orders.

$9.50 for first bottle/$1 each additional bottle. Some items and International orders higher.

Expedited Priority Mail Shipping Option: We will ship your order by U.S.P.S. Priority Mail on the same day if possible (must be received before 3:00 PM Mountain Time) or by the end of the next business day after receipt of payment. If this is not possible, there will be no extra $7.00 surcharge. This surcharge is in addition to the Normal Shipping charges above.

Emergency Overnight Express Mail Shipping Option: We will ship your order by U.S.P.S. Express Mail the same day if possible (must be received before 3:00 PM Mountain Time) or by the end of the next business day, after receipt of payment. If this is not possible, there will be no extra $30.00 surcharge. This surcharge is in addition to the normal shipping charges above. Express Mail is cheaper than Federal Express but not as reliable (sometimes delivered the second day). Use Express Mail at your own risk. Keep this in mind if you have a critical pet emergency.

Emergency Overnight Federal Express Shipping Option: We will ship your order by Federal Express Standard Overnight (by 3:00 PM) the same day (must be received before 3:00 PM Mountain Time) or by the end of the next business day, after receipt of payment. If this is not possible, there will be no extra $60.00 surcharge. This surcharge is in addition to the normal shipping charges above. Federal Express First Overnight (by 9:00 AM) and Federal Express Priority Overnight (by 10:30 AM) options are also available if needed for an increased cost. Please specify which service in the Special Instructions box of the shopping cart, otherwise we will use Standard Overnight (by 3:00 PM).

Canadian Orders—whenever possible, BioSuperfood/BioPreparation Canadian orders will be shipped from our associate's office (BioAge, LLC) in Ontario, Canada. This avoids any Customs delays and saves the customer International postage (should be less than what our shopping cart shows for international shipping). If you don't mind receiving beginning instructions and any other pertinent literature sent by e-mail, then click on the [Buy Now] at the right and then the green
[Continue Shopping] button at the bottom to return to this page to add which product you want. To calculate the cost of shipping select "USA, incl AL & HI" and then your Canadian Province at the very bottom of the list. On the second Shopping Cart page, select Country=Canada and in the Special order instructions box, type in "Canada Post please." All Canadian sent orders will be charged this low $6.00 additional handling fee.

International Orders (other than Canada) sent by insured Priority Mail (6-10 days)—$35.00 for the first bottle/jar (for example, BioSuperfood, BioPreparation, Seacure) and $2.00 for each additional bottle/jar. Shipping for NingXia Red juice bottles are more. We will routinely insure all orders (included in shipping charge) unless specifically requested not to do so by the customer (to save costs). The customer is then liable for all uninsured orders. In some areas, insurance is not available. In these cases, Optimum Choices will work to find an equitable solution or may choose not to ship at all, unless the customer assumes all risk.

We will gladly send International orders by First Class Mail (to save you money). We have found First Class Mail to be very unpredictable, unreliable, non-traceable and uninsurable. Therefore for First Class Mail, the recipient assumes all liability for lost or damaged packages. Select the International shipping option in our shopping cart (which will calculate the Priority Mail rate) but enter "First Class Mail" in the Special Instructions box on the second page of our shopping cart. Your e-mail order confirmation will still show the Priority Mail rate but we will adjust the shipping charges downward BEFORE your credit card is actually charged.

We can also send by Global Express Guaranteed (1-3 days, $ 80-95) or Express Mail International (3-8 days, $50-60) depending on the country. Shipping price includes insurance. Send us your address and we can tell you what are your options and costs.

$35.00 for first bottle/ $2 each additional bottle. Some items higher.

1. Why are your shipping charges so expensive?
   We have compared U.P.S., Federal Express Ground, DHL and the U.S.P.S. and the U.S. Postal Service is the least expensive shipping method possible. We used to ship the cheaper First Class Mail service but the Post Office would lose or damage about 1-2 shipments per month. Whenever we complained to the Postmaster they asked if we had a tracking or insurance claim number. Obviously, we did not since First Class service offered neither. The Postmaster's response was, "If you are a business and you want more reliable service then use (pay more for) Priority Mail with tracking and insurance." Since we switched to Priority Mail with tracking, the lost and damaged packages have dropped to about 1 every 3 months.
   
   But who is going to pay for that one lost package every 3 months? Suppose a customer ordered a BioSuperfood-f3 Starter Pack worth $333.75 and the package never showed up. Do we make the customer pay another $333.75 for a second shipment? Hardly! Will the Post Office pay a claim if the package was not insured (insuring every package increases your Shipping & Handling charge)? Never! So, in order to provide good customer service, Optimum Choices must mail out a duplicate $333.75 order at no charge to the disappointed customer. Who pays for that cost? Like all businesses, we must factor those losses into our Shipping & Handling costs for every customer, so we spread out the loss over the total volume of orders.
    
2. Why is your total Shipping & Handling charge more than the postage on my package?
   The Shipping & Handling charge is comprised of two parts: Shipping + Handling. Together they cover ALL our business costs to send out packages, not just the postage to send out your individual package. Priority Mail shipping charges for a 1 pound or under package (1-5 bottles) is $4.95. On top of that postage we have to account for the cost of the self-adhesive label, the laser printer toner and the gas or mileage it takes to take the package to the Post Office. Using $0.55/mile (IRS business mileage deduction) for a 10-mile roundtrip to the Post office, those cost total $5.70. If we do not mail the package ourselves and utilize a fulfillment house or drop ship service, they charge us a $5.00 per package service fee in addition to the postage. Any way you calculate it, it costs us $9.95-10.65 to mail out one bottle of BSF/BP not including our labor costs. So, we are LOSING money every time we send out one bottle and only charge $9.50 Shipping & Handling. In order to keep things simple, we average out the above costs so that we might end  up behind on single bottle orders but come out ahead on multiple bottle orders. But those are not the ONLY costs involved.
   
   Optimum Choices is not large enough yet to pay a full time packing person $10/hour just to pack boxes. A trained Customer Service Agent can process 4 existing client orders per hour or 2 new customer orders per hour. So, we hire and train Customer Service Agents at $15-20/hour to not only process and pack orders but also to handle customer service issues and product support. Our labor costs are $5-10 per package to process your order, stuff bottles into a box for mailing and answer product support questions.
    
3. Can you ship it cheaper?
   Yes, if a customer requests a cheaper shipping rate, we will ship their package by First Class Mail or Parcel Post. Please specify which service you would like in the Special Instructions box of our shopping cart. You will be charged the postage rate + $2.00 for the box, label and tape + $5.00 handling fee. The customer then assumes all liability for lost or damaged packages after Optimum Choices delivers the package to our local Post Office. There is no tracking for First Class Mail or Parcel Post service.
    
4. Why does it take 1-2 days to process an order?
   Optimum Choices is the largest independent e-tailer and reseller (to vets and pet stores) of BioPreparation in the world. Because of the incredible demand (2008=125% growth, 2009=60% growth) for our holistic products (because they work like nothing else), our business is growing exponentially. Because of this increasing order volume and the long time it takes to educate people on this new holistic paradigm (i.e., stop supplementing symptoms and use whole food products), it can take 1-2 days to process an order. Telephone orders (more manual process and less automation than online orders) take longer to process and are more prone to mistakes. You can help us decrease order processing times by placing your order online. Telephone orders can take up to one week to process. Thank you for your patience as we meet all our clients' needs.