Terms and Conditions

Terms and Conditions of Use for All Science Kits

When you purchase any of our Science Kits or materials, you agree to these Terms of Use. Please Contact Us if you have any questions or concerns. Safety is ultimately your responsibility. The degree of adult supervision you require will depend on your comfort level and the maturity of your student(s). Our lab kits include corrosive, toxic, and flammable chemicals. Although the very small amounts used minimize the risks, it is still important that both teacher and student familiarize themselves with the risks and follow all safety precautions, including wearing gloves and chemical splash goggles when handling hazardous materials. Our kits have been used successfully by parents whose science background varies from holding a Ph.D. in chemistry or biology to those who haven't had any exposure to science since they were taking high school science courses themselves. We make no assumptions about your level of science knowledge. The kit documentation provides complete, detailed instructions that allow you to do the lab sessions successfully regardless of your own experience. 

We strive to ship kits to US addresses within one week of receiving the order.  Multiple kits may require additional lead time.

Hazardous material shipping regulations and the nature of the kits make it impossible for us to accept returns, so please be certain you want the kit before you order it. All sales are final.     

If the kit is not completely used up, the best way to dispose of it is to give or sell it to another local homeschool family. (Do NOT ship the kit; unless you repackage the kit in accordance with all hazardous material shipping regulations, doing so may violate those regulations and get you into real trouble.) Local hazardous material disposal laws and regulations vary greatly in different jurisdictions, so if you want to remain within the letter of the law you should contact your local authorities about proper disposal methods. In practical terms, the amounts of hazardous chemicals included in the kits are small enough that you can simply flush them down the drain with copious running water.     

Terms and Conditions for International Shipments 

By placing an order for a kit or kits to be shipped to an address outside the US, you acknowledge that you understand and agree to the following terms and conditions: The contents of the international version of our kits is very similar but not identical to the contents of the US versions. Some of the chemicals in the US version are prohibited by international hazardous materials shipping regulations. Wherever possible we have provided non-hazardous substitutes, For example, the US kits contain 6 M (34%) acetic acid, while the international version substitutes 1.7 M (9.9%) acetic acid. The International versions contain dry stains which require the addition of alcohol before use. We are unable to ship internationally sodium hydroxide solution in any concentration or amount, but you can make up your own from sodium hydroxide obtained locally under the names of "lye" or "crystal drain opener".  Please contact us for more information.

You are responsible for determining whether it is legal for you to have a kit shipped to you. There are so many international jurisdictions that it's impossible for us to do so. In practice, in the past many buyers have probably ignored this issue, and we've never had any delivery problems with any of the many kits we've shipped internationally. You may (or may not) have to pay additional fees, taxes, customs duties, VAT, and so on, which are normally collected by your local postal service. We ship via USPS Priority Mail International because it is by far the least expensive method. Neither the USPS nor (to the best of our knowledge) other national postal services collect the very high customs brokerage fees often charged by UPS and other third-party shippers. Delivery times can be extended. In the US, our kits generally ship the same day the order is received or the following day, and arrive within 1 to 3 business days. For shipments to Canada, Great Britain, and Australia, 6 to 10 business days in transit is typical, and it may take longer. In particular, hold-ups in customs are unpredictable. The kit may arrive in the destination country a few days after we mail it, and then sit in customs for anything from a few hours to two weeks or more. 

Although we normally ship kits to US addresses within one week of receiving the order, shipments of kits to international addresses may require additional lead time. Because we have no control over or ability to track or follow-up on international shipments, all kits shipped to addresses outside the US are FOB Pennsylvania, USA. In effect, that means our responsibility ends when we hand the package to the US Postal Service carrier. (After evaluating insurance costs and policies, we elected not to offer insurance on international shipments. It's expensive, claims are often arbitrarily denied, and even if a claim is approved it may take literally months to be paid. At that, the pay-out is often a small percentage of the actual loss, and getting even that may require hours on the phone.) We have shipped scores of kits internationally--to Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia--and to date none of them has been lost or damaged. If you do experience delivery problems, which we think is unlikely, we will on request email you a PDF copy of the postage label and customs documentation that you can provide to your local post office or other authority.