FAQ

wendy and eric ready to answer your questions
Wendy and Eric ready to answer your questions
CAN YOU PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHEN AN ITEM IS BACK IN STOCK?

We have now automated this process through the SVG Wishlist! If you go to the individual Product View, you will see the little heart symbol with ‘Add to Wishlist’ underneath the Add to Cart button, or underneath the words Currently Sold Out! if we’re out of stock. Select the ‘Add to Wishlist’ and here you can add different names for your various Wishlists, or just simply select ‘Add to Wishlist’ and then ‘View Wishlist’.

If you wish to view your Wishlist later, it can be found in your SVG Account area. If you don’t have a SVG Account and add to your Wishlist, it seems to work, but there’s no way to make any adjustments and the system reminds you to ‘Please register to Stone Valley Games in order to use all Wishlist features.’

While in your SVG Wishlist view, at the bottom you will notice several categories – once of which is ‘Notifications’. Select that and one of the two options is ‘Product stock status changed’. Select that and hit ‘Update Settings’.

Then, when we add stock to that product the system will send you an email with the title ‘A product of your Wishlist is in stock’, so you’ll be one of the first to know it’s back on the shelves!

HOW DO YOU ESTIMATE SHIPPING COSTS?

We use the United States Postal Service (USPS) and UPS for shipping, Shipping rates are calculated solely on the product weight and dimensions in the cart and the zip code they are going to. Zip codes further away from our home base in Huntsville, Alabama will be more expensive than those closer to us. Generally USPS provides a better rate for smaller items with UPS becoming a better option as the cart gets heavier. I would say right around the 6 to 7 pound mark is where the split between the shippers becomes pronounced.

The weight of the materials we use to ship, including the box / padded envelope, plastic wrap, protective bubble wrap, are not calculated in what you pay for shipping. Additionally, how quickly we process your order is not impacted by the shipping cost. We treat every order with the same attention and our goal is to get orders out the same or next day. You’ll know it too, as we will keep you informed on when we have your shipment packed up and provide the tracking email as well. Also, if the weight of our box and padding push the item over the weight threshold you paid for, we pay for that difference as well.

This is why we package everything with the same care regardless of if you paid for shipping or you’ve met a Free Shipping threshold – because that cost is already ours to bear.

DO YOU SHIP INTERNATIONALLY?

No, we do not. In a change to store policy starting April 2022, we no longer ship to international addresses.

We evaluated our international shipping activities for several months, but it just was not making very good business sense. Approximately 80% of international requests decided not to follow-thru with the order once they saw the shipping costs. We understand shipping is expensive, but all of the time we spent securing the game and packaging material, weighing and processing the game, building the estimate and then invoice takes time. With only two of us running things, and because of all of the negative reports we received, we made the call to call it off to recoup that time into more positive endeavors.

If we turn on international shipping again, it will be integrated into the webstore so that the activities are all part of our regular shop operations. We do not anticipate doing that anytime soon.

THERE ARE SEVERAL GAMES WITH LIMITED QUANTITIES. CAN YOU GET MORE?


We are currently supported by five major distributors and numerous game developers such as Leder Games, Eagle-Gryphon Games, Gamelyn Games, Studio 2 Publishing, Nectrotic Gnome and others. As we are a small business we are unable to hold dozens of an individual title. So, once a product gets down to one or two we order more. We receive most products from the distributor in three days, so generally there is no disruption in service. Of course, if a product is extremely popular and sold out everywhere, we may carry it on backorder for some time.

Then, some of our products are limited in quantity or are rare (like our crowdfunded products) and once they are gone, they are gone for good. These can be identified via their own classification of ‘limited or rare’ in the product filter.

IS THERE A WAY TO ADD TO THE PREORDER TO MEET FREE SHIPPING?

As you know, our system only allows a single preorder item (though there can be multiples of that single item) in an order. We do have a workaround in order to meet free shipping. Just contact us and let us know what items you’d like to combine into a single shipment. As long as the total cost of the items exceed the free shipping threshold you should be good. Once we verify that the items meet free shipping you will place your orders and we will immediately refund shipping costs. Then, we place the currently in stock items in hold status until the preorder arrives, at which time we will ship everything together.

We have tried mixing in Curbside Pickup, (even if obviously there’s no way that could happen) but it’s cleaner for bookkeeping if we refund the shipping at the time of the order.