Customer Support Live Chat Upgraded

We just completed an upgrade to our live customer support chat rooms. Previously, our chat rooms were rarely monitored, with the chat link located fairly far down the home page left navigation panel. Now we will be offering live support more frequently throughout the week to bring you a higher degree of customer service, especially as we approach the busy holiday season.

Look for the Live Support link (shown above) in the upper left corner, directly above our contact telephone numbers.

Several new features include:

• include initial contact information so we can immediately locate your account records
• print or email chat transcripts
• transfer files without leaving the chat window 
• participate in optional exit satisfaction surveys 
• quick link to our customer support ticket resolution system during non-monitored sessions

We hope you will like this new tool. We know your time is valuable.

Receive emails automatically when out of stock items are replenished

Previously when an item was out of stock, that item was removed from the website.

Now we are showing out of stock items on the website and you can add your email address to automatically receive an email when the product is back in stock.

We hope this will help keep our customers notified of the latest shipments.

Temporary removal of minimum cost per order

We have noticed there are situations where clients do not wish to order a minimum of $100 per order. While there are operational and financial reasons for imposing a minimum, we are testing the elimination of this requirement in exchange for a higher shipping and handling fee.

Starting today, you can submit orders for less than $100 through our shopping cart. Nevertheless, we recommend you consider whether it is possible to increase the size of your order to over $100, as this will likely reduce your overall shipping and handling charges significantly.

To estimate your shipping and handling charges, enter your country, state/province, and zip/postal code in the shipping rates section of your cart and click "recalculate". This will display your alternative shipping methods and costs.

We will continue to monitor the demand for sub-$100 orders and do our best to continue this policy next year.

Canadian customers

Kopius Teas (www.kopiusteas.com) ships wholesale to Canada. There are a few special points you may wish to keep in mind when placing your order.

1. Your teas will arrive via UPS Standard. The shipping calculator will include all customs and duties to your door. Prior to submitting your order, check the shipping subtotal. You might be better off ordering in larger quantities to offset the total shipping expense. Furthermore, it is better to order a few pounds extra of the blending ingredients, as we stock some of these items in smaller quantities compared to tea.

2. We encourage you to request samples at the time of your order. This makes it easier to include in a single shipment.

3. If you intend to purchase and resell Fair Trade Certified products, please select the Fair Trade option marked for CANADA. This reduced fee is extended because you are expected to submit licensing fees directly to Transfair Canada (www.transfair.ca).

4. You should allow 6-12 business days for transit, as customs may take several days to process your shipment.

Searchable Knowledgebase

We are continually improving the content of our Searchable Knowledgebase at www.kopiusteas.com. The searchable knowledgebase can be found on the left navigation panel. In particular, we are constructing a series of FAQ's to address many of the more common questions we encounter among start-up tea programs. These are collected not only from our wholesale experience, but our direct experience as retail store owners. If you have questions of general interest that do not appear, please let us know by commenting on this entry.

Notes on Product Availability

We are in the process of simplifying our line of loose teas, tisanes, and blending ingredients. Currently, the products shown on the website are those that we currently have in stock, which at last count was over 500 items.

Discontinued items will be shown in a separate navigational category - look for this in the weeks ahead.

Once this is complete, we will move quickly to updating the products with greater descriptions and photographs of our wholesale teas.

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy our vast selection of teas, herbs, spices, flowers and fruit. We could not have envisioned working in such a wonderfully uplifting and fragrant environment.