SHIPPING

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO PROCESS AN ORDER?

Generally, orders are processed within 1-3 business days and are shipped fast. This time may vary during any Holiday or at various times during the year, such as Graduation time, etc.  Mother's Day and Christmas orders usually take more time to process.  

Need it fast?  We offer a RUSH OPTION on many of our products.  RUSH OPTION generally will move your order up in our queue and may save a significant amount of time, especially around Holiday's.  Depending on the number of orders with the rush option, your order will be placed in the front of our standard orders that were placed without the rush option.  Depending on the time of year and your situation, we may be able to help expedite the order further.  Please remember that this option simply moves your order up in our queue and does not impact the delivery times of shipping.  It's important to choose the shipping/delivery options that best suit your needs.

We are Manufactured in America!

Our custom puzzles are all Manufactured In America, from start to finish, in our shop.  We are located in rural Richland, NJ and are proud to manufacture high-quality American Made puzzles.

HOW DO YOU SHIP?

We send our puzzles out either USPS First Class Mail or USPS Priority mail with tracking. If you order in bulk we ship via USPS Ground.

Delivery times are generally 1-7 business days within the Continental United States, depending on Holidays or seasonal considerations with First Class mail.  Our larger puzzles are shipped via USPS Priority Mail with tracking and are estimated to take between 1-3 business days.  Please check the shipping times with www.USPS.com, as we mail from New Jersey from zip code 08350.  While we can never guarantee shipping times, we strongly encourage you to check with the USPS for projected arrival times.  We have great confidence in the USPS.  Delivery times start from the time that the item is scanned into the shipping carriers website and are controlled by the shipping carrier.  Please choose the appropriate shipping method for your timeline.

• We are not responsible for delivery times, as we do not drive the mail truck but we will do everything within our power to assure you speedy delivery!
• We are not responsible for lost or damaged packages, so please be sure to include the proper address.
• Shipping for returned puzzles due to the incorrect address is the responsibility of the customer, so please be sure that you have the proper address.  
• We reserve the right to ask for additional shipping charges to resend a puzzle that was incorrectly or improperly addressed.

International orders are shipped via USPS First Class International Mail - please see below for more information on International Orders.  Shipping fees that we collect simply mail the puzzle outside of the United States of America. You may be charged additional fees by your country upon entry of your border.  

We do not collect fees that may be imposed by your country, such as VAT, customs or other taxes.  We simply collect postage for the USPS to move the country out of the USA.  Please feel free to ask questions prior to ordering, as we do not accept returns on items. Undeliverable and unclaimed will not be refunded.  

• We reserve the right to charge for additional shipping should your package return to us.
• We also reserve the right to refuse returns.
• Any package sent back to us without express written permission will result in it being treated as abandoned property.

PLEASE see INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING information prior to ordering.

CAN I SHIP MY PUZZLE TO ANOTHER ADDRESS?

Absolutely. You will be able to ship to one address during the checkout process.  Be sure to check your address to ensure proper delivery.  We are not responsible for lost items due to incorrect addresses. We will gladly ship your order to the address indicated on your order.

HOW DO I ORDER ONLINE?

When you order online you will place items in your cart. You can continue shopping after each item that you are purchasing is added to your cart. When you have finished your selections, you will proceed to the Cart. Here, you can make adjustments to your order.

You will then be directed to login and enter your information so that we can process your order. Please provide a valid email address and an optional phone number to prevent any delays in your order. You will have an opportunity to view your order again where you can select shipping and an address for your order to go to. You can select your payment option and proceed with your order. You will upload your photo's at the time of ordering.

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN YOU RECEIVE MY ORDER?

You will receive an automatic email after your order has been placed with your order number and invoice. We require a valid email and/or phone number so that you receive this information and can contact you with any difficulties with your photo submission or order. It's important to note that some email services may screen emails and our confirmation email may go to your SPAM folder. Please add us to your address book to avoid this.

PHOTO SUGGESTIONS:

WHAT IS BLEED AND HOW IT AFFECTS YOUR PHOTO IMAGE.

In order to print your image to the edge of the puzzle, we must cut off a small amount of the picture when cutting the puzzle. The part of the image that is cut off is called the bleed. Most of our puzzles require a 1/8" full bleed which means 1/8" all the way around the image is cut off when cutting the puzzle.  It is suggested that you avoid adding text of having any part of the image close to the border of the puzzle to avoid it being cut off.  

UPLOAD SUGGESTIONS

We prefer JPEG (.jpg) files for your uploads. The minimum recommended resolution for your files should be 150 dpi (dots per inch) and a maximum 300 dpi.

CELL PHONE:  With the improvement in cell phone photo technology, your options are excellent!  We suggest that if you are downloading from a cell phone that you download as "Actual or Original" size for best results. Your digital camera should be 7MP or higher for the best resolution. We offer photo submission recommendations on each personalized custom photo puzzle product page or click PHOTO UPLOAD SUGGESTIONS.

SCANNED PHOTO SUGGESTIONS

If you are scanning a photo, please remember to clean both the photograph and the scanner prior to scanning your images. This will avoid unwanted "flying saucers" in the photograph. We cannot fix scanning errors.

If your scanned pictures do not conform to size, we will either crop the photo for size or ask that you add a border to conform to the size. Should we be unable to reach you, we will print whatever is sent. We do not provide layout work with our puzzles and print what we receive, as the expectation is that you are sending a print-ready photo. Wide angle photos are automatically cropped by our machine, so please add a border or edit the photo prior to sending your photo. Remember, please save the images as JPEG (.jpg) when scanning.

WIDE ANGLE PHOTOGRAPHS

It should be noted that wide angle photographs may be cropped to fit into our puzzles. We will not crop out People if possible, but this may add a white border to the top and bottom of the photograph. You will have the opportunity to crop your image within our Photo Cropping Tool at the time of upload.  This may or may not leave a white border.

We print what is sent to us, and the machine automatically crops images to conform to the sizes of the puzzles. We strongly recommend that you crop and size your image to the requirements prior to purchase.

INFORMATION ON OPTIONS

White Backing: The "regular" backing on our puzzle board is a light gray color. We purchase a specialized board that is thicker than most and features a lighter color. The board is 100%, recycled board. We provide the opportunity, on some of our puzzles, to add a white backing for an additional fee.

NUMBERING:

While we cannot number all of our puzzle offerings, we can number most. If available, we hand-number our puzzles on the back and in the bottom right-hand corner. We use several different writing utensils to achieve this.

We will number most puzzles in pencil, in the bottom right-hand corner with the numbers facing you. We may number puzzles in pen if they have the optional white backing, or if you have ordered multiple puzzles so you can differentiate between the puzzles. Which writing utensil is completely up to The Missing Piece Puzzle Company, LLC's choice.

WHAT WORKS BEST WHEN WRITING ON MY PUZZLE?

We recommend that on most standard puzzles with a natural backing that you write with a medium ballpoint pen (sold separately). We recommend either medium ballpoint pens or Sharpie Markers (sold separately) for our puzzles that have an optional white backing, either front or back. Gel pens and fine tips do not work well on porous puzzle pieces.  

SALES TAX

New Jersey State sales tax is collected for orders originating in and ending in New Jersey at 6.625%.  For customers outside of NJ, we strongly suggest that you check out our guide on Sales Tax HERE.

INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS

• We collect postage that simply covers our cost of shipping and handling from the United States via USPS First Class International Mail.
• We DO NOT collect any other duties or fees. All customs duty fees and taxes are the responsibility of the buyer. Customs duties, taxes, VAT, brokerage fees, or tariffs could be applied to your package at the discretion of your local customs officers or post office and we have absolutely no control over this, nor do we know how much will be collected from you.
• We also do not have any control over customs or the packages that they may randomly inspect, and cannot guarantee that your puzzle will or will not be subject to searches through customs. We can tell you that our puzzles that we ship no more likely to be inspected than any other package.

Please feel free to ask questions prior to ordering, as we do not accept returns on items. It is important to note that undeliverable packages or packages that go unclaimed by the customer will not be refunded. We reserve the right to charge for additional shipping should your package return to us. We also reserve the right to refuse returns. Any package sent back to us without express written permission will result in it being treated as abandoned property. We strongly suggest that you read our information on INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING prior to ordering.

RETURN POLICY

Due to the personalized nature of our business and our products, we do not accept returns on our items.  Simply stated, we cannot resell your family photographs!

Please be sure to adhere to the requirements of photo uploads and email us prior to ordering. We sell Blank White Puzzles for special events and each puzzle is made at the time of order. We cannot reshelve these puzzles and do not accept returns.

Once the puzzle leaves our facility it is rendered as a used item and will not be accepted for return or exchange.  We love to talk, so if you have any additional questions please feel free contact us through the Contact Form. We will promptly reply.

Thanks so much in advance!

OTHER INFORMATION

The Missing Piece Puzzle Company reserves the right to refuse service, cancel orders, and substitute items at their discretion, including all items, accessories, puzzles, and options.  The Missing Piece Puzzle Company reserves the right to alter your image, which may include increasing resolution, crop, or lighten/darken the image to optimize the image for the puzzle.