Hello all! Dawn here from Fantastic T-shirts!
I see there are more questions about shipping, out of stock items, and actual photos of the items. I will try to address all of these questions below.
The Mountain has over 600 designs in Adult, Child, Junior Tank Tops, Tank Top Dresses, Evolution series in both T-shirts and Long Sleeves, 100% Organic Cotton T-shirts, Thomas Kinkade series, Loose Leashes series, and Wine is Life series (I think that is all of them?). Anyway, all of the retailers buy from the same manufacturer. If something is out of stock, no other retailer can get it either. We ALL order from the manufacturer as items are ordered from us. No one retailer could possibly offer all of these items in all of the sizes and styles and designs. The Mountain has 2 huge warehouses for their stock. The Mountain has been trying to reprint out of stock items in a more timely way. They have begun a new printing schedule I was told a few weeks ago. The USED to wait until an item was out of stock in 2 or more sizes before they would reprint it, but now they are reprinting them when they are out in only one item. The reprinting of an item will also depend on how popular that item is. The older designs - you can tell an older design by the number of the item: 10-1001 is a VERY old item Probably one of the first designs they printed when they started printing t-shirts over 25 years ago. 10-32XX is the newest item. The higher the last 4 digits, the newer the design and the more likely it will be reprinted sooner. Hope this helps for knowing how soon and out of stock item will be reprinted! The Mountain changes their print schedule every week and also every day depending on the demand. Even if I call them to ask how soon something will be reprinted, they cannot tell me unless it is on the weekly print schedule which could also change. But if there is an item you would like and it is out of stock in the size you want, please email me and I will keep you on my order list. When the item has been reprinted, I will send you an email to let you know it is available again and you can place your order then if you like!
As for the pictures not being the actual pictures of the shirts, the pictures are provided to all retailers by the manufacturer. That is how they do it. All other companies also do things the same way. If you go to Liquid Blue, all of their items are not photos either. They are Photoshop renditions of the items. I have also looked into purchasing other brands of shirts and they all do not give an actual photo. The retailers use what is provided to us by the manufacturer. :( And as you may know, the Photoshop pictures do not look exactly like the actual printed item. The backgrounds will also vary in color of being lighter or darker. They are all hand-dyed and this color will vary from dye lot to dye lot. Some may be a bit lighter, but them when reprinted the background may be a bit darker. It is a hand-dye bath they put the white shirts into. The printing will always be the same. It is a screen print with water based inks which are good for the planet. The Mountain is the ONLY manufacturer that has perfected the screen printing so that the picture feels like part of the fabric. It is soft and if you close your eyes, you cannot feel the printing. Oh, the best way to keep your shirts looking bright: wash them with the printing on the inside in cool or cold water. The more you wash them, of course the more the coloring and printing will fade, but they hold up for a pretty long time! Please tell me they have shirts for 10 years before they want new ones! In the dye process, the shirt will be a bit out of proportion. The back may be longer than the front, or the front may be longer than the back. I think this happens when they are laid out when they are dried at the manufacturer. This can change with washing.
About shipping. I am the ONLY retailer that will ship Internationally in the Priority Flat Rate envelope. I can only fit 2 Adult shirts in that envelope for $13.95 USD. But this service does NOT provide tracking. You will only know when the parcel has left the USA. It is a lightweight cardboard envelope so only a few items will fit in it. If you would like tracking, then your parcel would have to be shipped by regular Priority. This is calculated by weight (it is not a flat rate) and that will be calculated by the weight of the items in the package. This method of shipping will start at $26.25 USD for ONE Medium adult shirt. Most often for 2 to 4 items it will be $30.00 USD, then go to $33.75, and then $37.50 and up. It all is calculated on the weight of the package. Adult XXXL shirts weigh more than Child Small shirts, so these calculations are about the weight of each parcel and the items in that parcel. I customize the shipping rate for the each package to give you a fair rate. I only charge what it will cost me to ship. Over 7 items, there will be insurance fees added in case the parcel is lost. 7 items and under, my USPS gives automatic insurance. The automatic insurance is calculated by the weight of the parcel by the post office and I do not understand how they figure that. I only know how much insurance they will provide for the parcel. I go to the USPS website and type in the weight of the parcel (I have the weights of each shirt from Child Small, to Adult XXXL, Dresses, Tank Tops and Evolution shirts which are lighter and weigh less than the Classic Mountain shirts). The website will give me the price of shipping calculated by the weight I enter. Also, packages of 6 items will ship in a box so I have to add the weight of the box as well. I am sorry if this is confusing! I have been doing this since 2005 and I have learned the best way to ship parcels at the best prices for my customers. I will send you an email with the shipping information when I have shipped out your package. If there is a tracking number, I will send it to you at that time along with the date the parcel ships. I will also give you the websites you can use if your package is trackable. Once the parcel reaches Russian or Ukrainian soil, it is up to your post to deliver the package. I know that Russian post is slow, but has gotten much better since I began shipping to Russia over a year ago. I think it depends on where you live. I was told all packages go through Moscow first. I would think if you live close to Moscow, you may get your parcel faster? It will only take 2 to 3 days to leave the USA once it has been shipped - unless we have bad storms that may delay the mail for 1 to 2 days. Usually only in winter. PLEASE understand that Priority shipping is NOT Guaranteed Tracking! Guaranteed tracking is VERY expensive (about $130 for ONE item!). But most packages can be tracked that are Priority packages (NOT Flat Rate envelopes) with the website I will provide to you when I send your email that your order has shipped. Please understand there is a 5 to 7 day PROCESSING time. This is how long it will take for me to get the items that you have ordered from the manufacturer. I order from the manufacturer as items are ordered from me. And the manufacturer is ONLY open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I can only place orders on those days. I also have to have 60 items to place an order to the manufacturer. It takes 3 UPS shipping days (excluding Saturday AND Sunday) to arrive to me. Then I have to inspect, sort, fold, bag, package and label all of the orders to take to the post office. I work from home with my fiance so this can take us a day or 2 depending on how large my shipments from the manufacturer are!
I try to answer ALL emails in no more than 24 hours!
I do hope this information will help!
If anyone has ANY questions, please email me!
sales@fantastic-tshirts.com Dawn (I am a female in case anyone is curious! Dawn means 'sunrise' in the English language)