PLEASE READ EVERYTHING CAREFULLY : BUYING SOMETHING ON THIS WEBSITE MEANS YOU AGREE WILL ALL THE CONDITIONS EXPLAINED HERE you can also read the TOS (terms of service) page here |
Shipping
Shipping is by default sent via SwissPost and registered: this provides priority processing, tracking, basic insurance, and proof of delivery. It also is less likely to get mishandled and will be looked for attentively in case of problems or "customs black hole".
Sentient Nature, and its personnel, are not responsible in any way about any damage or loss incurring through the postal services process.
Registered mail is by default insured up to a worth of 1500CHF (roughly equivalent in dollar and euro as of June 2023). The value insured is the one declared to the postal services (if abroad : the value declared for custom declarations).
The outcome of any potential reimbursement in case of postal problems will only be the one officially given by the Swiss post services (which I will 100% credit, alongside with official papers). If your order is higher than 1500CHF in worth, and if you want specific insurance, please contact us to arrange things for you.
Customs, taxes and other costs that have to be paid for import of the merchandise bought on this site are solely the responsibility of customers. Likewise for the responsibility to makes sure all products bought are legal to be imported in the customer's home / delivery country. If you have specific requirements for the customs declarations, please contact us
Packing / Conditioning Shipping is made with care for all different materials and formats. It is meant to be functional, rather than aesthetic. As much as possible recycled materials are used directly (especially for the filling material).
Strict Zero-Return policy
Due to the to the extreme delicacy of aromatic materials, due to the risk of degradation if mishandled, due to the easiness of adulteration, etc. Scentient Nature has a strict Zero-Return Policy.
The conditioning is made by hand and customised for each order / customer.
Once sent, there is no way to verify that the product has not been used, tampered with, diluted, cross contaminated, etc. For these reasons the products sold on this website are an exception to the EU return / refund laws.
Beyond we are human beings and we want you to be happy with our goods and services, so if there is a problem, come write to us and we will discuss the issue fairly.
Images & products
Any images of the goods on our site or in any printed or .pdf brochures or catalogues are for illustrative purposes only. The colour of your goods may vary slightly from those images, also because both screens and prints distort colours.
The packaging and labelling of your goods may vary from that shown on images on our site. For the bottles and vials currently in use for retail orders, check this link.
Processing time
While we work diligently as we can, but this is a small operation, that is run with passion, not a full time multi employee crew. This is mostly the work (So far) of one person's and a few very much part time collaborators. Likewise, when on the field for producing, scouting, researching, sourcing or (rarely) holidaying, the outlet is run by a lab / multiskilled assistant on a very part time basis, and with possible limits of knowledge or access, or personalized services.
Communication is ideally, and often, swift, but at times, it can be slow. I very much hold that patience is gold, likewise for the production, distillation and curing of precious aromatics. While we are happy to honour timelines when possible, we do not make any warranty about processing times, and we do not wish to cater for hurried or pressurizing customers. We regard our interactions with customers as one of mutual hospitality.
Pricing
Pricing is set qualitatively in good faith and based on a wide range of factors which vary depending of the different things we sell. Actual prices might be changed at any time, without any notice having to be made. The price is what it is at the time you buy a product.
The description of items on the website (products, collections, other information) might be modified at anytime without notice.
The nature of high quality small scale production
Available stocks vary and at any time an item can be discontinued: we deal in precious and singular quality aromatics, with terroir, specific years of production and curing, some are produced in very small quantity. For example, distillation from a single wild naturally fallen agarwood / oud tree might produce as little as 50 ml, or less, of essential oil. While we strive for quality consistency each batch, year has welcome singularities. We deal, proudly, at the exact opposite of industrial / synthetic total reproducibility.
Our aromatics are singular, distinctive, cured and alive: they evolve with time, and they get fully out of stock at some point. They are not rectified in any way for batch / year consistency. For that reason, the properties of blends will also evolve with time, and will differ a bit from batch to batch, when remade anew.
We strive to offer the best possible quality of 100% natural fine aromatics. Seeing the costs of lab testing, it is impossible to test every aromatic. We try to work with high quality, reputable producers and occasionally co-sourcers, with whom we build ties and trust over years. All products we sell are products we are happy to use and consider entirely genuine.
While many batches are tested, many other haven't been. Whenever I have doubt about the quality of an item (or sometimes I am just surprised at a radically new olfactive profile for an aromatic I know well), I will have it tested by a reputable lab myself (as it is easy to fake those documents, Independent testing is necessary). We never sell a product we doubt the quality of.
As for our own productions, we do not test every batch. We test our direct production at times, though, because knowledge is inspiring, so we blog about it and we provide the relevant information to our wholesale customers.