Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Welcome to our FAQ page!

We'll be adding topics to this page on a regular basis, so check back periodically to learn more about our website, our business, and our mission.

Contents:

I found something I want to buy -- why can't I add it to my shopping cart?

We're glad you want to make a purchase from us... your business is how we keep this website running. But our mission is not solely commercial... it is, in equal measure, to be a source for information on tarot decks. Yes, 99.9% of the titles listed on our website are decks we've had available for sale at one time or another. But they're not something that we necessarily have available for sale now. But we might have them for sale again in the future.

We leave all of our listings accessible so that people can see the samples, and learn a little about these great decks. And we continue to buy and sell on the collectors' market... so even if you can't purchase that beautiful old deck right now, you can add it to your "Wish List" to be notified if and when a preowned copy becomes available (or simply see when we restock it, if its a title that's still in print).

Which is, admittedly, a long way of saying, "if you can't add it to your shopping cart, we don't have it in stock right now."

Is your website GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliant?

Speaking as Tarot Garden: absolutely. Our data usage policy is pretty simple: you place an order with us, we collect the info we need to process that order and ship it to you. You ask to receive mailings from us, we collect the information we need to send those mailings to you. Other than that, we don't track anything. And we don't share any of your info with third parties unless we're required to do so by law. Nada. Zip.

That said, since our move to the BigCommerce eCommerce engine, we no longer actually directly handle the logistics of our customer accounts. All account information is collected and stored through an eCommerce provider called BigCommerce. Yeah, we can get to the essentials of it (minus specific payment account details), but we don't control its storage and security. However, we've had nothing but great luck with BigCommerce, and we feel that their platform works in the best interest of customers as well as vendors. If you're interested in knowing the specifics of how BigCommerce helps its subscribers to comply with the GDPR, you can click here to visit their GDPR information page.


Since you deal in used / collectible titles, how do I know the condition of what I'm buying?

Above the description of each tarot in our database, there is a section that provides several key details about the deck, including -- if we have one or more copies of the item available for sale -- a "Condition" heading. While there may be additional, specific details about a given item, here are the general classifications we use to disclose the condition of the title you are purchasing:

Rating General Characteristics
New This rating does not in-and-of itself fully disclose the condition of the item. It indicates that we either know that the deck has never been preowned or, in a situation where we have acquired the item on the secondhand market, the item shows no evidence of having been opened or used in any way. Often, these items retain their original factory seal, meaning that we cannot inspect the contents for damage or missing cards. If the item was purchased directly from the publisher, it may show outer damage resulting from improper packaging in shipment to us, or from use of substandard materials. See our "Returns Policy" below for instructions on what do to if you purchase a "new" item from our shop that is discovered to not be intact when opened.
Mint Item is preowned, but is in a condition that is indistinguishable from new. All items are present, including all cards, book(s) or booklet(s), box(es), and any other accessories such as pouches or spreadmats.
Near Mint Item is mostly indistinguishable from new. All cards are present. Book and original box(es) are present. May or may not include incidental accessories, such as pouches or spreadmats.
Excellent Item may show minor signs of (respectful) use, including possible slight card curvature, "edgewear" to cards, book(s), or box(es), and/or minor imperfections such as light "scuffing" (often not readily apparent unless the inspector is actively looking for them). Incidental accessories may or may not be included.
Very Good Item shows definite signs of use. All cards are present, but incidental accessories, original book(s), and/or original box(es) may be missing. Cards may show definite curvature and edgewear, and light-but-noticeable imperfections such as scuffs and scratches. A few cards may show light damage, such as faint-but-noticeable creasing.
Good Deck is complete, but may show heavy signs of use. Incidental accessories, original book(s), and/or original box(es) may be missing. Cards are usable, but will show definite wear and imperfections. Cards may be creased, exhibit slight tears, have staining or age-related discoloration, and/or severe curvature. A previous owner may have written on some of the cards.
Fair Cards exhibit signs of heavy use or possible mistreatment. Stains, creases, tearing, severe curvature, or handwriting will be clearly present in some form. Other components, if present, will show similar wear or damage. A few cards may be missing. NOTE: The Tarot Garden will never rate a deck condition above "Fair" if any cards are missing, even if the overall condition of the deck would otherwise merit a much higher rating.
Poor The deck exhibits severe damage, and there may be numerous cards missing. Other components, if present, will show similar severe levels of wear or damage. The item(s) will likely be unusable for any significant purpose.

 

What is your returns policy?

Well, we wish we could make this simple -- but unfortunately, it's tricky. We're a tiny, tiny, niche-market business, and we simply can't afford to deal in blanket no-questions-asked returns. That said, we stand behind the items we sell, and do want your experience with us to be as rewarding as possible.

So, that said, if you are considering a product return, please refer to the instructions below

- Item is missing cards: This is one situation that we try to avoid at all costs. When you buy a deck from us, it should have all the cards -- period. We check for this on non-factory sealed preowned items before we list them -- so unless we specifically noted under the listing's "Condition" heading that cards were missing, they should all be there. However, if the item was factory sealed, we do not break it open to check for completeness, as removing the seal devalues the item. Therefore, if you unwrap a factory-sealed item to discover cards are missing, you have the following options: 1) if the deck is still in print, you can contact the publisher, who will always (in our experience) cheerfully send you copies of the missing items. 2) If the deck is out of print, or you want us to handle contacting the publisher on your behalf, drop us a line. If we can replace the card, or arrange for its replacement, we'll get that problem wrapped up in a tick. Otherwise, yes -- we will send you a return label and refund the full purchase price of the item upon receipt and inspection.

- Preowned item is not in the condition described: This one can be a bit subjective, but if you feel that we misstated the condition of a preowned item, let us know that you're sending it back to us and why. Once we receive and inspect it, we'll issue you store credit for the value of the deck less a restocking fee of 0 - 50%, depending on the degree to which we concur with your assessment (i.e., if we completely agree, we won't charge a restocking fee; if we absolutely do NOT agree, we'll refund 50% of the purchase price; if we kind of agree, the restocking fee will run anywhere from 5% - 45%, depending on our assessment).

- We sent you the wrong item: In our nearly 20 years of business, we can count the number of times we've screwed up like this, and still have fingers on our hand left over. But yeah, we're human -- it's possible that we might send you the wrong item. And, obviously, if we do, that's on us. We'll send you a call tag to return the incorrect item, and either send you the correct item if we have it, or issue a full refund for your purchase.

- You just don't love it like you thought you would; or, after you received the item, you found you already had one just like it; or any one of a number of reasons that fall under the general heading of "Oops -- my bad": Because we really, really do want you to love and want everything you get from us, this is the situation that's hardest for us to deal with. There are several reasons why it's tough for us to take back perfectly good decks, chief among them being that once they go to another owner (and are opened, if they were sealed), the deck immediately becomes devalued and cannot be resold at its original price. Also, merchant processing services are becoming more d*ckish these days, and have begun refusing to refund the fees they charge the seller when the seller refunds to the buyer, meaning we take another hit. What we'd really like to recommend is that if the deck is otherwise lovely and useable, that you gift it onward to someone that will love it and give it a good home -- in other words, spread the tarot! It helps us all out. But -- if you really, really feel you have to send it back, drop us a line. If we're not already solidly stocked on the item, we may agree to take it back with the following caveats: you will be paying for the return postage out of your own pocket; we will charge a restocking fee to cover the item's devaluation; the refund will be in store credit only, and will only be issued once we have received the item back and inspected it for resale-ability. We do wish we could do better than this, but for what it's worth, your understanding on this matter is one of the things that keeps this business financially solvent and on the 'Net to provide free deck information through our website. Trust us -- we are not getting rich selling tarot decks for a living.

Do you buy preowned decks and collections?

Why, yes -- yes, we do. But keep in mind: we buy for resale. That means that we do not pay full market value for preowned items, in order to leave room for our own overhead and markup. If you're looking for top-dollar for your items, your best bet is to offer them through a direct seller-to-buyer venue, such as eBay. However, if you're looking to put the risk of resale onto someone else, or just don't want to go through the time and hassle of listing on direct-sale venues, then we can probably do you better than most other options available. Most of the better-known venues that specialize in such acquisitions pay around 25% of the item's value -- some even pay as low as 10%. We generally offer 35 - 50% of an item's value -- plus we have a better idea of the true resale value of tarot decks, which is definitely a very niche collectors' market. By having an enhanced understanding what people really pay for preowned tarots, the 35 - 50% we offer is generally higher than a similar percentage offered by businesses that don't really don't know this particular market.

That said, we need to mention that we make our offers based on fair market valuation, which we determine through a variety of means, but definitely do NOT determine by what kind of pricing is listed on Amazon. Seller prices for out of print tarots listed on Amazon are generally wildly above the items' true market value -- presumably because the cost to list at such prices is low, while the potential return is insanely high should someone actually agree to pay the asked price. In brief: we try to keep our pricing for collectible tarots fair for both sellers and buyers.

Please also note that while we are willing to make tentative offers by email or messaging exchange, we will not finalize any offers nor remit payment until we have the product in hand to inspect. We are sorry to put the burden of trust on our customers, but unfortunately, we've made too many up-front offers and payments based on incorrectly and poorly assessed product information, and we can no longer afford to risk purchasing substandard items that are simply not suitable for resale.

Got all that? Great! Now you can hop over to our Acquisitions page contact form to let us know what deck(s) you're looking to find new homes for.

P.S. -- If you're looking to sell a single, common, in-print deck, we'll save you some time by mentioning here that we're not likely to offer you a price high enough to even cover the cost of shipping the deck to us. We do buy such decks, but for cost efficiency purposes, it's best if they're included as part of a larger bundle of decks that you're trying to sell together.

Do you buy independently-published decks?

Oh, boy -- do we love to purchase independently-published tarot and Lenormand decks! We love it so much, in fact, that we've got a special FAQ page devoted entirely to that subject. Click here to navigate to that information.

How quickly do your orders ship?

Orders that are received before Jeannette goes to bed (around 10 p.m.) are generally processed and shipped the following business day -- or occasionally on a Saturday, if she's not out of town. There are situations, however, that may cause a shipment delay, ranging from our being away at a show from having difficulty finding which of our many shelves that dusty-but-lovely-collectors' deck got filed away on. If your shipment will be delayed more than a week, we'll drop you a line to let you know. Otherwise, expect us to have your order out the door within 24 to 72 hours. After that, it's up to the shipping carrier as to how long it will take for your package to make its way from us to you -- but you will receive tracking information from us so that you can keep tabs on your order's progress as it winds its way to your doorstep.

My order was placed a long time ago -- why haven't I received it yet?

Since the advent of COVID-19 lockdowns, we have been having increased instances of packages being substantially delayed in transit. Domestic (U.S.) packages, when delayed, usually still arrive in less than two weeks from the date of the original order. International shipments, however -- including those to nearby Canada -- have often been experiencing delivery delays of up to three months.

You should have received an email with your package's tracking number when your order's shipping label was printed; this information may also be available through your online Tarot Garden account order history, and/or with your payment (if remitted via PayPal). If you cannot locate your package's tracking number, the fastest method of contacting us for the information is via the message system of our FaceBook page -- but you may also use our Contact Form or our chat app's "Send Message" feature (located in the lower right-hand corner of most of our web pages).

We are insuring most packages these days, so if your package does not reach you, we can file a claim to secure a refund of your payment. However, for addresses outside the U.S., we need to file the claim between 60 and 90 days of shipment -- so please allow 8 weeks for your package to arrive before contacting us. Likewise, however, do not wait more than 10 weeks to reach out, as we do not want to miss the claim filing window.

The slowing of shipment deliveries is an unfortunate reality of our times -- but the good news is that even with the substantial delays, we haven't yet actually had a package lost in transit. We are very grateful for our customers' patience and understanding in regards to this issue.

 

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