Checking out

Checkout is one page: say where the order is going, pick a delivery method for each seller in your cart, and place the order. Payment is collected right after, on the confirmation screen. You need to be signed in — your cart is kept on this device, so nothing is lost if you sign in first.

Where is this going?

The first card is the delivery address. What you see depends on whether the profile you are shopping as has addresses saved:

You have saved addresses. They are listed as cards — the label you gave each one (or its kind: Shipping address, Main address, Mailing address…) and the address itself. The first one is already selected, so a returning shopper is one click from delivery options. Shipping addresses lead the list, then your main address, then the rest. Addresses that are not delivery points (a lost-pet recovery contact, an emergency contact, a tax address) are not offered.

You want to send it somewhere else. Choose Use a different address at the bottom of the list. The address search opens with the street, city, postal code, country and region fields under it. Start typing and pick a suggestion — that captures the location, which is what unlocks distance-priced local delivery. If the search is not available, fill in the fields by hand; a typed country is enough for a delivery quote, but local per-kilometre methods need a picked suggestion to measure the distance.

You have no saved addresses yet. The search and fields are shown straight away.

Keeping a new address for next time

Once a new address has a street and a country, a checkbox appears under the fields: Save this address to my profile. It is off by default — a one-off gift address does not have to clutter your profile. Tick it and the address is saved when the order is placed:

• it is saved as a Shipping address on the profile you are shopping as, never as the main address, so it does not change where your profile appears on the map or where a seller ships from;
• it is private — it never shows on your public profile;
• next time you check out, it is in the list.

If the address you typed is already saved on your profile, the checkbox is replaced by a note naming the saved address, and nothing is duplicated.

Saving is a courtesy: if it fails for any reason, the order still goes through, and you can add the address from your profile’s addresses later.

Lower prices for more than one

Some items cost less from the second unit on: the product page says so under the price, for example Each additional CA$89.99, and once you raise the quantity it shows the total, for example 3 for CA$278.98 · you save CA$18.02. The cart shows the same thing on the item’s line (CA$99.00 each · CA$89.99 each additional, then You save CA$18.02) and its line total is the lower total. The saving applies to every unit after the first on that one line, with no limit.

At checkout the club prices the line again and keeps the saving with it, so the order total, the tax and the amount you pay are all worked out on the lower total. If you return some of the units later, each returned unit is refunded at its share of what you paid for the line (three for CA$278.98 refund CA$92.99 or CA$93.00 each), never at the first-unit price.

Promo codes

Have a promo code from a seller or from United Pet Club? Once you have chosen Show delivery options, enter it in the Promo code box in the order summary: the saving shows straight away and the order total, the tax and the amount you pay are worked out on the lower price. You can use one code per seller plus one United Pet Club code. See Using a promo code.

Delivery per seller

Show delivery options quotes every seller in your cart against the address. Each seller gets its own list of methods with the fee and, for shipped methods, the days in transit; the first method is preselected. Methods a seller cannot offer for that address are listed greyed out with the reason (outside their delivery range, doesn’t deliver to your area, …).

A seller with no method at all for that address blocks the order: change the address, or remove that seller’s items from the cart. Changing the address clears the quotes — show the options again once the address is right.

Placing the order

The summary shows items, delivery and the total before tax; taxes are calculated once the order is finalized. Place order hands the cart to each seller — every seller fulfils, ships and invoices their own items — and moves you to the confirmation screen, where you pay. An order left unpaid can be paid later from your orders page.

If a delivery option you picked is no longer offered when you place the order (the carrier stopped rating that route, for example), the order is not placed and nothing is charged: show the delivery options again and choose another.

When the order takes longer, or cannot be placed

The confirmation screen normally shows your order within a few seconds. Once you have paid, the screen waits for the payment provider to confirm the payment. If that is slow, we ask the provider ourselves, so the confirmation still arrives. Never pay a second time while the screen is confirming; if you leave, the order still goes ahead once the payment is confirmed.

Two other things can happen:

• “Your order is taking a little longer.” One of the services an order needs (taxes, prices, the sellers’ stock or fees) is slow to answer, so the order is still being placed. You have not been charged. You can leave the page: we keep trying, and the order appears on your orders page (Go to your orders) as soon as it is placed. You pay for it from there.
• “We couldn’t place your order.” Something changed between your cart and the order, and the order cannot be placed as it is: an item can no longer be bought, or its price changed. The reason is shown when we know it. Nothing was charged and no order was created. Your cart was used for this attempt, so add the items to your cart again and check out once more (Back to the store).

Paying in your own currency

Items are priced in the seller’s currency — US dollars for most of the store, Canadian dollars for Canadian sellers. If you would rather pay in another currency, the summary card has a Pay in picker. Choose your currency and the checkout locks an exchange rate for you:

• You pay (estimate) is what your card will be charged, in your currency, for the items and delivery shown. Taxes are added when the order is finalized, so the exact amount appears on the confirmation screen — it is calculated from the same locked rate.
• The rate line shows the locked rate and the currency conversion fee the platform adds on top of the payment provider’s rate (3 % unless the platform says otherwise). The seller still receives their full price; the fee covers the conversion.
• Rate locked until tells you how long the rate is guaranteed — normally an hour.

The amount you see before paying is an estimate at the conversion rate of that moment. When you press Pay we take a fresh rate:

• if it has barely moved (up to 1 % unless the platform says otherwise), your card is simply charged the refreshed amount and the page tells you: “The rate moved slightly since your estimate (CA$141.10) — your card is charged CA$140.40”;
• if it moved more than that, nothing is charged. You see the new amount — “The exchange rate moved since your estimate. We refreshed it: you now pay CA$145.47. Press Pay again to confirm.” — and you decide.

You are never charged an amount you have not seen, and the seller always receives their full price in their own currency.

Choosing the seller’s currency again clears the lock. Paying in your own currency also skips the round-up-for-charity offer (it is priced in the seller’s currency).

On the confirmation screen the pay button shows the exact charge — Pay CA$141.10 — with a line underneath: “Your card is charged CA$141.10 — that’s US$100.00 at the locked rate”. Your order and invoice keep the seller’s currency; the invoice notes the currency you paid in and the rate. If you were refunded later, the refund is converted back at that day’s rate — the conversion fee is not refunded.

If currency conversion is not available for the currency you picked (the provider does not quote it, or the option is switched off), the picker says so and you can still pay in the seller’s currency.