DS - Releases / Orders / Shipping etc
This is a place to discuss orders and information, which should be helpful to those who are not familiar with the process or are unsure what may be happening with their order.
It will also be helpful if people, depending on their location, advise of their experience and the difference between ordering from DS.com and DS Europe (UK/France/Germany). I know there are people who order internationally from DS.com outside the US and Europe here as well so your input will be useful for others too
Read the Terms & Conditions according to the site you ordered from. This can be found at the bottom of the order email (UK) or on the website. Also view Orders and Delivery sections on the website. Any order concerns can be addressed directly with Guest Services. Have your order reference number to hand as it's quicker which can be found on the email received after placing an order.
The "Thank You For Your Order!" email you receive does not guarantee you will receive the item. There are a number of reasons why you might not receive the items you ordered.
Within Europe:
Standard Delivery: Standard Delivery is usually 5 working days.
Every time I have ordered I have used Standard Delivery and the amount of time taken between placing an order and receiving a Dispatch "...On It's Way!" email has varied.
The longest amount of time I have waited for a LE doll order is 6-7 days. (E.g. Oct 2012: Order placed on Tuesday, dispatch email received following Monday and order received Tuesday on day of delivery.)
Pre-orders: Up until this date there has never been Limited Edition pre-orders for Europe, this has always been the process for the United States only, for which an allocated number is available in selected stores and online pre-orders are made via DS.com.
Europe receives a variable percentage from the worldwide Limited Edition releases and these become available on the announced released date (according to change) - exceptions have been 17" Alice/Queen of Hearts and Wreck It Ralph's Sgt. Calhoun, Oz the Great and Powerful's China Girl dolls.
United States:
International:
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I can update / make changes here in this post to include info you think would be helpful for others to know about releases / shipping concerns etc.
This will also help people who have may the same questions about releases and keep it all in one place rather than having to try and search across different threads. Please feel free to answer any questions people post here and also refer to your location/where order was placed to avoid confusion.