Terms and Conditions

Terms and Conditions

Updated 2/28/2020

These Terms and Conditions sets forth terms under which “We”,
Us”, or “Our” means Association of Field Ornithologists DBA Avinet Research Supplies, a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. The User, Customer, or “You” or “your(s)” means the person accessing, using or ordering from our website. These Terms and Conditions are intended to protect your rights as a valued customer and our rights as a business.

Association of Field Ornithologists DBA Avinet Research Supplies is a company registered in Massachusetts, USA under FEIN 04-2239743. We conduct all business activities, including shipping, billing, and customer service out of 276 Canco Road, Portland, Maine USA under the management of Biodiversity Research Institute.

Code of Conduct

Part I

As a condition of your use of our site, you agree that: (I) you are an individual person more than 13 years of age, (II) your use of this site will at all times comply with the terms of this Agreement and all applicable laws. You also agree that we may, in our sole discretion, terminate or suspend your access to all or part of our Site with or without notice and for any reason, including, without limitation, breach of these Terms and Conditions. Any suspected fraudulent, abusive or illegal activity may be grounds for terminating your User Account and may be referred to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.

Part II

As a condition of purchase of mist nets and other products in which a permit is required, you agree that: (I), you are authorized to use these materials to conduct scientific research in accordance with state or federal wildlife laws. While we cannot regulate the use of these products once they are out of our hands, we do reserve the right to regulate their sales. We trust that you, the User, will use these products in a lawful and ethically sound manner when used with wildlife. You agree that, (II), the appropriate documentation to prove you are in accordance with state and federal law will be provided prior to shipment of your order. We cannot and will not ship your order without receipt of state or federal permits in hand. You agree that, (III), you will properly dispose of destroyed mist nets so that they do not pose a hazard to wildlife.  For more information regarding permits, please visit our Permit Information section.

Prices

All prices are in USD. Prices are non-negotiable and discounts are not offered. Any duties, taxes, or VAT charges are not included on your orders, and their payment the sole responsibility of the User. Sales being shipped within in Maine are subject to state sales tax of 5.5%. Currently, no tax is charged in all other states regardless of tax exemption status. The User (if an order's destination is within the state of Maine) reserves the right to have tax removed from orders if a tax exemption certificate is provided.

We reserve the right to change prices at any time prior to an order being placed, but not after accepting an order. If after been given the correct price you do not wish to proceed with your order, we will cancel the order. We are not obliged to supply products to you at a price that you do not agree to.

Description

We aim to provide our customers with detailed and accurate descriptions of all our products. However, we cannot accept liability for any inaccuracies, errors or omissions in descriptive language or visual representations. Photographs of products are for reference only. If you feel that we have not described a product accurately, please email us with the details so that the problem can be corrected as soon as possible.

Availability and Delivery

Subject to availability, we process your order(s) as soon as possible after your order has been accepted. We reserve the right to allow 1-2 business days processing time prior to your order being shipped, so please select a shipping option accordingly. If your order includes a product(s) which are not available from stock, we will contact you via email to give you the option of either waiting until the goods are available or canceling your order. Delivery charges are based on order value and delivery location, and are calculated during checkout.  As stated in the Prices section, any duties, taxes, or brokerage services for orders whose destinations are outside the USA are the responsibility of the User. We cannot be held responsible for these extra costs, however we strive to make sure that your order is sent by the desired shipping carrier with appropriate customs information. Once delivered, we cannot accept any liability for losses or damages. If your order has been lost, damaged, stolen, or incorrectly delivered, please contact the shipping carrier with your tracking number before contacting us. If you have reason to believe the delivered order is missing due to theft, please contact your local police right away and file a report. This is extremely important when processing claims paperwork to replace your stolen goods. After contacting the shipping carrier, please contact us to let us know the situation and we will work with you to make sure the situation is resolved appropriately.

Payments

When making an online order, available payment methods are most major credit or debit cards or by purchase order. We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover, as well as Apple Pay. Payment is due in full prior to shipment of items.

If you wish to place an order using a purchase order, please send us the purchase order number and/or accompanying document. We do not accept purchase orders on Net 30 terms from international customers, we require prepayment for all international orders. We also can accept wire transfer payments, please contact us for more information. Credit / debit card transactions for orders outside the USA will be converted by the card company at their current exchange rates. By using a credit/debit card to pay for your order, you confirm that the card being used is yours. All credit/debit card holders are subject to validation checks and authorization by the card issuer. We will not be held responsible for any charges made by your card issuer as a result of processing your credit/debit card for payment of items ordered.

Payment Terms for Approved Vendors: We adhere to strict Net 30 terms. Payments not received after 30 days will become delinquent and may incur additional fees.

Returned Checks: In the event that a check comes back due to insufficient funds, a service charge of $30.00 will be added to the outstanding payment.

For universities, NGOs, or government organizations, please contact us if we need to complete vendor paperwork or applications, but please allow us additional time if signatures or tax documents are needed.

 Security and Privacy

We respect and value your privacy as a User of our site. Please see our Privacy Policy for specific terms related to your rights as a User of our website. This is an accordance following the new General Data Protections Regulations (GDPR) enacted in Europe, in effect May 25, 2018.

Complaints

We are continually striving to improve our line of products, service to you, and service to the research community. If, however, you are not pleased with any of our products or the service we have provided, please let us know. We take complaints very seriously and we are proactive in ensuring that your experience with us is positive.

Copyright

All of this website, including design, graphics, photographs and text are our exclusive property. Any partial or total reproduction of this content, by any means, is subject to our prior and express written authorization. United States law concerning intellectual property ownership and copyright protects all content offered on our site. All fraudulent use or distribution of content or materials that violates the rights held by a third party is severely punishable under United States law.

Returns/Exchanges

Updated 1/14/2020

If you are unsatisfied with your purchase or ordered the wrong item, please contact us via email (avinet@briloon.org) phone (207) 699-4418 and we will accept it back for a refund or exchange within 90 days of purchase. We will do this after we inspect the item and determine that it is in resellable-as-new condition.

All returns will be subject to an 8.5% fee to be deducted from your refund or issued credit. Please keep mist nets in their original bag. We cannot accept returns on mist nets that have caught wildlife due to contamination concerns. Whenever possible, please provide us with the order number or customer number of the original order. One way or another, we must find the original receipt before we can process a return for you. If the mist net is defective, please see the Defective/Damages section below for instructions. **

If you paid by credit card, we will issue a refund to the credit card that originally paid for the item unless an exchange is requested.

If you paid your original invoice by check, ACH, or wire, or if the item was purchased under a Purchase Order, we will issue an exchange or refund, or credit your account, only after inspecting the item and determining that it’s in re-sellable-as-new condition.

Please note shipping (and sales tax if shipping within Maine) will be added if we send out a replacement item for you. 

Defective or Damaged Items

Although we are not responsible for damages occurring in transit, in the event that an item is defective or otherwise not fully functional, please contact us to discuss. Return shipping labels are provided where appropriate. 

We encourage all of our customers who purchase banding tools to give them a try before contacting us about a return. Function is the above all the most important aspect of our products, so we take time to test batches of products before making them available for sale. This includes testing bands on banding pliers. If there are any modifications that need to be made to the tool to make them functional, please let us know and we can help walk through troubleshooting.

If an item is proven to be defective, the 8.5% deduction from your refund will not apply. For all other items, each product is treated differently, so please email us (orders@avinet.com) to discuss any faulty items. We ask that you help us improve our service to you and your colleagues by providing as much detail as possible about what went wrong.