Shipping & Delivery

Last updated: November 11, 2026

Most gifts you buy here are tied to a date that belongs to the two of you: the first month, the first year, the day you got the keys, the second anniversary that tradition calls cotton. A gift that turns up after that day still means something, but it is not the moment you planned. This page explains, plainly, how long a Gift Ink order takes, where we deliver, what it costs (nothing), and what to do if a parcel is slow or arrives in a bad way. It applies to every order placed on giftink.shop. If something here is unclear, write to support@giftink.shop and we reply within 24 hours on business days.

1. How long your gift takes to make

Every Gift Ink piece is printed for your order, not taken from a shelf. Once your order is placed we need 1-3 business days to prepare it: setting up your design, printing it, checking it and packing it. Business days are Monday to Friday, not counting public holidays. An order placed on a Saturday night starts on Monday.

Photo gifts, such as the custom photo tee, the couple photo pillow or the photo keychain, have one extra step that only you can do. After checkout you email us your photo, or a link to it, together with your order number. The 1-3 business days begin when that photo reaches us. If you send it within an hour of ordering, nothing is lost; if it waits in your camera roll for a week, the whole timeline moves a week. The Photo help page explains which pictures print clearly and how to send them.

We do not send a proof or mockup before printing. Your typed names, date and line are printed exactly as you entered them, and your photo is printed as you sent it. If a photo is too small or too blurred to print clearly, we email you before printing and ask for another one; the making time then restarts from the new photo.

2. Delivery times and cost by country

Your total wait is the making time plus the time the parcel spends with the carrier. The table shows both, so you can count back from your date.

There is one shipping option and it costs nothing: free shipping applies to every order, of any size, with no minimum and no coupon. You see the free rate at checkout before you pay. These times are estimates, not guaranteed dates. Weather, carrier backlogs and the weeks before big days such as Valentine’s Day and Christmas can stretch the transit part.

3. Counting back from your date

The longest estimate is 17 business days, which is a little more than three calendar weeks once weekends are counted. For a date that matters, we suggest ordering at least four weeks ahead, and five weeks ahead in late January and in December, when parcels everywhere move more slowly.

If your date is closer than this, write to us before you order and tell us the date. We will tell you honestly whether the estimate fits, and we will not promise a day we cannot keep.

What happens between your click and your door

1. Order placed. You receive an order confirmation email with your order number. Keep it: it is the key to every question you ask us later.
2. Photo received (photo gifts only). You email your photo or a link with that order number. We reply only if the photo cannot print clearly.
3. Making. 1-3 business days: your names, date and design are set up and printed exactly as typed.
4. Shipped. We email you that the parcel has left us, from the USA.
5. On the road. 7-14 business days with the carrier to the United States, Canada, Australia or New Zealand.
6. Delivered. Open it before the day if you want to check the spelling; it is your gift to inspect first.

A note on the quiet months

Outside the busy weeks before Valentine’s Day and the end of December, most parcels sit in the middle of the range rather than at the far end. We still plan with the far end, and so should you, because a first anniversary only happens once and we would rather you have the gift waiting in a drawer for a few days than arriving the morning after.

4. Where we deliver, and where we do not

We deliver to the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Every order ships from the USA. Checkout does not offer shipping to any other country, so an address elsewhere cannot be completed. If you are sending a gift to a partner who lives in one of our four countries while you live somewhere else, that works: the delivery address is what counts, not where you are when you order.

Deliveries to P.O. boxes, military addresses and remote areas depend on the carrier that serves the address. If you need to use one of these, email us before ordering and we will check what we can do for that address.

5. Sending the gift straight to your partner

Many orders here are surprises. You can enter your partner’s name and address as the shipping address and your own details as the billing address. A few things help the surprise survive:

• The parcel is addressed to the name you type in the shipping fields, so use the name your partner receives post under.
• If you live together, think about where the parcel will land. Some couples send the gift to a workplace or a friend, with that person’s agreement.
• Order emails go to the address you use at checkout, not to the recipient.
• If you would like a short gift note included, say so in the order notes; we will tell you by email if we cannot add one for that product.

If the parcel will travel to a partner in another of our four countries, for example from you in Toronto to them in Perth, enter their address exactly as their local post expects it, including the state or province and the postal code. Delivery estimates are the same for all four countries.

6. Tracking your parcel

When your order leaves us, we email you that it has shipped. Where the carrier provides a tracking number for the parcel, it is in that email with a link to follow the parcel. The first scan can take a day or two to appear after the label is created, so a tracking page that says “label created” on the first day is normal. You can also look up your order on the Order Tracking page with your order number and the email you used at checkout. If you have not heard from us within four business days of sending your photo or placing a non-photo order, check your spam folder first, then write to us.

7. Address mistakes and changes

Please read the address twice before you pay, especially the apartment number and the ZIP or postal code. You can change the address free of charge within 24 hours of placing the order by emailing us, as explained on Cancel or Change an Order. After that, if the parcel has not left us yet, ask anyway and we will do our best. Once the parcel is with the carrier, we cannot always redirect it. If a parcel comes back to us because of an address problem, write to us and we will work out the next step with you.

8. Several items in one order

A matching set, say a tee for each of you and a mug for the morning after, is usually packed together. Sometimes items are printed in different places and leave in separate parcels so that nothing waits for anything else. You never pay for the extra parcel, and each one is covered by the same delivery estimate. If one parcel arrives before the other, that is the reason; the second one is on its way.

9. Late, lost or delivered-but-missing parcels

If your parcel has gone past the end of the estimate, or tracking has stopped moving for several days, email us with your order number. We will check with the carrier and tell you what we find. If the parcel is confirmed lost, we will make it right with a replacement or a refund; refunds follow the timing in our Refund Policy.

If tracking says delivered but you cannot find it, look around the door, with neighbours and with any building reception, and wait one more business day, because carriers sometimes scan a parcel a little early. Then contact us and we will help you take it further with the carrier.

10. Damaged or wrong items

If your gift arrives damaged, misprinted or is not what you ordered, take a photo of the item and the parcel label and send it to support@giftink.shop with your order number. When the mistake is ours, for example a name printed differently from what you typed, a wrong colour or a print that is smudged, we put it right at no cost to you. The Returns & Exchanges Policy explains the full process.

11. Import duties and taxes

Our prices are in US dollars and we do not add sales tax at checkout. Parcels to Canada, Australia and New Zealand cross a border. Whether any import duty, tax or handling fee is charged depends on the destination country, the value of the parcel and the rules in force on the day it arrives. Those charges, if any, are set by the destination country, not by us. If you are unsure, check your local customs service before ordering, or write to us and we will tell you what we know about your order.

12. Questions about delivery

Write to support@giftink.shop with your order number and your date if there is one. We answer within 24 hours on business days. You can also browse the Help Center, read the FAQs or submit a ticket with a pre-filled subject. Gift Ink, 2248 Rugby Row, Madison, WI 53726, US.