Shipping Policy

Processing Times

Orders are processed Monday through Friday from our warehouse in Bedford, New Hampshire. We offer two processing options at checkout:

Standard Processing — 2–3 business days (Free)
In-stock orders are packed and shipped within 2–3 business days after being placed.

Priority Processing — Ships within 24 hours (+$25)
In-stock orders placed before 12:00 PM EST Monday–Friday will ship within 24 hours. Orders placed after this time or on weekends/holidays will ship the next business day.

Please note: "Processing time" refers to how quickly your order leaves our facility, not the shipping carrier's delivery speed. Processing times apply to items that are in stock at the time you order — see Made-to-Order, Pre-Production & Delayed Items below.

Requests for Delivery by a Specific Date

If you need your order by a specific date, please include this in the Order Notes section at checkout. We will make every effort to meet your timeline, but delivery dates are not guaranteed due to carrier delays or events beyond our control. For time-sensitive needs, we strongly recommend selecting Priority processing and contacting us before you order.

Made-to-Order, Pre-Production & Delayed Items

Not every configuration we list is held in stock. Some products are manufactured in scheduled production runs, and some are pre-production or made to order. Where we know an item is not in stock, we identify it on the product page — but availability can change between the time you order and the time we pack.

If any item on your order cannot ship within 30 days of purchase, we will contact you by email with a revised estimated ship date and offer you the choice to:

• Wait for the revised ship date;
• Cancel the delayed item for a full refund of that item; or
• Ship the in-stock portion of your order immediately, with the delayed item to follow. Where the split is caused by our delay, we do not charge you additional shipping for the second shipment.

If we do not hear back from you, we will hold the order for the revised date and keep you updated. You may cancel any item that has not yet shipped, at any time, for a full refund of that item — just email support@hotsaucepod.com. If an item is discontinued, or a pre-production item does not enter production, we will cancel and refund it in full and let you know.

Backorders & Combined Shipments

If you order an in-stock product together with an item that is out of stock or on pre-order, our default is to hold the order and ship everything together once all items are available, subject to the 30-day notice and cancellation rights described above.

If you would like in-stock items to ship separately, please specify this in the Order Notes at checkout or contact us before your order ships. Where a split shipment is requested for your own convenience rather than caused by our delay, additional shipping charges may apply.

Carrier Selection, Rates, and Price Disclaimer

We reserve the right to choose the carrier (UPS, USPS, FedEx, an LTL freight carrier, etc.) based on our daily pickup schedule and best rate options. This ensures the fastest and most reliable shipping for your order.

The rates shown at checkout are live carrier quotes for your order and your address, calculated by our own shipping system for the boxes your order actually packs into — not by a generic calculator. They are the rates you pay. In the uncommon case that a carrier's final invoice differs from its quote, the sections Shipping Costs and LTL Freight Rates below describe what happens.

Carrier Delays

Once your order leaves our facility, transit and delivery are handled by the carrier. Estimated delivery times are provided by the carrier and are not guaranteed. We are not liable for delays or delivery interruptions caused by USPS, UPS, or FedEx, or for any loss you incur because a shipment arrives later than estimated. Damaged and lost shipments are handled under Damaged or Lost Shipments below.

Order Accuracy & Address Entry

It is the customer's responsibility to provide a complete and correct shipping address. We are not responsible for delays or losses resulting from incorrect or incomplete information provided at checkout. Please review your confirmation carefully and contact us immediately if updates are needed before shipment.

Refused, Undeliverable & Returned-to-Sender Shipments

If a shipment is refused at delivery, or is returned to us as undeliverable because of an incorrect, incomplete, or unattended address, the return freight, any carrier address-correction fee, and any storage or re-delivery charge are the customer's responsibility. These costs will be deducted from any refund issued, or invoiced to you if no refund is due. Re-shipping a returned order is charged at the applicable outbound rate.

Shipping Costs

Parcel shipping is priced per box. When you check out — or enter a ZIP code on your cart page — our system works out how many cartons your order packs into, asks the carrier for a live rate on each carton to your address (carriers price on dimensional weight, so box size matters as much as pounds), and totals them, rounded up to the whole dollar. That total is the rate you see, and it is what you pay.

Residential and commercial addresses. Carriers charge more to deliver to a home than to a business. Unless your checkout address is identified as a commercial location — by the company name and business address you enter, and by the carrier's own address records — we price your order as a residential delivery. Entering your company name at checkout is how you get the commercial rate, and the ZIP estimate on your cart page shows the difference before you decide. If a carrier later determines that an address we rated as commercial is in fact residential, we may invoice you the residential surcharge at the carrier's cost.

Adjustments. Parcel rates are quoted from expected package dimensions and weight, so a carrier can occasionally bill us differently from its quote. Where the actual carrier charge materially exceeds the amount collected at checkout, we will contact you before shipping and give you the option to pay the difference or cancel the order for a full refund. We will never charge your payment method for additional shipping without your authorization; any amount owed after delivery is invoiced to you.

Shipping Regions

We currently ship within the Continental U.S. only. If you need delivery outside this region or special handling, please contact us before ordering.

Weather & Unforeseen Events

We are not responsible for shipping delays due to weather, natural disasters, or events outside our control.

Damaged or Lost Shipments

Please inspect your shipment on delivery. If your package arrives damaged, or does not arrive at all, email support@hotsaucepod.com within 15 days of the delivery date (or the expected delivery date, for a package that never arrived), and include photographs of the outer carton and the affected product where the shipment was damaged.

Because we are the shipper of record, we file the carrier claim on your behalf — you do not need to contact the carrier yourself. Where a shipment is confirmed damaged or lost in transit, we will replace the goods or refund them, at our option, and we do this regardless of the outcome of the carrier claim. Reports made after 15 days may not be recoverable from the carrier, and we may not be able to honor them.

This section covers damage to our product in transit to you. It does not cover the performance of our packaging in your own outbound shipments, which is addressed in our Product Terms & Warranty.

Risk of Loss & Title

Title and risk of loss pass to you when we tender the shipment to the carrier. The replacement and refund commitments described above are contractual promises we make voluntarily, and they do not change when title transfers or make us the insurer of the shipment.

LTL Freight Rates

Orders large enough to ship on pallets are offered an LTL Freight rate at checkout alongside the parcel rates, and the largest orders may be offered freight only. Choosing it means your order ships on one or more pallets by a less-than-truckload freight carrier. The following terms apply to every LTL Freight rate we quote, and by selecting it at checkout you agree to them:

• What the rate assumes. The rate is a live quote from the lowest-priced freight carrier available to us for your pallets and delivery ZIP code. Freight orders are bundled and stretch-wrapped directly on the pallet. It is quoted as curbside delivery to a residential address with a liftgate truck — the most expensive delivery case — so that it never under-charges you. The carrier's fuel surcharge in effect on the day of the quote is included.
• Commercial dock deliveries cost less. If your delivery location is a commercial address with a loading dock or a forklift, so that no liftgate is required, place the order and then email support@hotsaucepod.com with your order number. We will re-quote the shipment as a commercial dock delivery, book it that way, and refund the difference to your original payment method. The ZIP estimate on your cart page shows approximately how much this saves.
• Quote validity. An LTL Freight rate is valid for 24 hours from the time it is quoted. Freight is booked when your order is packed, normally within our standard processing time. If, at booking, the carrier's rate for the same shipment has risen materially (more than 10%) — for example because the fuel surcharge changed — we will contact you before shipping with the option to pay the difference or cancel for a full refund.
• Charges billed after delivery. Freight carriers audit shipments and bill for the services actually rendered at delivery. Where the carrier's final invoice exceeds the rate you paid because of an accessorial service or adjustment arising at your location — a liftgate or residential delivery on an order we re-quoted as a dock delivery, limited-access or inside delivery, a delivery appointment, redelivery, storage or detention, an address correction, or a reweigh or reclassification of the freight — we reserve the right to invoice you for the difference at the carrier's cost, and you agree to pay that invoice within 15 days. We do not mark up these charges. Where the final invoice is lower than what you paid, we refund the difference.
• Receiving the shipment. Freight requires someone to receive it. The carrier will typically call to arrange a delivery window; a missed appointment or a refused delivery incurs the carrier's redelivery or return charges, which are your responsibility. Delivery is to the curb, driveway, or dock — the driver does not bring pallets inside. Count the pallets, check the wrap, and note any visible damage or shortage on the carrier's delivery receipt at the time of delivery before signing — an unnoted signed receipt severely limits what can be recovered on a freight claim — and contact us promptly.
• Carrier choice and transit. The rate names no carrier because we select the carrier when we book, based on price and service to your area. Transit times are the carrier's estimates and are not guaranteed.

Marketplace Orders

Orders placed through Amazon or another online marketplace are shipped and returned under that marketplace's own shipping and return policies, not this one.