Ordering Support

Placing your order online?

All online orders are placed through our webstore at SparkFun.com. SparkFun Education does provide a catered list of education-focused products located on our Kits & Materials page which direct you to the webstore product page for purchase.

Once you know what you'd like to purchase, getting your order placed is fast and easy. Just follow the steps below. If you aren't sure which materials you need, please contact one of our program managers.

 

Add to Cart

Add items to cart

Browse our catalog of over 2000 products to find what you need and add items to your cart.

View Cart

Review your cart

Click on the cart icon to review your cart. This is a good time to make sure all of your quantities are correct.

Add to Cart

Complete Checkout

Follow the checkout steps to completion. New users will either create a new account or checkout as a guest.

Purchase Orders

We offer Net30 terms to approved customers. We do not offer any other terms. To apply, download and complete the Net30 Request Form and email it to ar@sparkfun.com.

For approved Net30 customers: SparkFun offers two Purchase Order processing options, and customers are able to switch between the two. Our Same-Day Shipping guarantee does not apply to Purchase Orders.

Fast Track Processing:

  • Place an order via our website that corresponds to your PO, and email or fax us a copy of that PO referencing the SparkFun Order Number.
  • Please be sure to enter your Purchase Order Number in the appropriate field during checkout.
  • POs received via this method will be processed within 1 business day from the time of receipt.

Traditional Track Processing:

  • Email or fax us a copy of the P.O. Please include the account number or email address where this order needs to be processed.
  • If any items are out of stock, we will provide this information and the approximate lead time.
  • POs received via this method will be processed within 1 to 3 business days from the time of receipt.

Submit your Purchase Order document (and your SparkFun Order Number if applicable):

Please make sure that a contact name and email or phone number is listed on the Purchase Order.

For assistance with setup or making a purchase order please call 303-284-0979

Changing or Canceling An Order

Need change something about your order or just want it canceled? Pause your order until we can fix it for you.

To pause your order:

  1. Log into your account at SparkFun.com.
  2. Click “My Account” in the upper right.
  3. Click “Order History.”
  4. Click the red “Need to change something?” button on the line of the order you’re looking for (it’s next to the Order ID).
  5. Enter a brief note letting us know what you’d like to do.
  6. Click “Pause Order.”

We’ll take it from there. You can ask us to change the items on your order, update an address or payment method, or just cancel it. Customer Service will get back to you by email within one business day regarding your request.

  • If you ask us to add items but don’t mention payment, we will just submit the charge to the original card/account.

  • Only orders that are still in New Order can be paused. If your order has already moved to a different status, you won’t be able to pause it. If you pause your order, it will no longer necessarily qualify for our Same-Day Shipping guarantee.

Shipping Policy

We ship in-stock orders as soon as possible. This is often the day you placed it or the day after, but there are many situations where it will take longer. Please see the Same-Day Shipping section below for details.

You will be sent at least 2 emails for each order you place:

  • The Order Confirmation verifies that your order is in our system. Please review the email to make sure all the information is correct. You can change your order if something’s wrong.
  • The Ship Notification is to let you know that your order is ready to go. It will be picked up by the shipping company the next time they come by our building.

See further information below specific to your destination:

US Shipping

US orders over $75 ship free! You’ll see that option in checkout. For other shipping methods, price varies greatly. You can get an estimate with the Calculate Shipping button in your cart, or just enter checkout to see what we’ll charge. For orders under $75 or faster shipping options, we charge a $2 handling fee plus the estimate from the carrier.

Shipping Methods

We offer 4 shipping options to allow you to decide when you get your stuff. Days listed are from when the order ships. See our same-day shipping section for more detail.

  • Next Business Day is FedEx Standard Overnight — Delivery is guaranteed by 3pm the next business day, may be later for rural.
  • 2 Business Days is FedEx 2-day — Delivery is guaranteed by the end of the second business day.
  • 2-6 Business Days is FedEx Ground — All orders ship from Colorado, so the closer you are to us, the sooner this option will arrive.
  • 3-11 Business Days is FedEx Smartpost — Please note rural areas may take additional time to deliver. This option is carried by FedEx to a post office near your address, then handed over to the postal service for delivery with your normal US mail. Not tracked or insured, only allowed for less than $300. May take up to 3 business days to leave our facility.
FedEx does not normally deliver on Saturday, but may for an additional charge. See our Saturday Delivery information for details.

We don’t normally offer USPS or UPS shipping options, but you may see them in the following cases:

  • You have a verified UPS account number on file with us
  • You are shipping to a PO box or military address
  • Your shipping address is not returning a valid quote from FedEx
Local Pickup

If your shipping address is in the state of Colorado, you’ll see Local Pickup as a shipping method in checkout. If you select this option, we’ll hold your order here so you can come pick it up. See our Local Customers section for more details.

PO Boxes

FedEx and UPS do not deliver to PO Boxes. If your shipping address is a PO Box, please check the “This address is a P.O. Box” option when entering your address. You will then have the option to select a USPS option

Signature Requirements

All US orders are shipped “Signature Not Required” by default; however, the shipping company may decide to require a signature depending on the value or destination. If you want your order to require a signature for delivery, please contact Customer Service. If a “Signature Not Required” package is left at the door but isn’t there when you get home, neither SparkFun nor the shipping company can be held responsible.

Saturday Deliver

FedEx and UPS do not normally deliver on Saturday, but can for an additional charge of $15. If you would like your package to ship on a Friday for delivery Saturday, please follow these steps:

  1. Make sure it is before 2pm Mountain Time on a Friday. We can’t guarantee shipment that day if it is later.
  2. Place your order through our website, selecting either FedEx Priority Overnight or UPS Next Day Air for the shipping method and Offline Payment as the payment method.
  3. Click the “Need to change something?” button next to your order number, then pause your order with a note explaining what you’d like to do. Call Customer Service right away with your order number.
  4. We’ll add the $15 to the original shipping cost calculated, take payment, and release your order for shipment.

You’ll receive an email with your tracking information as usual. Delivery is usually made by noon on Saturdays.

Package Rerouting

If your package is en route to an incorrect address, we can contact FedEx or UPS to update the delivery address (USPS does not offer this service). The base fee is $10 for FedEx and $11 for UPS. There may be additional charges depending on how far away the new delivery address is from the old one. Please call Customer Service as soon as you are aware the package needs rerouting.

This service also applies to packages needing to be stopped and returned to us.

Please Note: Package Rerouting and returning is done at the discretion of the shipper. If the package is too close to the delivery address, it may be delivered before the reroute/return instructions are received. We will make the request, but cannot guarantee that it will be honored.

Using your own FedEx or UPS account

FedEx and UPS do not normally deliver on Saturday, but can for an additional charge of $15. If you would like your package to ship on a Friday for delivery Saturday, please follow these steps:

Please note: Your contracted rates may vary greatly from ours. The shipping estimate you see at checkout has no relation to what you will eventually be billed. Please do not enter your FedEx or UPS account number unless you are absolutely certain you want to ship on your own account instead of ours.

International Shipping

We ship to your country! Unless you live in a country that is embargoed by the US government (currently Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria). We still can’t ship to Cuba normally, but that is theoretically changing sooner than later. Everywhere else is groovy.

Most international shipments will incur additional fees in the form of duties and taxes. These fees are your responsibility, and are in addition to the shipping cost we charge at checkout. See Duties and Taxes below for details.

For all international shipments, we charge a $2 handling fee plus the shipping estimate from the carrier.

Shipping Methods

For shipping addresses outside the US, we offer 7 options:

FedEx - (tracked and insured)
  • FedEx International Priority — 1-3 business days, longer for rural
  • FedEx International Economy — 3-5 business days, longer for rural
UPS - (tracked and insured)
  • UPS Worldwide Express Saver — 1-3 business days, longer for rural
  • UPS Worldwide Expedited — 3-5 business days, longer for rural
United States Postal Service
  • USPS Express Mail International — usually 5-10 business days. Trackable. Only allowed for orders up to $300 in value. Delivery is made by the destination country’s postal service
  • USPS First Class Mail International — usually 2-4 weeks, but can take 6 weeks or more. NOT trackable. Only allowed for orders up to $300 in value. Delivery is made by the destination country’s postal service

Please Note - First Class Mail International packages are NOT insured. In the case a package is lost or damaged in transit, SparkFun is not responsible for replacing the order.

International Economy

SparkFun’s International Economy Shipping option, also known as FedEx International Mail Service (FIMS), is carried by FedEx to your country, then handed off to the local postal service for delivery with standard mail. This shipping option will deliver to PO Boxes. Shipping time varies greatly depending on destination. Delivery is usually made in 2-4 weeks, but can take as long as 6 in some cases. Only allowed for orders up to $300 in value. Economy is not an insured shipping method. As such, SparkFun is not responsible for replacing the package should it be lost in transit. There is no tracking available for this shipping method.

Duties and Taxes

All duties and taxes for international shipments are the responsibility of the customer. SparkFun is not responsible for any extra charges once the original package has been shipped. We can’t tell you exactly what the charges will be, but here’s a duty calculator to help with estimation.

If the customer refuses to pay these extra charges, the return shipping and any additional fees will be taken out of the cost of the order with any remaining funds being refunded to the customer. In the event that the extra charges exceed the value of the order, we may charge those amounts to the credit card originally used for the order.

Export Restrictions

As mentioned above, we are not able ship anything to any address in the countries of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria. Beyond that, we also sell some items that are known as “dual-use items”. These are products designed for civilian use, but that could be used for devious purposes in the wrong hands. The rules vary by item, but we’ll be in direct contact with you if we need further information. Please read our Export Compliance page for general information, and contact Customer Service if you have further questions regarding an item and/or its destination.

Signature Requirements

International shipments’ signature requirements vary by carrier and destination. If you have questions regarding your particular shipment, contact Customer Service.

Using your own FedEx/UPS account

Want to bill shipping charges to your FedEx or UPS account? Add your shipping account to your customer profile. Once verified by our customer support team, you will be able to select the account during checkout.

Please note: Your contracted rates may vary greatly from ours. The shipping estimate you see at checkout has no relation to what you will eventually be billed. Please do not enter your FedEx or UPS account number unless you are absolutely certain you want to ship on your own account instead of ours.

Same-Day Shipping

SparkFun guarantees to ship your order the same day you place it IF and ONLY IF your order meets ALL the following criteria:

  1. Your order is placed before 2:00PM, Mountain Time.
    1. Time - The timestamp on your order must be before 2PM Mountain Time to qualify. An order placed at 1:59:59PM counts, 2:00:00PM does not. Orders placed at 2PM and later will be considered to qualify for the next business day. The time used is the timestamp on your order, which will be displayed once your order is placed.
  2. You select a shipping method other than the 3-11 Business Day option.
    1. Shipping Method - Most of our available shipping methods qualify. Within the US, all options except SmartPost (the 3-11 day option) qualify. For international customers, all options except Economy qualify. Options that do not qualify will be processed within 1-3 business days of placement.
  3. The day you place your order is a Business Day.
    1. Business Days - Business Days are traditionally defined as the weekdays of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Excluded are the weekend days of Saturday and Sunday, as well as any Holidays. You can see a list of the weekdays SparkFun will be closed for Holidays here. Additionally, SparkFun may be unexpectedly closed for inclement weather, off-site company events, zombie apocalypse, etc. In the event of such closure, SparkFun will post notice of closure on the front page of our website as soon as possible. If SparkFun does need to close unexpectedly, that day will not be considered a Business Day, even if the zombies have gotten into our server room and we are unable to update the site to tell you about it.y.
  4. All items are in-stock.
    1. In-Stock - Your order must contain only in-stock items to qualify for same-day shipping. If we don’t have it, we can’t ship it to you. There is the potential that your order will contain an Accidentally Backordered Item. In this case, we can only guarantee the ship date on all remaining items in your order, and ship the Accidentally Backordered Item(s) as soon as possible. Please see our Backorder Policy for more details.
  5. Your order is paid in full at the time you place it.
    1. Paid in full - Only orders paid in full at the time of placement qualify. This limits payment methods to Credit Card and most PayPal transactions. Orders paid with a PayPal “echeck” do not qualify. Orders paid entirely with a Gift Certificate do qualify. All other payment methods do not qualify for same-day shipping. At this time, we do not guarantee same-day shipping for Net30 orders.
  6. Your order is not considered an Exception.
    1. Exception - While rare, there is the chance that your order will go to an Exception status, instead of the normal New Order status. You will be notified upon placing your order if your order is an Exception. Most orders that do go to Exception, and otherwise qualify, will be cleared quickly and shipped within the same-day time frame. Because some will require additional information from the customer, though, we cannot guarantee it. You can see our Order Status Information section for more details.
  7. Your order value is less than $1,200 before shipping costs.
    1. Order Value - In order to ensure the quality of very large orders, we need to exclude orders valued at $1,200 and up from this guarantee. Your order will be processed within 1-3 business days after any order verification, and/or modification has been completed and payment has been received.
  8. You are not a SparkFun Distributor.
    1. Distributors - Distributor orders don’t qualify. Sorry folks. Your order will be processed within 1-3 business days after any order verification, and/or modification has been completed and payment has been received.
  9. Your order does not require any modification before it is able to ship.
    1. Does not require modification - Your order must be valid to ship as you placed it. If any changes are required to your order before it is able to be shipped, it is disqualified from the same-day shipping guarantee. These changes may be intentional, such as you needing to add an item or correct a shipping address, or unintentional, such as providing an invalid FedEx account number or an address deemed undeliverable by your selected shipper.
  10. Your order does not contain any lithium-ion or lithium-metal batteries.
    1. Batteries - Lithium Ion and Lithium Metal are considered dangerous goods and take additional packing and paperwork in order to ship.

 

If your order does meet all the listed requirements, we guarantee shipment of your package that day. If it doesn’t meet them all, we may still get it out the same day, but no promises.