Shipping Policy
Last updated
Fresh, never frozen
Nelson Brand hams ship fresh, never frozen, in a Nelson Brand insulated box with an ice pack to keep them cold in transit.
FedEx services and shipping charges
We ship by FedEx. Enter your ZIP code in the cart or at checkout and we show the FedEx services available for your address, with live FedEx rates. The services we offer are FedEx Ground, FedEx Home Delivery, FedEx Express Saver and FedEx 2Day; which of them appear depends on your address. The shipping charge you see at checkout is the charge on your order.
If FedEx rates are briefly unavailable, we may instead offer a flat-rate FedEx Home Delivery charge for addresses in the contiguous United States. If neither a live rate nor a flat rate can be shown for your address, checkout will not let you place the order. Please call 1-866-296-4267 or email kim@nelsonbrand.com and we will help.
We ship to U.S. addresses that FedEx serves. The services and rates available for your address are shown at checkout. FedEx does not deliver to PO boxes or to APO, FPO or DPO addresses, so we cannot ship to them.
Ship days and estimated arrival
Each season we set the days we ship. Checkout shows the next ship day and, for each FedEx service, an estimated arrival date, for example "Ships Tue, Dec 16. Arrives about Mon, Dec 22."
An order placed after our daily cut-off time on a ship day goes out on the next ship day instead. We set the cut-off time, and the ship day and arrival date shown at checkout already take it into account.
Arrival dates are estimates based on FedEx transit times. They count business days only and skip weekends and the days FedEx does not move packages (such as Thanksgiving and Christmas). FedEx delays, such as bad weather, can still happen.
If your order arrives late, contact us within 48 hours of delivery (or from the expected delivery date if it does not arrive), as described in our Return and Refund Policy.
When the season opens
Some seasons we take orders before we begin shipping. When that is the case, the site shows the date we start shipping, and your ham ships on or after that date, never before.
Farm pickup and Nelson delivery
For some nearby customers we may offer to let you pick your order up from us, or to deliver it ourselves, instead of shipping by FedEx. Whether this is offered depends on how far your ZIP code is from us and on how many hams are in your order, and it is shown as a choice at checkout only when your order qualifies.
There is no shipping charge at checkout for pickup or Nelson delivery. A delivery charge, if there is one, is settled with the family and is not part of the checkout. These options need a phone number, and after you order the Nelsons will call you to set a pickup or delivery time. They are for orders going to a single address, not for orders split across several recipients.
Holiday timing
FedEx does not move packages on its holidays, and ham is perishable, so we ship on our scheduled ship days. If the estimated arrival for the service you choose falls after Christmas, checkout tells you so before you pay. For holiday delivery, we recommend ordering early.
Gifts to more than one address
You can send one order to many recipients. Choose to ship to multiple addresses in the cart, then enter each recipient's name, address and ham selection, or upload a recipient list as a spreadsheet (CSV file). You may add an optional gift message, and an optional email address and phone number for each recipient. Each address is shipped and tracked separately, and the shipping charge is worked out for each address.
If you give us a recipient's email address, we send them an email with tracking when their gift ships, including your gift message if you wrote one. You, the buyer, are emailed as each shipment goes out.
For more than 50 recipients, call 1-866-296-4267 or email kim@nelsonbrand.com and we will set up the order with you.
When your ham arrives
Please refrigerate your ham within 2 hours of arrival. If the recipient will not be home, leaving a cooler with ice packs at the door works well.
Tracking
When your order ships we email you a FedEx tracking number, and we may also email you when it is out for delivery, when it is delivered, or if FedEx reports a problem. After you check out, the confirmation page links to your order status page, and if you need a new link the order status page can email one to the address on the order.
Address problems
Please check the delivery address and ZIP code before you order. We ship to the address you give us. If FedEx reports a problem delivering your order, we will contact you using the email address or phone number on the order.
You are responsible for giving a complete and correct delivery address. If a package cannot be delivered because the address was wrong or incomplete, or a recipient refuses it, we cannot refund the order or reship it free of charge, because hams are perishable. Contact us and we will help arrange a re-shipment at your cost. If the error was ours or FedEx's, we replace the ham at no charge.