Shipping/Return Policy

The Covert Instruments team takes pride in the quality of our gear, and we want you to be satisfied with your purchase. These are our terms and conditions.

By Placing an Order, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions below.

ANY DISCOUNT CODES ARE NOT USABLE ON TOP OF ITEMS ALREADY DISCOUNTED FOR SALES

WAS YOUR PACKAGE MARKED AS DELIVERED, BUT YOU DID NOT RECEIVE IT?

If your package was marked as delivered by USPS and you did not receive it, there are several possibilities:

  1. The package was delivered and stolen
  2. The package was misdelivered or the package was incorrectly addressed
  3. The package was incorrectly marked as delivered by USPS, their suggestion is to wait 1 week before contacting them. After 1 week please contact USPS or start a service request via their website.

Also, if you are using a freight forwarder or mail forwarder solution to forward your package on to its final destination, we only support delivery to the address you entered as your shipping address at checkout. Once it shows delivered to that location, any lost or damaged packages will not be replaced or refunded. This also goes for any packages shipped to hotels/motels, Airbnb locations, or other 3rd party locations.

IF YOUR PACKAGE WAS MARKED AS DELIVERED, WE DO NOT COVER REPLACEMENTS NOR REFUNDS.

FULFILLMENT TIMES:

We are not Amazon; we are a small team that handles fulfillment in house and we are only human. Orders will be fulfilled and shipped within 2-3 business days (M-F) after purchase. Please be patient and allow our fulfillment team time to get to your order. We are a Monday-Friday operation and will not ship orders over the weekend. Any orders placed over the weekend will be fulfilled the following 2-3 business days. This is our fulfillment policy and our handling time is not included in the USPS provided delivery time estimates.

For all Chop Shop orders our fulfillment times are longer. Due to the nature of the Chop Shop being custom lasered and/or custom built sets, it takes much longer to get orders out. Keep in mind: SELECTING A FASTER SHIPPING METHOD LIKE PRIORITY OR PRIORITY EXPRESS DOES NOT MEAN YOUR ORDER WILL SHIP FASTER! All that means is once your order ships, it will take less time to get to you than a
method like Ground Advantage.

EDITING CARTS:

If our fulfillment team has not begun to process your order, you can cancel and receive a refund. To do this email our team at sales@covertinstruments.com and request a refund. If you are requesting an additional item to be added, we will cancel and refund your order so that you can place the order again. We cannot simply add items to carts because we deliberately do not record payment information. It is all handled through a 3rd party shopping platform.

For all Chop Shop orders, ALL SALES ARE FINAL! There are no returns or exchanges on any Chop Shop orders.

ID REQUESTS:

You might receive an request for ID verification on high dollar amount purchases, your order was flagged for possible fraudulent activity, or your ship to address does not match the billing address, or any combination thereof. Understand we are trying to make sure the purchase is legitimate to protect the card holder’s information. As privacy advocates ourselves we understand that this may seem intrusive. By all means, redact the picture, D.o.B, and driver’s license number. All we need to see is that you are the person who matches the billing address (information that is already on the order). We hope that clarifies our sincere intentions.

This is a one-time precaution and subsequent orders do not have this check. Large orders placed from .gov, .mil addresses are also exempt.

DOMESTIC SHIPPING:

Note: WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR AUTO FILL ERRORS WITH PAYMENT PROCESSORS.

Note: We will not ship any orders to third party shipping companies or hotels.

Please double check your shipping address both before and after payment. Auto fill will often input wrong address and we are not responsible for packages that are sent out to incorrect addresses. Packages that are sent to incorrect address, due to the customer’s error or auto fill, will not be replaced or refunded.

*OUR POLICY IS 30 DAYS PAST THE DATE OF PURCHASE FOR DOMESTIC ORDERS. At 30 days past the date of purchase, if the package has not arrived, we can discuss actions such as replacements or refunds*

*FOR CHOP SHOP ORDERS, OUR POLICY IS 45 DAYS PAST THE DATE OF PURCHASE FOR DOMESTIC ORDERS. At 45 days past the date of purchase, if the package has not arrived, we can discuss actions such as replacements or refunds*

COMMON SHIPPING ISSUES:

Early Delivery Scan: This happens routinely and causes our customers, and us, a great deal of frustration. Items are often scanned as delivered up to a few days prior to actually showing up at your door. Please be patient and contact your local post office prior to contacting us. We do not deliver your packages ourselves and do not have any more information than you do, once the package is shipped.

Also, while we ship items out promptly, the same cannot always be said about the various parcel carriers. We cannot, and do not, guarantee arrival dates and shipping times.

INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING:

*TO FACILITATE DELIVERY PLEASE PLACE YOUR PHONE NUMBER IN THE COMPANY LINE WHEN CHECKING OUT* This ensures that your contact information is available on the shipping label for customs to contact you.

Longer than usual delays are occurring with International orders. OUR POLICY IS NOW 90 DAYS PAST THE DATE OF PURCHASE FOR INTERNATIONAL ORDERS, DUE TO GLOBAL SHIPPING DELAYS. At 90 days past the date of purchase, if the package has not arrived, we can discuss actions such as replacements or refunds*

ON CHOP SHOP ORDERS, OUR POLICY IS NOW 105 DAYS PAST THE DATE OF PURCHASE FOR INTERNATIONAL ORDERS, DUE TO GLOBAL SHIPPING DELAYS. At 105 days past the date of purchase, if the package has not arrived, we can discuss actions such as replacements or refunds*

Note: Once a parcel is accepted into a destination country, we often lose the ability to track the parcel and cannot contact the destination country’s customs office for you. If you have questions regarding your package after it is marked in your country, please contact your country's postal service for any inquiries before reaching out to us.

SPECIAL CONCERNS FOR GERMANY:

USPS uses DHL for delivery in Germany. DHL has notoriously not been notifying recipients that their package is being held for pick up. Please keep an eye on your tracking information and use DHL tracking once it is in Germany. DHL tracking should provide you the pickup location. If it is not picked up within their given time frame, it will be returned to us.

UNAVAILABLE COUNTRIES:

Unfortunately at this time we do not ship to all countries for all of our products. Just because your country is in the drop-down menu during checkout, does not mean we can ship all of our products to you. Our hats, shirts, sweatshirts and other clothing items can ship to many more countries than the rest of our products. If you try and checkout and you get the error "No delivery available" this means we cannot ship certain items to your country.

NOTE: We will not ship any orders to third party shipping companies or hotels.

INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING DELAYS:

Unfortunately, we have no control over how long an order takes to arrive. Currently no carrier is guaranteeing delivery times on any parcel. The estimates they provide are a guide at best. Orders placed after hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday are processed Monday AM. This includes expedited orders. Regardless of the shipping option chosen at checkout, delivery may take longer due to unforeseen global delays or your country’s customs office. We have no control over such things and are not responsible.

CUSTOMS AND FEES:

*We cannot mark any international order value down or as a gift to avoid your country’s taxes and duties. This is illegal and will not be done. *

As is the case with any international purchase, you will most likely be required by your country to pay Taxes and Duties to import your package. These fees are not included in your total or shipping costs. These are separate fees that are collected by your country/postal service, and we are not responsible for these fees. Any duties/taxes will not be refunded, even in the case of a return.

RETURNS:

Note: Used items are non-refundable!

Most items can be returned within 7 days of purchase for a refund.

Some returns are subject to a 20% restock fee. These are:

  • Covert Companions and all SSF parts for the Covert Companion
  • Genesis Pick sets
  • The Echelon Pick Set
  • The Arbiter Bypass Set
  • CI Practice Locks
  • Covert Tubular Pick
  • Impressioning Starter Kit
  • Learn Lock Picking Bundle
  • Lock Sport Trainer
  • Grav Pick
  • Reaper Lock Pick Set

Items not eligible for return are ANY CHOP SHOP ITEMS, the "Reach Around", "The Replicant", and the "FNG". Any custom or small batch items are also not returnable.

Lishis are only able to be returned if they are unused. These tools are all inspected before being shipped to the end user for quality assurance. Lishis are precision tools and if used with too much force they can easily bend the picking arm. If a picking tip is bent or broken in use, the tool is not eligible for a refund or replacement. A photograph will be required for all exchanges or returns and they will be examined before returns are processed.

Any refunds processed, will be returned to the original payment method and can take up to 10 days to show, depending on Bank processing times. Refunds do not include original shipping charges!

INTERNATIONAL RETURNS:

We are unable to generate return labels for international customers. If you are an international customer and you wish to return an item that complies with the requirements in the 'returns' section, you are responsible for all incurred return shipping costs. The 20% restocking fee and all other policies still apply.

NON-REFUNDABLE ITEMS:

Certain items are considered non-refundable even if they are unused by the customer. While they are not eligible for a return, we can dispatch replacement products should the situation warrant such action, which will be determined by our customer service team on a case-by-case basis. Non-refundable items include:

  • Any item from the Chop Shop, this includes individual picks.
  • Any clothing item (please double check you are ordering the correct size prior to purchasing) are non refundable and unable to be exchanged.
  • The Reach Around is not returnable, barring any manufacturing defect

Buyers Responsibility:

By placing an order with Covert Instruments ("CI"), the customer represents and certifies that (i) they are at least 18 years old and are of legal age in their jurisdiction; (ii) they have researched all applicable laws and regulations regarding the purchase, shipping, possession, and use of CI products, and (iii) they are legally permitted to purchase, receive, possess, and use all CI products ordered. CI employees cannot and will not advise you on the legality of any CI products in your jurisdiction. it is the SOLE responsibility of the customer to ascertain and obey all applicable laws and regulations.

By placing an order for a "locksmithing device" using USPS shipping, the customer represents and certifies that they are either: a lock manufacturer or distributor, a bona fide locksmith, a bona fide re-possessor; a motor vehicle manufacturer or dealer, a bona fide automotive repair shop or business, or any other qualified person, within the meaning of federal postal regulations. CI will not deliver any locksmithing device through USPS to a customer who cannot certify that they fall into one of these categories. If you are not qualified under federal postal regulations to receive locksmithing devices, please choose one of the other shipping options offered by CI.

CI is not responsible for the unlawful use of any of its products. By purchasing items from CI, the customer represents and certifies that they intend to use these items in a lawful manner. The customer (and not CI) is liable and responsible for any/all loss, damage, liability, or expense of any kind, arising from the use or misuse of any CI product.

CI reserves the right to refuse any sale for any reason.

Please note that this is required by ALL USA companies who sell locksmithing devices and all companies who use USPS to ship their products, whether or not they choose to outright mention it or not.

REPLACEMENTS:

Replacements are sent out on a case-by-case basis. Possible situations for replacements or replacement parts are manufacturing errors or parts that arrived broken or lost/damaged packages. All replacements are sent out via USPS First Class, regardless of the original postage purchased.

Domestic orders shall have a 30-day period from the date of purchase before being eligible for replacements or refunds. While we do not typically have delays this long, this period is to account for any possible errors with USPS delivery.

International orders shall have a 90-day period from the date of purchase before being eligible for replacements or refunds. This extended period is to account for all the unforeseen delays with international shipping and custom clearance.

We do not offer replacements on any Chop Shop items.

*Any instance of a package that is clearly lost before the waiting period, or that is returned to us by USPS due to an error, are viewed on a case-by-case basis.

* Note: WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR AUTO FILL ADDRESS ERRORS.