SHOPPING 411

• How is there no sales tax for shipping to California and Nevada?
• Why is there sales tax for selecting "In Store Pick Up?"
• What forms of payment do you accept?
  
• How and where do I search for products on your site?
  
• Now that I searched and found the item I want, how do I pick the color and size?
• How do I add or delete items from the Shopping Cart?
• How do I complete the “Check-Out” process and pay for my items?
• When does my credit card get charged?
• How do I change and/or cancel my order after it’s already done?
• Can I pick up my items in one of the stores?
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• How is there no sales tax for shipping to California and Nevada?
• Well, actually there is sales tax. We have physical stores in California and Nevada, and our warehouse / distribution center for porterstahoe.com is in California as well. So by law we need to pay each state the tax on any in-store sale as well as the tax on any internet order shipped to a California or Nevada address. It's just that if you order over the internet and we ship the item to you, WE'RE going to pay the sales tax for YOU from now on. Consider it Porters' way to put a little rebate check in your pocket - every time you buy from us! The only catch here?? We have to be clear that this is for INTERNET ORDERS SHIPPED TO CALIFORNIA OR NEVADA ONLY. If you select "in store pick up" - just like buying something inside one of our stores - we will charge sales tax.
• Why is there sales tax for selecting "In Store Pick Up?"
• We're basically doing a HUGE service and favor to our internet customers in California and Nevada by eating the sales tax. ࠌ In exchange, we can't have our generosity taken advantage of for purchases made in our stores - or picked up in our stores. ࠌ If you really want us to pay the sales tax, then we'll ship it to you.
• What forms of payment do you accept?
• We accept credit cards from Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover.  We currently do not accept wire transfers or PayPal, but we might in the future.
• How and where do I search for products on your site?
• In today’s internet age we all want to be able to find things quickly on a site.  If we stock what you’re looking for, you will never be more than three clicks away from finding it.  We also want you to be able to search for a product in more than one way.  We have multiple search functions that will help you get there.
• Searching by Department / Sub-Department and Category / Sub-Category
• Department / Sub-Department
  Our products are all organized within broad “Departments” in green & white running across the upper part of the site underneath the cute, little, white trees.  We first have two specific Mens and Womens Clothing, Footwear & Accessories departments.  That should be self-explanatory we hope.  Think of the rest of the departments – Snowboard, Ski, Wake/Surf, Skate, Footwear, Shades/Goggles, and Packs/Bags – like stand-alone stores that you’d walk into that ONLY carry things related to that activity.  You’re not going to find auto parts in a Bed, Bath & Beyond.  Likewise, you’ll help yourself looking for that new Burton Audex iPod Hood Jacket by starting your search in the Snowboard department.  As you “mouse over” the departments “drop-down” menus appear.  These allow you to pick a more specific “Sub-Department” – like Mens Clothing – as you start your search for the jacket.
• Category / Sub-Category
  After choosing the appropriate sub-department, you’ll then see ALL of the products we carry in that sub-department.  There might be multiple pages of items, so this is where the “Category” and “Sub-Category” search functions come in handy.  Over on your upper left you’ll now have more options to search by underneath the header “Categories.”  That Burton Audex iPod Hood Jacket would be under Outewear Tops – it’s not “Underwear” or a “Bottom” the last time we checked.  After clicking on the category you then are able to search by a detailed sub-category.  In the case of our Mens Snowboard Outerwear Tops, we have 8 sub-categories.  Back to our example, knowing that this is a jacket narrows your options down to 5 sub-categories.  Knowing that this jacket has waterproofing / breathability Like Gore-Tex – but not being Gore-Tex – would allow you to pick that final sub-category.  
• Searching by Brand (within category), by Brand (within Brand Search Menu), and by Featured Brands
• Brand (within category)
  Whenever you are browsing items in our category pages (see Category / Sub-Category), you will also see what brands we carry in those categories over on your left underneath the header “Brands.”  In your quest to find, for example, the Mens Snowboard Burton Audex iPod Hood Jacket, you might get to the correct Mens Outerwear Tops category page but then aren’t sure what sub-category to search.  It might be easier to click on “Burton” and see only items in that category from them – especially in categories with a dozen brands when you’re not sure what sub-category you’d put that iPod jacket in.
• Brand (within Brand Search Menu)
  You can always look for what brands we carry online (FYI – not all brands we carry in our stores are on the site – call or email if you’re curious what else we stock) in the “Brand Search Menu” located to the upper right of the site just under the department menus (see Department / Sub-Department).  This is a “quick ‘n easy” method to see ALL products we carry from a certain brand.  This doesn’t, however, allow you any additional search functions (see Searching by Department / Sub-Department and Category / Sub-Category).  While this might work for a smaller brand we carry like SKULLCANDY, you’d have to sift through hundreds of pages if you chose someone like BURTON.
• Featured Brands
  A handful of brands are VERY important to us.  They either represent the core of our business and/or we feature them because of their influence on the very direction of the snow / surf / skate / wake action sports industry.  You will find these brands on the right side of our site under the banner “Featured Brands”.  Not only do these hold a special place in our hearts at Porters, but when you click on one of the icons you’ll see why we say they’re “featured.”  Unlike the generic brand search function (see Brand (within Brand Search Menu)), this search gives you both a detailed, icon-based, product category search in the middle of the page or a word-based, product category listing to choose from on the left side of the page.  We also include an informative history of the brand so you’ll better understand its importance to us, you, and the action-sports industry.
• Searching for a Specific Product when you already know the Brand / Style
  Do you already know exactly the brand and model name of what you’re looking for?  Go ahead and just type it in the “Search” tool box on the upper left of the site just under the Home button and Mens and Womens departments (see Department / Sub-Department).
• ADVANCED SEARCH – Searching for Specific Product Categories / Sizes / Text / Price-Points / Availability
• Category
  The “Category” search feature in ADVANCED SEARCH lets you choose in quick, drop-down menus all of the departments, categories, sub-categories, and brands that we carry.  Click “Search” in the lower right to take you there.
• Size
  Got a size 14 foot?  Only XXL for you?  Or maybe you’re always looking for extra small stuff.  Utilize the “Size” feature in ADVANCED SEARCH to weed out all the junk and see only things in your size that we have in stock.  Click “Search” in the lower right to by-pass the line at the door.
• Search Text
  Can’t remember where that funny story about your favorite Tahoe pro is on our site?  Just go to the “Search Text” feature in ADVANCED SEARCH and type in the words like in Google and choose either “any order” or “exact phrase” to see what we’ve got.  Still can’t find what you’re looking for?  Call us toll free at 866. YO.PORTERS (866.967.6783) or email us at help@porterstahoe.com and we’ll help you out. 
• Price / Availability
  Don’t worry.  Only got $20 to spend on a gift for someone?  Go to the “Price/Availability” feature in ADVANCED SEARCH to use this feature to only show items we carry under or over a certain price.  Another simple, easy way we help you find what you’re looking for. 
• Now that I searched and found the item I want, how do I pick the color and size?
• Once you’ve located a specific item, click on its picture or name to show the “Product Detail Page.”  This gives you a bigger picture of the item (you can make it even bigger by clicking on the “Zoom View” just underneath it).  The color, size, brand, style number, and price are displayed to the right of the image.  When there are multiple colors or sizes to choose from, a drop-down menu also appears.  Select the appropriate size and/or color.  You can now click “Add to Cart.”  This will take you to your “Shopping Cart” page where you can choose the quantity you’d like to buy, remove the item from your cart, continue shopping, or finish shopping and proceed to the next step in the buying process (see How do I complete the “Check-Out” process and pay for my items?)
• How do I add or delete items from the Shopping Cart?
• There is always a “Remove From Cart” button to the left of the product description in your shopping cart page.  You can always access your shopping cart by clicking on the SHOPPING CART link in the top right corner of the site.
• How do I complete the “Check-Out” process and pay for my items?
• Getting to the “Shopping Cart” page
  Any time that you are inside a “Product Detail Page” you will have the option to add that item to your “Shopping Cart” – simply click on the “Add to Cart” button.  If you added your first item to your shopping cart and then continued shopping, you can always get back to the cart by clicking SHOPPING CART at the top right of the site. 
• Verifying your items;
  Once you are on the shopping cart page, you should verify your items – that includes size, color, and quantity.  If you change a quantity, click on the “Update Quantity” button to the right to instantly see the changes reflected. 
• Choosing your Shipping method
  Our site will default to free UPS standard ground shipping unless you click otherwise.  Your other two choices are UPS 3-Day Select or UPS Next-Day (see How do I get my items shipped to me faster than UPS ground?).  Based on the dollar size of your order and the method you chose, your shipping cost will display over on the right under the “Subtotal” amount.
• Logging in to Continue with “Check-Out”
  Once you’ve verified your items – including size, color, quantity, and selected your shipping method – click on the “Check-Out” button on the right underneath your total.  You will now be prompted for an Email and Password.  Returning customers can simply enter those two things and continue with the process.  First-time customers will have to create an account with us before you may proceed (see How do I create an account?).
• After clicking on the “Continue” button, you will be asked to verify the shipping address you created with us.  If you would like the items to ship somewhere else, click on the “Enter New Address” button in the upper right.  Shipping anywhere outside of California will automatically earn you no sales tax (see Why do I have to pay sales tax when everyone who lives outside California doesn’t?)
• Payment Type / Confirm Order
• After entering your credit card information you will be taken to the “Confirm Order” page.  This is your LAST CHANCE to make any changes to your order before your credit card is charged for the “Total” amount you see on the right-hand side of the page for your items.  If all the items are accurate and the shipping address is correct, then click “Place Order” on the right side.  We will immediately send you an email confirmation to verify your purchase as well as another one once we actually have the items boxed up and away on the UPS truck.
• When does my credit card get charged?
• Upon selecting a payment type and confirming your order (see Payment Type / Confirm Order), your card is charged.  There is no “pre-charge” and/or “authorization-only” time period.  Our system automatically checks the availability of an item to see if it’s “in stock.”  In the rare case where the system and/or we screw something up and the item is really not in stock when we go to ship it, we will reverse the charge and notify you immediately via email of the unfortunate circumstance.  We’re really nice folks here so we’ll probably send you something like a “we’re-terribly-sorry-please-accept-this-extra-discount-the-next-time-you-shop-with-us” coupon to hopefully make up for it.
• How do I change and/or cancel my order after it’s already done?
• We ship items 24 to 72 hours after they’ve been placed (see How long after I place my order do you ship it?).  If, before that time, you want to change and/or cancel anything about your order, please either email us at help@porterstahoe.com or call us immediately toll-free at 866.YO.PORTERS  (866.967.6783).  Once you receive an email confirmation of your items being shipped, though, it’s too late.
• Can I pick up my items in one of the stores?
• Yes, simply choose the store location in the shipping drop down menu.