What is an essential oil?
Essential oils are the volatile, aromatic oils obtained by steam or hydrodistillation of botanicals. Read more about them here.
How do you open these #%@! bottles?
EOU uses metal containers for sizes 1 lb and above because they provide the best durability and reliability in transit so our customers don’t have to deal with breakages at the hands of UPS. Please see the step by step instructions on how to open the 1 lb, 1kg and 5 kg bottles. These bottles use an industry standard crimp-top pour out spout closure that is very common to the essential oil and fragrance industry. The reason you have not seen this type of closure before is because you most likely have never dealt with a bulk importer or large wholesaler of liquid aromatic products before. These closures have been used for decades on 15 kg and larger steel pails but we have adapted them to the smaller 1 and 5 kg bottles because they provide best vacuum seal to protect the oil and give better pourability than the stand plug-style aluminum bottles. These bottles were invented by Dr. Pappas and were supposed to be exclusive to EOU until an unreputable company from India stabbed him in the back and started selling them to other companies. Now these bottles are being used by companies as large as IFF and unfortunately Dr. P will never get credit for inventing them.
What browsers are compatible with this site?
All the standard browsers, such as Internet Explorer 6 and 7, Firefox and Safari (for Mac) are fully compatible for shopping this site. Other browsers may work as well but we cannot provide support for them. If you are an AOL user (my condolences), you cannot use the AOL browser to shop this site so you are left with one of two choices: 1. After you login to AOL, simply minimize the AOL interface and then load up the Microsoft Internet Explorer to shop with us or 2. Come back when you get internet for grown ups.
I forgot my password, what should I do?
Forgetting your password is not a problem, simply click on the LOGIN link in the upper right hand corner of the site and then click on the “Forgot Password?” link. You will then be prompted to enter your email address and a new, temporary password will be sent to your email. You can then login with the temporary password. Once logged in, click on your email address in the upper right hand corner and you will be taken to your USER HOME. From there you can change your password to whatever you want.
How can I order from EOU?
First you must create an account for your company to be able to shop with us. To do this, simply click on the “Create Account” link in the upper right hand corner of the site. If you already have an account then you only need to login to your account using your EMAIL ADDRESS and password that you supplied when you created the account. Please note: YOU DO NOT HAVE AN ONLINE ACCOUNT IF YOU HAVE NOT ORDERED FROM THIS NEW WEBSITE ! It does not matter how long you have been a customer of EOU, if you did not create an account on this website (active since June 2007) then the website will not know who you are. Our internal accounting computers will recognize you as an existing customer but you still must create an online account in order to shop with us. We are sorry for this inconvenience to our existing customers but the good news is that once you create your account, the site will recognize you when you login in the future and you will never have to put in your name, address and shipping information in again, just simply shop and check out!
Can individuals order from EOU?
EOU is not a retail supplier and since we don’t ship in small retail, dropper type bottles expected by the average retail consumer, we recommend that end users find an appropriate retailer to meet their essential oil needs. Our goal at EOU is to provide COMPANIES with the highest quality oils at affordable prices. By ordering from EOU you are testifying that you are either a company who uses our products in the production of your own finished products or that you are buying our products for the purpose of resale. If you place an order on our site without providing a company name or by just putting your name in the company name field (unless your name is followed by Inc., LLC., etc.) we will not process your order and one of our representatives will call you back to inquire as to your company name and the nature of your business. If you are a home-based business, EOU welcomes you as a customer as we do not discriminate based on the size of the company, as we ourselves were once a home based business and we have a strong desire to help our customers grow their companies. If we determine that anyone ordering from us is doing so for the sole purpose of individual usage then we reserve the right to terminate your account at any time.
What is the typical order turnaround time from EOU?
Essential Oil University is continuing its commitment over the last 8 years to be THE FASTEST SHIPPING ESSENTIAL OIL COMPANY IN THE WORLD. 99% of orders placed on our website by 12 noon, Eastern Standard Time, Monday-Friday, are shipped out the same day! If you have any experience at all with other vendors, you know that same day shipping in this industry borders on the ridiculous. EOU is able to achieve its quick turnaround because we maintain a huge inventory at all times and don’t wait until we receive orders before we place orders to our growers and distillers. For a map of shipping times in transit by UPS GROUND just click on this link http://www.ups.com/maps/results and then punch in our zip code of 47111. Our fast shipping times allow us to be the warehouse for many small companies who can’t afford or don’t want to tie up precious capital in purchasing larger quantities that will take them many months to sell. We have many clients who never stock any oils at all but simply place orders from us as their orders come in because they know they can depend on us to get their orders shipped quickly and without mistakes. We can also drop ship your orders to your customers, making it look as though the order came from your company directly, if you supply us with your labels and/or bottles (we can also provide a custom label for you but we can only print labels in black and white).
Can I get a sample?
Yes! In most cases we send samples with any order but we do not just send out samples by themselves. You are free to ask for samples of our products by putting your request in the NOTES section of your order. In most cases sample requests are honored without changes, however we cannot guarantee that all requests will be honored. Sampling will be done purely at our discretion in terms of the number and types of samples we will allow. Decisions will be made on a case by case basis depending on the cost of the oil, size of the order and a reasonable expectation of future sales. In some cases, for the more expensive oils there will be a fee for our standard 1 gram sample vials. The fee can be calculated by multiplying the factor of 0.07 times the published 1 oz price. For the samples which do have a fee associated with them you will not see the charge on the receipt generated from the site but you will get a second invoice with the correct total in your email.
Are bulk discounts available?
Bulk discounts are available and quantity pricing will automatically adjust in the shopping cart. Taking the 1 lb rate as the reference rate you will notice that standard 1 kg rate will be at a 5% discount off the 1 lb rate. Once you increase the quantity to 5 kg you will see the rate drop to at least a 10% discount and at 15 kg it drops again to at least a 15% discount. So, in summary, taking the 1 lb rate as the reference rate, the standard discounts are 5%, 10%, and 15% at 1 kg (2.2 lbs), 5 (11 lbs) kg and 15 kg (33 lbs), repectively. When in the cart you will also notice certain oils who have the 1 kg prices highlighted in yellow indicating that this oil is currently flagged as a bulk special in which the discounts are even greater than the standard discount rate. Oils that are flagged for bulk special are those in which we have larger than normal quantities on and have reduced the rates significantly to encourage faster sales.
I forgot my password, what should I do? (repeated for the attention challenged)
Forgetting your password is not a problem, simply click on the LOGIN link in the upper right hand corner of the site and then click on the “Forgot Password?” link. You will then be prompted to enter your email address and a new, temporary password will be sent to your email. You can then login with the temporary password. Once logged in, click on your email address in the upper right hand corner and you will be taken to your USER HOME. From there you can change your password to whatever you want.
What is the conversion from pounds to kilograms?
One kilogram (kg) equals 2.2046 pounds (lbs). Because EOU deals internationally, we both buy and sell bulk quantities in the conventional international unit of the kilogram. Pound sizes are made available for the benefit of our US customers who are used to dealing with the English system but we highly recommend that you commit the conversion factor to memory because you will get better deals when buying in the kilogram sizes and it will be useful for you to know the conversion when comparing our prices to other US competitors who only sell in various pound sizes.
What shipping methods do you use?
EOU ships via UPS or FedEx only. No USPS.
Returns
We cannot accept returns or give credits on orders after 10 days from date of receipt of your order. Returns must be in usable condition. Goods returned not due to our error will be subject to a 20% restocking fee. Please fill out our contact form to Technical Support or send an email to Dr. Pappas to request your RMA number and you will get a reply stating the credit amount that you have minus the 20% restocking fee. All returns must have an RMA number supplied by our staff. Once your return request is approved you will be notified of the amount of the IN STORE credit that you will receive. All credits must be used within 1 year of the issue date.
Claims
Any claims concerning lost or damaged shipments must be submitted to us by fax or email withing 30 days of ship date in order for us to consider your claim. All packages are insured for the full value, so if it is lost or damaged by UPS then it will be covered, but in some cases we may have to wait until UPS reimburses us before we resend your order. It could take up to a week for UPS to honor a claim. Fortunately EOU has a very small damaged package rate because we use the most durable containers in the industry and we pack everything we ship with extraordinary care and diligence. We pride ourselves on the lowest damage and shipping mistake rates of any e-commerce business on the internet.
Order Status?
Customers with accounts can log in and check the status of their orders. You will also get an email directly from UPS with your tracking number when your order ships. You can use this tracking number at www.ups.com to see the exact location of your package at any time. If you placed your order before noon, Mon-Fri, then your order should have shipped out the same day. Many times the tracking emails from UPS get mistaken for spam by many of the various email spam filters out there so make sure that if you use such a program that you create a rule to accept all emails from ups.com or you may never see your tracking notification.
Did my order go through? I never got an email confirmation!
Sometimes spam filters catch our order emails. Please update you spam filters to accept any emails coming from essentialois.org in order to avoid such problems. We can send a confirmation again from the Order History/Status page. You order can always be verified by checking your order history from your account details by clicking on you login name in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
Why does EOU ship the 1 ounce size in colorless glass bottles?
The bottle industry has promoted a fallacy for years that colored bottles will better protect oils from damage from UV light. The truth is that colored bottles don’t filter out UV any better than clear glass. ALL GLASS ABSORBS UV radiation. Read more about why colorless bottes are safe and why we use FROSTED colorless bottles at EOU.
EOs and heat, what is the best way to ship in the summer?
Essential oils can be susceptible to decomposition when exposed to abnormal heat for long periods of time, which is why we store all the oils in an air conditioned warehouse, we incure more expense this way but we feel it allows us to give our customers a better quality product. If you live in an especially hot area of the country and are worried about possible heat affects then you may want to order at the beginning of the week so you can receive your order without having the order sit in storage (which might not be air conditioned) on Saturday and Sunday or else chose the best express service that would allow the oils to be delivered to you without having to sit over the weekend. We are located in Southern Indiana, just north of Louisville, KY. For a detailed map of shipping times in transit by UPS GROUND just click on this link http://www.ups.com/maps/results and then punch in our zip code of 47111. Ground service only delivers Mon-Fri so if you see that standard ground shipping would put your package in storage over the weekend then you may want to consider an express option. Even if your order does sit over the weekend, in all likelihood it will be fine, but we just want to make it possible for those customers who are worried about the heat to be able to plan accordingly.
Was Dr. Pappas ever an employee of Young Living Essential Oils?
The answer to this question is ABSOLUTELY NOT! Unfortunately there has been an attempt by some YL reps over the years to use his good name to promote their products. But the facts are that Dr. P did some consulting work for Young Living back in the Late 90’s. He was hired by Young Living to help them get a handle on their quality control and improve their analytical techniques. But ever since then his words have been twisted and manipulated by certain people in order to promote their products, most everything that has been reported claiming to be a direct quote from Dr. P concerning these products is complete fabrication.
