FAQ

Are my purchases tax-deductible?

THE TRUTH AND THE MYTH ABOUT TAX DEDUCTIONS IN THE US
Unless you are itemizing your deductions, getting a 501c3 tax donation receipt is worthless and absolutely will not help you reduce your taxable income. Why? The 2024 standard deduction is $14,600 ($13,850 in 2023) for single filers and those married filing separately, $29,200 ($27,700 in 2023) for those married filing jointly, and $21,900 ($20,800 in 2023) for heads of household. So unless you have itemized deductions (e.g. mortgage interest, property taxes, donations) in excess of the above limits, you are taking the larger standard deduction - which is what 90%+ of filers do annually and a tax deductible receipt does nothing to reduce your taxable income. DON'T GET FOOLED BY ORGANIZATIONS LURING YOU WITH A TAX DEDUCTION RECEIPT WHEN IN REALITY IT MAY VERY WELL NOT BE HELPFUL TO YOU. Look at your tax return and make an educated decision!

Maintaining a 501c3 status requires additional accounting, reporting and legal expenses - eating into what eventually gets sent to the charity you wanted to support anyway. That is why you see many 501c3's actually donating a fraction of their gross receipts. One only needs to look at the performance of the SPCA International. They spend $62 to raise $100. Only 19% is spent on mission programs compared to overhead. Need we say more?

Having said that, most of our US-based rescue partners are volunteer-run with no offices or salaried staff and ensure your dollars go towards saving more dogs.

Bones and Me does not have non-profit status. WE DO NOT ISSUE TAX RECEIPTS. Furthermore, since you are receiving value for your purchased item(s), the purchase would not be fully tax-deductible. As it relates to monthly subscription payments to Vucjak Shelter, if you are a resident / citizen of Serbia where Vucjak does have charity status, you may be able to claim a tax deduction - check with your local tax authority or accountant to confirm. In that case, you can log in to your account to view your payments to Vucjak and send that information to Dejan who may be able to send you an official receipt from the shelter for your accountant to use. AGAIN, BONES AND ME DOES NOT PROVIDE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE RECEIPTS AND YOUR PAYMENTS THROUGH BONES AND ME ARE CERTAINLY NOT TAX-DEDUCTIBLE IN THE US.

COVID-19 SHIPPING UPDATES

Glad that's behind us. All shipping has resumed to normal status.

 

When was Bones and Me started?

Bones and Me as a company was launched officially in April 2019, but as an Instagram blog, we have been active since March 2018. 

Why was Bones and Me formed?

What started out as a personal blog by two kids saving their allowance to raise awareness for shelter dogs and local rescue groups, to do giveaways and fundraisers, later turned to online auctions that raised hundreds of Dollars weekly.  “Not everyone wants to spend or can afford to spend $300 on a beanie and water bottle,” says Sarah as auctions rose in value.

We wanted to do more. Raise more money for rescues.  Increase awareness. Spread the message to a larger audience.  So we started Bones and Me as a formal company to allow more people to participate. To allow more of you to DO GOOD. LOOK GREAT. FEEL AWESOME.

What is the significance of the Rescued 2018 series?

When companies use “established” or “founded” to proclaim when they began, we decided to use “rescued” instead.  Our Rescued 2018 series is meant to commemorate not only when we rescued and adopted both our pups, but also when we embarked on this journey.  Shirts from the Rescued 2018 series are typically chosen as one of the items that give back 100% of the proceeds to rescue partners and other charities.

How and when are orders shipped?

We mainly use USPS for shipping.  We make every effort to process all orders within 3-5 business days - much faster normally but just in case we have tons of homework.  If you’ve selected an express service, we will attempt to process your order on the same day if your order is received before 2PM ET, but normally that would be processed on the next business day. And yes, you will receive tracking information so you know when your order will be received.

Do you ship outside the US?

Yes we do! We ship all over the world every day.  Please note however that YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE to pay all customs, duties, taxes, import fees and/or whatever other charges are imposed by your local government. Our item prices and shipping fees do not include such charges.

As such, if you refuse an international shipment for whatever reason, you will be responsible to pay shipping fees both ways and any additional charges that may have been incurred and/or will be incurred to return the shipment back to us.

You will not receive a credit back for your returned items (if any) until the shipment is received by us and inspected and deemed at our sole discretion that it is still in brand new condition and eligible for return.

 

Lost Packages and Wrong Addresses

All our shipments (except for stickers which are sent first class mail) are mailed with tracking included. You will receive an email with the tracking information once your order has been processed an shipped.

In the unfortunate event, that you've entered an incorrect address, we will attempt to re-route the shipment. This may involve a re-routing fee (assessed by the carrier not us) and in certain cases may not be possible at all. In that case, we are not responsible for the loss of your package.

If you track your package and it shows still undelivered 2 weeks (15 days for US domestic packages) after shipment, please contact us within 30 days of your order date so that we can help track it and submit a search request / loss claim with the carrier. Please note that this may take up to an additional 30 days for resolution. Once a resolution / response is received from the carrier and the package is still missing, we will work with you to send you a new package.

For missing international orders, we generally follow the US domestic process, but timeframes will vary based on destination.

 

Can I return an item?

Absolutely! Our return policy is simple: Love it or return it.  Within 15 calendar days from the receipt of your item, if you do not love it, contact us to return it. Once your return is authorized, we’ll provide you with return instructions. Once your items are inspected by the store and deemed in returnable condition, you’ll get a refund, typically within 36 hours.  Items returned must be received in unworn and/or unused condition with packaging and all labels attached. In addition, garments must be unsoiled - i.e. a bit of dog hair may be acceptable, but makeup is not 😉

Determination for validity of refund is in our sole discretion. It is your responsibility to pay for return shipping. Free gifts or promo items are not returnable for monetary value. Returns must be received within 30 calendar days from when you've received them.

Discounted items, items on sale or marked as FINAL SALE are not eligible for returns. Original shipping charges are not refundable. Furthermore, if your purchase was eligible for free shipping (.ie. you did not pay for shipping), your refund will be reduced by the shipping fees we incurred. However, if you are replacing the returned item with another that is of equal or higher value, we may credit you the shipping fee toward the new purchase.

Furthermore, customized items, such as custom engraved tumblers (only bones and me tumblers with the bones and me logo and no other engraving are returnable) and customized rescue partner clothing are not returnable (clothing items and accessories printed with rescue partner names and/or logos). These are not returnable neither for refund or exchange.

For returns and other info, please email us at bones@bonesandme.com and someone from our customer service team will get back you.