Frequently Asked Questions for online ordering and shipping

Shipping and Returns

Caution: If you buy products which are on clearance – their best before date stamps are close and can be within a few days after arrival. Please always check the product detail page for the posted date.

Shipping fees

We ship within the United States only.

Tracking

When we ship your package, you will get an e-mail with the tracking number. We ship our packages with the option “signature required” to prevent the package is being left at the door or front porch. We recommend shipping to an address where someone can sign for the package. You can also choose tracking only. In that case, we don’t offer our no-melt guarantee.

Tracking for guest orders

If you didn’t set up an account, you can track your order by using the order number and your email address here: https://zotterusa.com/track-order/

Order processing and shipping days

During winter we only ship from Monday – Friday, during the hot summer months Monday – Thursday to make sure your package does not sit at a distribution center or post office over the weekend.
Shipping date is subject to our workload. We strive to ship as soon as possible.

Heat protection

As you know, we ship from Florida. But we have shipping down to a science and we give you a guarantee that the chocolate won’t melt until it has arrived at your destination. To be covered by our no-melt guarantee you need to choose shipping with “signature required” to avoid having the package sitting in front of the door. Tracking-only shipping is not covered by our no-melt guarantee.
We pack each order into a thermal double bubble foil and add – depending on the order size – at least one frozen gel pack.

Return and Refund Policy

Because we are selling chocolate, we can only offer refunds for unopened items with a return authorization request within 48 hours of your delivery, and those items must be returned within 5 days from the return authorization request. Please do not send your purchase back to our store; a return authorization is required. Returns will be charged a 20% restocking fee, and shipping fees are non-refundable. Returns must be sent via a trackable and insured method at the customer’s expense (you will be responsible for paying for your own shipping costs for returning your item). Returned items must be wrapped in the same insulation method as they were shipped including a frozen ice pack that’s added separated from the chocolate to prevent condensation water from damaging the bars or packaging.

Please send returns to:

Zotter Chocolates US LLC
413 NE Van Loon Ln #117
Cape Coral, FL 33909

To be eligible for a return, your item must be unopened, unused, and in the same condition that you received it. It must also be in the original packaging.

Exempt from returning: custom orders with individual designed packaging.

Once your return is received and inspected, we will send you an email to notify you that we have received your returned item. We will also notify you of the approval or rejection of your refund. If you are approved, then your refund will be processed, and a credit will automatically be applied to your credit card or original method of payment minus a 20% restocking fee. Shipping fees are non-refundable.

Returns of unclaimed packages

There will be no refunds for unclaimed returned packages. Since we need to ensure the integrity of our product, we can’t put chocolate back in stock that was sitting at the post office for weeks waiting to be picked up and eventually returned to us.

For that reason, we urge you to follow tracking as soon as we ship your package to make sure you are receiving your delivery. Make sure to check your emails or your account for the tracking information.

We accept all major credit cards and PayPal

Besides of easier tracking of orders, being able to track your favorites in a wish list and see your order history, you can collect loyalty points which are worth real money for future orders.
Guests can still track their orders here: https://zotterusa.com/track-order

When you place an order while logged in to your account, you automatically collect Loyalty Points! These points can be checked under My Account / My Points.

The points will be applied to your account as soon as your order has been shipped.

When you return to reorder chocolate, you can automatically apply those points in your cart before checkout.

Please note that this feature is not available for those who check out as a guest and do not have an account or are not logged in to their account while placing an order.

Don’t have an account yet? Create one now here.

Usually 1-3 business days from the shipping date. We ship with USPS Priority Mail, UPS, or FedEx. There are no guarantees for how long it takes, but according to our experience, the vast majority of packages arrive within this time frame.

Yes. As soon as we shipped your order, you get an email with the tracking number and an information about the carrier (USPS or FedEx). You can track the order with that number on their websites.

Additionally, if you don’t see your email or it went to spam or was blocked somewhere (yes, these things happen!) you can use our guest tracking system. The only thing you need is your order number and the email address you used to place your order: https://zotterusa.com/track-order/

Yes! During checkout you can add a gift message. We print it on a card and add it to the box.

You can also add order notes in a 2nd field to inform us about specific delivery instructions, such as “do not ship before xx.xx.xxxx”, this is an example we can easily handle within our shipping operations.

Please note, that deliveries are being handled by either USPS or FedEx and delivery notes meant for the carrier don’t come with a guarantee that they’ll follow it.

We won’t add an invoice to the package in general. Only a picking list which doesn’t show pricing. 

Yes, the shop is protected with SSL and the information you enter is being sent encrypted over the internet. We do not store any credit card information. We use a payment processor, called authorize.net which processes all payments, as well as PayPal.

After we received your order, we will pick and pack your chocolate it in our warehouse in Cape Coral, Florida. When we transfer your order in our system to remove it from stock, it gets the status completed. That doesn’t mean it’s shipped. The day we ship, you receive an automated email with a tracking link at 5pm.

Shipping date is subject to our workload. We strive to ship as soon as possible.

We wrap the chocolate carefully into double bubble thermal foil. We also add an ice-pack to the package. Your package is covered by our No-Melt Guarantee when you check out with the option “signature required”.

If you do so and the chocolate shows signs of melting, please e-mail us pictures where we can see the melted chocolate to [email protected]. We’ll get in contact with you to resolve the issue. It could be a refund or a replacement of your order with adjustments to the insulation and the amount of ice added.

You can opt-out of this option at checkout and use tracking only. If you do so, your package will not be covered under our No-Melt Guarantee.

Return and Refund Policy

Because we are selling chocolate, we can only offer refunds for unopened items with a return authorization request within 48 hours of your delivery, and those items must be returned within 5 days from the return authorization request. Please do not send your purchase back to our store; a return authorization is required. Returns will be charged a 20% restocking fee, and shipping fees are non-refundable. Returns must be sent via a trackable and insured method at the customer’s expense (you will be responsible for paying for your own shipping costs for returning your item). Returned items must be wrapped in the same insulation method as they were shipped including a frozen ice pack that’s added separated from the chocolate to prevent condensation water from damaging the bars or packaging.

Send the return authorization request to [email protected]

Please send returns to:

Zotter Chocolates US LLC
1020 NE Pine Island Rd #302
Cape Coral, FL 33909

To be eligible for a return, your item must be unopened, unused, and in the same condition that you received it. It must also be in the original packaging.

Exempt from returning: custom orders with individual designed packaging.

Once your return is received and inspected, we will send you an email to notify you that we have received your returned item. We will also notify you of the approval or rejection of your refund. If you are approved, then your refund will be processed, and a credit will automatically be applied to your credit card or original method of payment minus a 20% restocking fee. Shipping fees are non-refundable.

Returns of unclaimed packages

There will be no refunds for unclaimed returned packages. Since we need to ensure the integrity of our product, we can’t put chocolate back in stock that was sitting at the post office for weeks waiting to be picked up and eventually returned to us.

For that reason, we urge you to follow tracking as soon as we ship your package to make sure you are receiving your delivery. Make sure to check your emails or your account for the tracking information.

Yes, if it is dark chocolate or some of our unique vegan creations. Dark chocolate is vegan because it is derived from pure raw cocoa beans and does not have any animal products in it. The good news for vegans or those who are lactose intolerant is that dark chocolate has no milk solids or dairy ingredients, so it’s safe to eat even if you’re sensitive to these types of substances.

Check out all our vegan options

That’s a yes for our chocolate! There is no reason to use any wheat-based fillers in chocolate! Safety tip: read the label and the ingredients list.

There are two exceptions for filled hand-scooped bars. One that we carry during the holidays, which is called “Gingerbread”  and one called Praline + Cookies that will be introduced in Fall 2023. They have ingredients with gluten.

Please note, all hand scooped bars are manufactured on equipment that processes gluten.

Yes. Theobromine in chocolate can be harmful to dogs – please keep your share and the dog’s separate! Too much theobromine causes symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity and cardiac arrest in some pets.

Yes, in a way.

Small amounts of caffeine can be found in chocolate that contains a high cocoa content, at about 20 mg per kilogram of cocoa content. This is much less than most coffee products that contain anywhere upwards of 100-200mg per cup. It’s also much less than a typical energy drink (upwards thru 500mg). So it doesn’t have the caffeine levels you would find in things like soda and caffeinated tea; but it does still have caffeinated compounds within its fats and oils that may take some time to metabolize out for those who are sensitive to their effects on tamping down production of melatonin by the brain which gives us our natural “sleep” rhythms.

Chocolate, with its 4,000-year history began in ancient Mesoamerica. It was here that the first cacao plants were found by Olmecs who turned them into chocolate during rituals and as medicine. Centuries later Mayans praised it for being a revered brew made of roasted and ground cacao seeds mixed with chillies, water and cornmeal.

Chocolate was not only the Aztecs’ currency, but also a gift from their god Quetzalcoatl. They believed that chocolate helped them prepare for war and they drank it as an aphrodisiac to make love stronger.

Soy lecithin fulfills a function as an emulsifier in our chocolate and is important for viscosity. Sunflower lecithin is also available for soy allergy sufferers, but it is not so easy (or for us in sufficient quantities) to get it in organic quality. And that is absolutely essential, as we only use 100% organic ingredients. However, we assume that this is only a matter of time and that we will soon be able to get the quantities we need for our chocolates.

As for the amount of soy lecithin in the individual chocolates, we generally do not use more than 0.5%. In the case of milk chocolates, soy lecithin is only used in varieties with 40% cocoa content or less. There is no lecithin in our solid dark chocolate bars. Please review the ingredients list of the individual products if you want to be certain if lecithin has been used. A list of our soy free products can be found here: https://www.zotterusa.com/product-category/soy-free/

The syrups, which are produced cheaply and which serve as cheap sugar substitutes, are widely debated on the Internet.

In our case, the glucose and inverted sugar syrup does not replace the raw cane sugar in our products, but has the task of protecting the product from drying out as well as moisture attraction. The syrup is therefore not used as a cheap sugar substitute, but is used for reasons of shelf life in fillings of our hand-scooped chocolates.

If we compare the purchasing prices, then the organic quality glucose and inverted sugar syrup is not cheaper than organic and fair trade sugar, but even exceeds the price of this.

We offer a variety of chocolate with no added sugars, as well as chocolate with alternative sugars as date, maple or coconut blossom sugar. Visit https://www.zotterusa.com/product-category/no-sugar-or-alternative-sugar/ to find the available flavors. Note, each detail product page has the ingredients list and nutrition facts table included for further information.

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