Frequently Asked Questions Topics
Purchasing Topics
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If for any reason your expectations are not met on a painting you purchase, you can return it within 60 days of purchase to receive a exchange, or credit or a refund. For our few artists on consignment, the return period is 5 days so we can pay them in a timely fashion. Our Easy Returns page has the complete details.
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Easily! Just go to our Store, or locate the artist name from the "Paintings For Sale" drop down menu. Once you are on the Artist's page, find the painting(s) you want, then click "Add to Cart" right below them. You will be taken to your shopping cart. Fill in your country or state and your option for free standard or paid express shipping. Then, click "Check Out" and you'll be taken to our secure Checkout where you fill in the necessary information to buy a painting like your name, shipping address, etc. On this page, you can pay simply with your Credit Card or via Pay Pal, the Internet's secure standard for online purchases. Click "Place Order" and you'll get an automated receipt. Shortly thereafter, we'll send you a personalized an e-mail telling you when we will mail out your painting, which is usually within 24 hours after you placed your order.
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It means that that particular painting is more distinct then most other paintings and carries an unadvertised price. If you click the "Inquire" button, it takes you to our Contact Us Page, where you can fill in the name of the artist and painting and inquire about the price. We will respond usually in less than 18 hours. You may be happy with the price we offer or if not, in some cases we can negotiate with you to help make the price better match your budget. The bottom line though is that the painting is of very high quality and is from a well known or very talented artist, making that particular African artist's paintings to be in a different category than the rest. If you want the very best of the fine art we have to offer on our website, be sure to check out these paintings!
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Yes, with an additional 10% off! Before your purchase, we'll match any online competitor's advertised price, including any private "Make an Offer" deals. Plus, to make the Guarantee sure, we'll take of an additional 10% off your order! The other company's painting must be in stock, the same artist, similar size and style, an original, and cannot be listed in E-bay. Contact us for a Lowest Price Guarantee approval and we'll send you a Pay Pal invoice with your new savings!
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Yes, as it should be! Our Checkout area, where you enter your personal details, employs banking industry SSL https internet encryption standards. This means your personal and financial information is confidentially safeguarded and protected once you start filling it in. For Pay Pal orders, Pay Pal also uses the same security standards as our checkout and more.
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Pay Pal is a third party company website that is the worldwide Internet Standard for secure online purchasing. The free service keeps your financial details from us, instead passing onto us securely just your shipping address and actual payment.
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Just call us at 1.914.602.8037 to have us process your order over the phone or you can contact us to send a USA money order, check, or set up a USA or international based bank wire transfers. All transactions will have to be processed in full before your art is delivered.
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Yes, with 0% interest! Just contact us!
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Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover.
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Yes, for free! Contact us to set up a time for us to call you.
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We own and hold 90% of our African paintings for sale. We have six African artists whose paintings we sell, but do not hold or own some of them. These artists are: Abdul Badi, Appiah Ntiaw, Hussein Saidi, Nii Hylton, Simon Muriithi and Ti Jay. When we receive an order from you for these paintings, the African artists who made them send them out to you from where they live. No need to worry though. True African Art.com is in a trusted relationship with these artists. We interviewed them extensively before entering into strict, signed contractual agreements with them. Their contracts also have strict processing procedures that protect you as a customer. For example, we do not release the payment to them that you give to us until their painting arrives safely at your doorstep. Also, they have to ship the painting within 2 days of us notifying them it is ordered. Their shipping costs are included in the price of their paintings. Among other safety nets, we also have instant communication with them through phone and video chat. After extensive interviews, we find our consigned artist to be serious, honest, and mature artists that share our business principles. We stand by these few artists on consignment and if there is any problem with your order, rest assured, we will make it right. Thank you for trusting True African Art.com.
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We purchase most of our paintings directly from our African artists. When you buy a painting from True African Art.com, our stock naturally gets lower as a result. Eventually, we must buy more paintings from the artists. Thus, it is really you who enables the recycling pattern of our business with artists because it enables us to repeat buying more paintings from them. Our purchase from the artist provided by your purchase with us not only rewards an artist’s talents, it also brings extra care to their families that makes a difference in the not very easy economy of Africa. And you own a lifetime's worth of a beautiful painting. So everybody gets something in return!
Shipping Topics
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90% of our paintings are held and sent from near New York City, USA for worldwide delivery. These paintings were acquired from within Africa by African artists and were either brought or sent to New York, where we live. The other 10% are held by African painters on consignment and are securely mailed to you from the artists' location. See our consignment question in the bottom of the Purchasing Topics above for more information on our consigned artists.
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Yes! All of our paintings qualify for free standard shipping worldwide through the US Postal Service. In the cases of our few consigned artists, shipping is also free through a standard European carrier that operates in Africa or the US Postal Service.
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Yes! USA orders can get priority, express, or overnight shipping through the US Postal Service, UPS, Federal Express or DHL. These options are available in your shopping cart "Shipping Options." Once you choose it, we will be notified of your preference and will contact you to get more information for a carrier quote. We do not profit from any kind of express shipping costs. We quote you what we are quoted. The US Postal Service International Express Shipping is the least expensive international express service, arriving to you in 3-5 days no matter where in the world you live.
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Very carefully. Depending what painting you purchase it will arrive in either a hard mailing tube wrapped with strong packaging tape or through a hard envelope, again secured with strong packaging tape. The packages will be double checked for stability and protection before leaving our hands.
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Usually less than one week with our Free Standard Shipping offer. 1-2 days with paid express shipments.
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Usually about 2 weeks for our Free Worldwide Shipping Offer. Or 3-5 days with a paid expedited service.
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No. Free Shipping is free to you and for express shipments, we only charge you what we are quoted from the carrier.
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Yes, when you request it or automatically at our cost for larger orders of 4-5 paintings or more. Since 2004, in our experience with sending out African paintings, none have ever been damaged or lost.
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Yes! We obtain delivery confirmation at no cost to you from the US Postal Service for all orders sent by them. This gives you the opportunity to know when your item shipped and when it will be delivered, as well as when it is actually delivered. UPS and Fed Ex also provide free tracking for all packages sent through them.
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Yes!
Artwork Topics
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All are from African artists. Many of our paintings come from Kenya, but we also have paintings in our collection from Tanzania, Congo, Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, and the Cameroon.
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Our pictures of the paintings are accurate to the painting's likeness. Many people say that their painting looks better in person than it did online! So if you see something you like, buy it and enjoy its "in person" effect. Note however, that due to light, there may be slight differences. If after you have received the painting and you do not like it, you can return it within 60 days. If you want more details on how a painting may look prior to your purchase, you can receive additional photographs of it or see it "live" through the Skype video chat option. Just e-mail us to set up a viewing time!
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Most pictures of paintings on the site do not include their borders, as these borders will be hidden when you get the painting framed by a third party. Some paintings, however, have their large borders measured in their total, but cropped out in their online pictures, such as some paintings by Martin Bulinya or Albert Lizah. These are meant though to be framed with these borders. Contact us with any questions or to receive additional photos of paintings that would include their border.
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They are there so that our copyrighted content is sourced to True African Art.com. The watermark is on the photograph of the painting, not of course on the painting itself. Our Terms and Conditions page has details on our registered copyright.
Miscellaneous Topics
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Please visit our Contact Us page for all the ways to reach us.
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Yes, all are painted by hand, each by their respective African artist except the Blue Rhino Maps and Abdul Badi's paintings, which are the only prints on the site. Thus, we have copies of each of them.
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We live in Westchester County, New York, just north of New York City. We are an online gallery only, we do not have a physical store, but you can arrange to meet us in person to see any painting you like by contacting us or by viewing the paintings via Skype.
E-mail us to set up a time for us to Skype and to receive our Screen Name.
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E-mail us to set up a time for us to Skype and to receive our Screen Name.
No, most are not. This saves us and you the weight costs from shipping, along with saving the possibility of the fragile frame and glass breaking in transit. More so, it give you the opportunity to completely customize your painting with just the right mat and color, type, and size of frame you want. We often refer people to the art store chains Michael's or AC Moore stores for a good price on frames.
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No, at this time we only sell our artists' original work. Even when you purchase one of their paintings, the artist still holds the copyright. You wouldn't have the rights to print it or reproduce it for profit.
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No, our online gallery acts as our catalog. We do not have a physical gallery, but ship worldwide from orders taken from our website. We live in Westchester County, New York, just north of New York City.
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Absolutely! Just let us know! Even if you live far from us, through Skype video chat we can show you a "live" view of the painting. E-mail us to set up a time for us to Skype.
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If you would like to reuse any of our content for FREE SHARING that is NO PROBLEM with us. Just please give us credit by keeping our watermark in the image and linking to us through your site. To share our videos, embedding code is found on YouTube.com by searching for "True African Art." Commercial use of content requires the permission of True African Art.com and/or the painting's artist. If we find any of our content or rendition of our content, including commercial use of our images, text, any biographical information that is unique to our site, or Gathinja's Women Bottle Figures actual design at a Internet or physical store whose purpose is in any way retail or for profit, note that you have you have infringed on our governmental copyright registrations and we will follow suit. Please contact us instead for these purposes.
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See our Be on the Site page. There is no fee to apply or to be featured.