Shipping policy

Choose how to receive your order by one of 3 methods: 1) Store Pickup 2) NES Courier Delivery 3) 3rd Party Ground or Freight

See programs details below.

---

1. Store Pickup

In-store pickup is a convenient stop between route 1 and I-95 in York, Maine for travelers heading north into Maine or south into other points in New England. Nearly every item listed on northernexplorershop.com is available in our York, Maine shop for pick-up, shipment, or delivery.

Here is how to place your Pickup request:

Simply select Store Pickup during checkout, enter your contact information, and any notes you feel pertinent (like desired pick-up date, etc.). Please ensure your contact information is complete and accurate.
Within 24 hrs. from the time your order is placed, you will receive a call or email from NES to confirm your information and schedule the pick-up.
Note: we are generally at the shop 6 days a week 9-5PM (closed most Tuesdays) however, we often spend a lot of time offsite conducting demos, instruction, deliveries, or events. It is best to call in advance of your visit.

When you visit our shop to pick up prepaid items and/or add more items to your order, we will offer ample assistance to you to walk-through any products, accessories, user techniques, maintenance best practices, places to recreate, and other information you are curious about. We take great pride in our hands-on, straightforward approach.

Delivery and Shipping Overview

*Sales Tax: Orders that ship to states outside of Maine will not include sales tax, although there are a few jurisdictions across the US that require us to collect sales tax regardless of national rules—see checkout charges for any applicable tax charges. Because of the size of our business, we are not required to collect sales tax on your behalf unless you are a Maine resident or are picking up product from our Maine store.

Northern Explorer Supply ships nearly all products advertised on its websites via reputable third-party carriers and its own in-house courier delivery service. Products that can be shipped include kayaks, canoes, inflatable paddleboards, paddles, coolers, furniture, accessories, artwork, and everything else except for certain items such as knives or flammable products. Northern Explorer Supply ships most products domestically to addresses located within the contiguous 48 states. An overview of these shipping options is below.

Note: certain products ship with a surcharge due their larger than average size or complexity—see checkout charges for details.

2. NES Courier Delivery

Using a company vehicle, NES will quickly (usually 1-3 business days) deliver 1, 2, 3, or even 4 kayaks, skiffs, canoes, paddleboards, bikes and other like items and their accessories tax-free* to a customer’s address or meeting point within 200 miles of York, ME for a low cost flat fee.

> Rates for NES to personally deliver up to 4 kayaks and all accessories start at only $79.00 total! Please use our online store’s Checkout feature for up-to-date rates.

> NES will also prioritize your availability and convenience. Within 24 hours, NES will coordinate a date and time that works well for you and your schedule. Customers will get personalized status and ETA updates on the day-of to ensure you know exactly when we will be arriving to the agreed-upon 30 minute arrival time window.

> Unlike 3rd party service, our Courier service includes hands-on assistance at the point of delivery including vehicle transfer (if applicable), placement of items in the customer's storage location, advice about the product(s), general setup of the equipment, and more.

**Because we can deliver multiple high value items for one flat fee, you may wish to split the cost between friends or family that are interested in making a bulk purchase with you!**

NES Courier is popular service with customers who:

Live a notable distance away from NES and wish to eliminate or shorten their driving distance/time/costs.
Do not have an adequate means to transport their ordered items.
Are concerned with the high likelihood of damage or delay associated with big online retailers or box stores.
Want to receive their items undamaged, within a few days after ordering, for a low cost, and with personalized service to walk-through any product questions at the point of delivery.

How to setup NES Courier Delivery:

Add your kayaks and/or other items you wish to have delivered by NES Courier to your shopping cart on our shopping website, www.northernexplorershop.com.
During checkout, choose the Shipping option that matches your Shipping Address distance from York, ME.
If your meetup or home delivery address is beyond our 200 mile courier service maximum, please call us to discuss other options such a Freight Shipping.

NES Courier Delivery Terms & Conditions:

Deliveries can be made as quickly as 1-3 business days after purchase for in-stock items, depending on existing schedules.
If installation of accessories such as Crescent deck pad kits or GearTracs are requested, please allow up to 2 business days for that work to be completed before the commencement of delivery.
A public meetup point between a customer's end destination point and our shop location is an option for those with a delivery address beyond the max radius we deliver within. *Alternatively, Freight shipping can be arranged.*
The customer is responsible for the accuracy of the shipping address and must be physically present at the scheduled delivery time to accept and sign-for the drop-off and/or pick-up of their order.
Both parties agree to meeting within 30 minutes of the slated delivery time.
If the customer is not available to accept and sign for the delivery upon arrival, the delivery will be forfeited and another attempt will need to be scheduled, subject to another delivery charge of the same amount plus a $100 penalty fee.
Deliveries are scheduled after the order is placed in complete collaboration with the customer for the most convenient delivery timing feasible; NES will contact the customer within 1 business day to coordinate.
NES is not liable for any damage or other harms involving a customer's transportation or use of equipment NES recommends, provides, or installs.
All orders must be paid in full before delivery will be made.
During checkout, please be sure to input a home or waypoint shipping address (approx. location is okay during order process) within 200 miles of 26 Brickyard Ct, York, ME 03909. Otherwise, your order will need to be revised (addtional charges may apply) or cancelled per our cancelation policy.
If your meetup or residential address is beyond our 200 mile courier limit, please refer to our LTL Freight shipping options below.

3. 3rd Party Shipping Options (Ground or Freight)

Continental U.S. Shipping via UPS, FedEx, or USPS. Northern Explorer Supply will process your order using Ground, 2-Day Select, or Advantage tiers of shipping speed and care. *Please let us know if you'd like expedited shipping and we can quote you for the upgrade* Every order includes tracking information and is processed within 1-2 business days with rare exceptions such as for special orders or made-to-order items. Transit times are generally 1-3 business days.

Kayak and Canoe Freight Shipments (items >10 ft. Long). NES is partnered with the nation’s largest 3rd Party Logistics (3PL) brokerage to select, dispatch, and transport kayaks (and shorter canoes) quickly to most US locations using one of 8-10 carefully vetted LTL freight Carriers we get instant bids from; trucking firms such as Estes, XPO Logistics, Old Dominion, FedEx Freight, and others.

LTL FREIGHT. We ship kayaks under the highest appropriate tier of freight service and protection to mitigate damage and to expedite transit times. Click to learn more about the Class 500 standard. Please Call or Email us to get a final quote before placing your order. The rate listed during checkout is a baseline rate by region for our most commonly freight-shipped kayak models.
Quoting your shipping cost before you place your order will avoid the possibility that your order will need to be canceled, should the freight charge or timeline be outside your expectations. Please review our Cancelation Policy prior to order placement.
We do not mark-up our shipping rates. You will never more than we pay to the Carrier. Plus, we cover the entire cost of substantial packaging materials and labor.
When calling, please provide us your address and the desired product(s) you would like shipped. Note: business addresses that are easy for a regular sized freight truck to access are less expensive to ship to. A Carrier-imposed surcharge may apply for residential deliveries that are particularly difficult for a freight truck to access such as gated communities or similar restrictions.
We do not charge a wrapping fee despite the substantial time and materials it takes for us to thoroughly wrap and label watercraft. Our packaging exceeds typical instustry standard by at least double.
In rare circumstances, we may need to charge a crating fee for kayaks that are particularly fragile or require a forklift for movement due to their size.
NES ships using the 500 freight classification, unless we are advised by our industry-leading broker to ship safely at a lower class. Class 500 is reserved for items exceeding 96 inches of length that require handling by hand (e.g., no damage causing forklifts) and cannot be stacked upon. This flags the Carrier to be especially careful when handling the shipment and imposes greater accountability on the Carrier to make matters right in the rare event of damage or loss (as of 3/1/2026, 100% of all deliveries have not been damaged or lost).
NES wraps each kayak in 4 layers of plastic and cardboard along with other materials to protect the contents. Still, minor damage (e.g., rub(s) or scratch(es)) can occur at no fault of NES due to the nature of freight movements between terminals and trucks amongst countless other items in transit.
NES marks each package extensively with Fragile and No Forklift labels.
Most kayak orders have transit times of 1-3 business days.
NES typically freight-ships kayaks in less than 72 hours unless the Customer wishes to schedule a specific delivery timeframe; we will do everything in our power to accommodate your preferred schedule.

As a word of caution, please consider the long (3-8 weeks) and uncertain timelines and damage risks associated with 3rd party "white glove" shipping service providers. Online research will reveal customer reviews that will help you better understand what can be expected, depending on the provider. We have opted to avoid these outside services in favor of our hard-earned partnership with the nation's largest 3PL freight brokerage instead, despite a 10-20% higher cost than the rates white glove networks charge; in favor of much faster speed and significantly greater reliability, recourse, and quality.

Incidents Mitigation and Reporting

CUSTOMER SIGNATURE: All LTL Freight orders and other high value orders require the customer to be present at the time of delivery. A signature is required or the order will not be delivered. Customers are still responsible for the shipping and other costs of non-delivered items. In some cases, the customer will be provided the option to self-select for a package to be held at a local carrier facility for pickup if more convenient.

INSPECTION: Customers are responsible for condition inspection and documentation of the Freight shipment condition at the time of delivery before the shipment has been taken off the truck. This involves photos of any damage to the packaging as well as photos of the unwrapped items.

This is required as part of the claims process for financial relief or product replacement. NES is not responsible for any Carrier-caused damage. NES photographs the packaging process and contents of each shipment we ship including its condition after being loaded for transit. Combined with our pickup documentation, your delivery documentation serves as the backstop to any claims the Carrier may otherwise be able to avoid responsibility resolving. Customers must be present and on-time for Freight deliveries or additional Carrier-imposed fees may occur.

**To avoid a Carrier-imposed Lift Gate or Labor charge, we require Customers to refuse Lift Gate service or offers of moving assistance (aside from unloading) at the time of delivery.**

>> To learn more about the financial factors that make up the rates the transportation companies and sellers determine, please read our blog post here:

https://www.northernexplorershop.com/blogs/news/why-freight-shipping-a-specialty-kayak-can-be-expensive

GENERAL PROCEDURES

Tracking

Tracking numbers will always be sent to customers as soon as they become available. We work quickly--even well outside of normal business hours--to process orders and communicate with our valued customers. Processing time to prepare an item(s) for shipment is generally 1-3 business days. Our goal is to ship products by next business day.

Shipping Costs

Shipping charges will automatically calculate during checkout with the exception of Freight shipments--those are custom quoted via phone or email.

Buyer Requirements:

As with any e-commerce company, please enter all contact information and address details completely and accurately to avoid delay or loss. Rest assured, NES staff will confirm with you any inaccuracies or incompletion of information before package departure, if our automated verification system detects it.

Reminder: NES may require customer signature upon shipment receipt for high value items to increase security. Therefore someone at the customer's delivery address will need to be present during the package delivery period or use the available Carrier-provided delivery options to make other arrangements. Carriers like FedEx and UPS allow the recipient to choose whether to hold a package at a carrier facility or deliver during certain dates and times when the recipient will be home to accept the package.

Considerations:

Some items can be quite costly to ship--even with our marketplace-negotiated low rates. For example, the cost to ship a single 2-piece kayak paddle hovers around $40.00-45.00 with UPS Ground because of the package size (48" long). It is considered an oversized item. NES, however, absorbs much of this cost.

Thus, there is a surcharge for oversized items. The surcharge amount will appear during checkout if it applies. The surcharge covers a portion of our total shipping cost and averages between $11.00 and $15.00.

For items weighing substantially more than average, the surcharge may be higher.

International Shipping.

At this time, we do not directly offer international shipping, however, we suggest researching the use of Aramex or similar international package forwarding service. We regularly ship orders to one of their US inbound locations using the address and identification information customers provide us with. They then ship your items to the international address specified during account setup. The forwarding service handles all export matters and can quickly clear your items through Customs for you.

Shipping Damage

All of our products are carefully packaged and shipped. We do everything we can to ensure your order will arrive in perfect condition. In rare occasions, outside of our control, an item may show up with damage incurred while in transit.

Damage Upon Arrival

Important: please carefully inspect the shipment's contents for any visible signs of damage before signing and accepting the shipment. Shipping companies (the Carrier) require an inspection and claim to be opened at the time of delivery or within the same business day. Although we will try our best, we may not be able to assist with claims that are submitted without complete, accurate, and timely information per the Carrier's process/terms. Please follow the additional instructions below:

For shipments that must be signed for, the buyer must inspect the package at the the time of signature and report any damage or loss to the Carrier's driver and to NES at that time, too.

If there is structural damage to the item delivered, please refuse the shipment. You can do this by telling the Carrier you are, "Refusing due to damage" and writing, 'REFUSED FOR DAMAGE', on the paperwork.

Please immediately take thorough photos of the damaged packaging and contents--email them to NES at info@northernexplorersupply.com

Please call us, as well, so we can best assist you with the claims process. Our number once again is 207.337.1356.

We will work swiftly with you and the Carrier to replace or refund you for the damage or loss.

All damage or loss must be communicated--supported by photography and any written documentation--at the time of delivery for the highest liklihood of reimbursement/replacement via the Carrier's claims process.

NOTE: **Do not sign for shipments that are damaged or missing components upon arrival. Doing so will waive your right to claim reimbursement or replacement.**

Damage After Arrival for Items Not Requiring Signature

If the customer has taken possession of the shipment and did not inspect the shipment while the Carrier was present, the customer has up to 1 business day from the date of delivery to file a damage claim, per Carrier requirements. For shipments requiring signature, the inspection and claim process must be initiated while the Carrier driver is on-site during at the time of delivery. Please see policy terms previously mentioned for further direction. Claims filed outside of this window may forfeit the opportunity for a replacement or refund. To file a shipping damage claim please contact us immediately at info@northernexplorersupply.com or via phone at 207-337-1356 during normal business hours. We will then coordinate resolution with the carrier in compliance with its process.

Lost or Stolen Packages

**Northern Explorer Supply is not responsible for lost or stolen packages unless it is via NES Courier Delivery (a service we directly control).** We do our part to ensure the package is handed to a reputable third party carrier such as USPS, UPS, or FedEx and provide all shipment credentials associated with its transport so that our customers can track the package's whereabouts and timing. If you are a customer and suspect your package was lost or stolen, we suggest contacting the respective carrier to explore your options and otherwise be sure to log the issue with your local authorities immediately for an investigation.

In advance of its scheduled delivery, we recommend coordinating with the Carrier a safe location to leave the package or have them hold your package at a shipping facility for secure pick-up instead, if theft is a concern for you. There are often options available on the Carrier's tracking page. If you suspect the Carrier lost your package, they will be able to work with you to locate where it ended up and are responsible for recovering it for you or providing to you or NES appropriate compensation to replace the contents instead within the allotted insurance amount applied to the shipment. Please contact the Carrier assigned to your shipment for more information about your options to prevent loss/theft or to recover a lost/stolen item.

Return Shipping

If you wish to return your purchase to receive a refund, store credit, or exchange, please email or call us to initiate the process. We will email you a return shipping label along with other instructions. The cost of return shipping will be deducted from your refund total along with a restocking fee if applicable (see our Return Policy for details). If you would like a quote of the shipping cost prior to arranging, please contact us. We do not make a profit on the shipping charges that we incur. So rest assured that we will only charge you the raw amount necessary to get the item back to our retail location.

Order Holds and Storage

Holds. NES will hold any item for up to 48 hours without any payment made. Please call us to arrange the item hold. A maximum of 3 items can be held per customer. Some exceptions may apply.

Storage. To ensure we can manage our warehouse space to meet the needs of all customers, we require that orders are paid in full and picked-up within 30 calendar days, unless otherwise agreed to by NES. NES will always strive to be as reasonably accommodating as we can be. A 10% storage fee may be charged on the 31st day and for each calendar week (on the 7th day) that the item remains in our possession.

Considerations and Reminders

NES accepts major Credit Card, Shop Pay Installments, Wallet Payments, Check or Cash (do not mail) payments for online orders that are picked-up in store, shipped, or delivered.

For Check payments, please note that your invoice will be marked as paid upon the check’s completed deposit and after the deposit has posted, it will be prepared for shipment. Please inform of us of the date you mailed the check so we can track it.

All orders must be paid in full by Cash or major Credit Card (see website for specific providers we accept) before products are removed from our premises. In-Store Pick-up orders are typically fulfilled in 4 hours or less.

For items or services that require/involve installation or assembly, we will likely require more lead time, depending on the current work order schedule.

If you did not receive your order shipment, please report this to us immediately to initiate an investigation through the carrier.

Please contact the store to make store visit arrangements to ensure we are available, for there are times we are serving other customers on or off-site.

Any returns to be shipped to NES will be at the expense of the buyer and may incur a restocking fee. Please review our Returns policy for details.

If you found any of the policy information herein unclear or incomplete, please contact us so we may assist you. Thank you.

:: updated 5/15/26 ::