Frequently Asked Questions

Find all the answers to our Frequently Asked Questions.

Location & hours

Warehouse address

Our warehouse and offices are at:

Unit 14, DuVille Industrial Park, 8 Arum Lily Street, Fisantekraal Industrial, Durbanville, Cape Town, South Africa 7550

Phone : (+27) 21 976 9112

Email : support@essentiallynatural.co.za

Business hours

Our operating and support hours are:

  • Monday to Thursday: 09h00 - 16h30
  • Fridays: 09h00 - 16h00
  • Weekends & Public Holidays: Closed


Messages received outside of these hours will be addressed the following working day if not sooner. Our Support Desk can be found by clicking the Chat icon found in the bottom right hand side of your screen.

Ordering

Placing an order

Shopping online is much like shopping at any store.

1. Browse categories and recommended products by using the menu, or search for specific products or ingredients by using the powerful search bar.


2. Add products to your shopping cart by clicking the 'ADD TO CART' button. You can add items to your cart quickly by shopping from search results or category pages. To read more about a product, simply click on the item to be taken to a detailed product information page from where you can also' ADD TO CART' and shop related and other recommended items.
Please note that the vast majority of our product range is offered in different sizes. You can select your preferred size and and click the 'ADD TO CART' button to add your selected size to your cart.


3. When you have chosen all the products that you wish to purchase, click on the 'CART' trolley icon in the top right-hand corner of your screen, and then click on the 'REVIEW CART' button. You can adjust quantities or remove items as desired and then proceed with the secure 'CHECKOUT'.

We take care of the rest!

Payment methods

We offer the following guaranteed secure online-payment methods:

  • Credit, cheque or debit card payments are 3D secured and processed by your choice of either Peach Payments or PayFast

  • Instant-EFT payments are securely processed by Ozow

  • MasterPass (Secured by Peach Payments)

  • QR code apps, SnapScan, and Zapper (Payfast secured)

  • SAMSUNG Pay and ApplePay (Payfast secured)

  • RCS store cards (Payfast secured)

  • EFT payment or cash deposits at an FNB ATM

  • Gift Voucher – you can pay with a Essentially Natural gift voucher

Offline shopping

Unfortunately the Essentially Natural warehouse doesn't have a physical store or showroom at this time. The browsing and purchasing of products is available on our online store only.

You are more than welcome to pick-up an order from our warehouse, however. Please simply select that option upon checkout.

Adding to an order

Our friendly customer support team will gladly assist and advise on any special requests, order amendments or corrections, or the combining of shipments as long as your order is still in processing.

However, once your order has been placed and paid for, the EN order dispatch team will begin preparing your items and processing your shipment details as quickly as possible. If your order has already been delivered to the upliftment bays by the time that we receive your request then we will unfortunately not be able to add or remove any items to or from your order, or combine orders for delivery.

Please call us on 021 976 9112 for assistance or advice.

B2B pricing

If your business is a CIPC registered South African company then please sign up here for further enhanced pricing: https://essentiallynatural.co.za/pages/company-sign-up

Essentially Natural supports SMMEs of all sizes by offering hundreds of natural ingredients, botanicals, aromatherapy oils and auxiliaries and packaging and equipment items, making them accessible nationwide, with free shipping options for orders over R500.

We also offer volume discounts across all packaging items: 

50+ items: 15% discount

100+ items: 20% discount

500+ items: 25% discount

1000+ items: 30% discount

Shipping & returns

Delivery options

Essentially Natural has the following delivery options available which are offered according to your delivery address:

  • Courier delivery: Carbon-negative delivery to your selected address, supported with shipping updates and online parcel tracking facility.

  • Pargo: Collect your parcel from your preferred Pargo Pickup Point. With over 3000 'Click & Collect' pickup points across RSA for customers to choose from, there is sure to be one near you.

Delivery costs

We're proud to offer free carbon negative delivery across South Africa when you spend R500 or more.

Otherwise, our shipping fees are:

COURIER

Local (Cape Town main) - Orders under R500: R70 for courier shipping

Main Centres - Orders under R500: R90 for courier shipping

Regional & outlying areas -Orders under R500: R110 for courier shipping

PARGO

Pargo Pick-Up - Nationwide

Orders under R500: R80 for delivery to your selected Pargo Pick-Up Point

Delivery tracking

You'll receive automated shipping updates by email and SMS (opt-in) and you can track your order here: https://essentiallynatural.co.za/a/track

Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any trouble tracking your parcel-shipping – we are here to help!

Damaged or broken items

If you don't receive your parcel in good condition, or if any item is broken or damaged, please let us know within 5 days of your delivery so that we can offer prompt assistance.

Goods are rarely damaged in transit but it can happen, especially given the very high volumes of fragile items that we ship.

If an item is damaged then we will gladly assist with getting a replacement to you as quickly as possible.

We ask that you take photographs of the damaged item and/or parcel as soon as it's received and forward these to our customer service team so that we can provide assist: support@essentiallynatural.co.za

Returns, exchanges or refunds

You can return any goods purchased from Essentially Natural within 30 days. 

We want you to feel secure in the knowledge that we want nothing more than for you to be completely satisfied with your purchase.

For further information please review our Returns and Refunds policy: https://essentiallynatural.co.za/pages/returns-and-refunds

Our customer support team is available to help.

Export

In certain cases we may be able to assist with export of orders. Please contact us and we'll gladly advise regarding feasibility and costs.

Otherwise, you are welcome independently arrange an order collected by UPS, Fedex, Aramex or any other international courier.

We can also deliver to your freight forwarding agent in South Africa, if you have one (and that delivery is free when you spend R500 or more). We will simply need the freight forwarder's address and contact details.

Our dispatch team will gladly assist with parcel weights and dimensions for your freight booking.

Please note that you may have to pay duties when your order arrives in your country and that many natural products, like seeds and botanicals, may be restricted. Your freight forwarder / courier will be able to advise further.

Please contact us for our SARS export license number or documentation.

Products

Convert millilitres to drops

The Aromatherapy Standard is 20 drops per mL of essential oil. Of course this will depend on the viscosity of an oil. The thicker the oil the less drops per mL and the thinner the oil the more drops per mL.

Proportional use of essential oil to carrier oil

This is difficult question to answer broadly however if asked we recommend sticking generally to 1-5% of essentials oil(s) to 95-99% carrier oil(s).

Please exercise caution and start on the low end of recommended usage rates if you're new to using essential oils. The essential oils stocked by Essentially Natural are pure and therapeutic-grade. They are very potent and can potentially cause harm if misused.

Use or customise a base

The bases do contain their own preservative so are fine to use as is, but they are ideal to customise to your own needs. If you are customising with additional oils, botanicals, etc, it is recommended that you add in additional preservative too, as the built in one may not be able to handle all the extra ingredients, particularly if water based.

The bases are not concentrates so they are not designed to be diluted to make 'x-amount'. The final amount will depend on what you add to it, so will be equal to the base amount plus the extra ingredients.

They are highly customisable; you can add in extra carrier oils, essential oils, botanicals etc according to your needs. Obviously the consistency will change with additions so don't add too much so as to destabilise the formula. You may need to experiment here, depending on what additional ingredients you use.

Are your products Food Grade?

Product listings on the Essentially Natural website will specify if a product is certified Food Grade by the supplier. If you are unsure, please contact us for guidance and assistance.

Our own premises are audited and certified safe for handling food products.

Are your products organic?

Product listings on Essentially Natural will specify if a product is certified organic.

Organic certification is an extremely costly exercise which many companies simply cannot afford to do even though their products would otherwise qualify (i.e. unverified organic source). The reality is that many of the source farmers of our essential oils, carrier oils and botanicals use organic fertiliser and non-harmful pesticides; but they have not verified their product with a certification body due to the high costs that are entailed.

Are your products cruelty free?

The  Essentially Natural brand range of products is proudly certified Cruelty Free and Vegan.

We are categorically against animal cruelty and we try our very best to source products that have not been tested on animals. However, we acknowledge with all honesty that we live in a modern society where some advanced products are in existence today after having been tested on animals to qualify that they are safe for general use. Please contact us if you wish to confirm the historical animal testing status of a particular product.

Why can't I find certain cosmetic ingredients on your store?

Essentially Natural was built on the foundation of an ultra strict ingredients policy. It is our number one consideration before stocking any product: we scrutinise each and every ingredient on the label. We are against the following ingredients and you won’t find them on our shop or in any products that we stock:

  • BHA & BHT
  • Cyclic silicones
  • Diethanolamine (DEA), Triethanolamine (TEA), Monoethanolamine (MEA) and other ethalomines
  • Diazolidinyl Urea, Imidazolidinyl Urea
  • EDTA
  • Formaldehydes 
  • Lead and other heavy metals in any toxic amounts
  • Mineral oils, paraffin and petrolatum
  • Oxybenzene and other chemicals sunscreens
  • Parabens
  • Phthalates 
  • Propylene glycol & butylene glycol
  • SLS and SLES
  • Sulfates 
  • Synthetic harmful colourants 
  • Synthetic fragrances
  • Talc
  • Toluene
  • Triclosan 

This list is continuously evolving based on scientific data and evidence based studies. Please contact us if you'd like to explore better alternatives.

You stock synthetic mica. Why?

Sometimes, synthetic is better! We have sourced high quality lab-produced mica powders. Synthetic micas are made from heavy-metal free mica and coloured with oxide pigments. Synthetic micas are nature identical to the mica found in the ground, except that by being produced in a laboratory they are eco-friendly, safe, and are not unethically mined.