Click a question below to jump to that section:
Funeral Homes and TSA:
- How can you sell these urns at such a discount over funeral home prices?
- If I provide my own urn, will a funeral home use it?
- What do funeral directors think when I ask them to use an urn that I purchased elsewhere?
- What is TSA going to do if I try to bring an urn through airport security?
Product Questions:
- How large of an urn do I need to buy?
- How do I fill a cremation urn?
- What is cremation jewelry exactly?
- What is a keepsake urn?
- What is an urn pendant?
- I see that you sell glass urns. Isn't that a bad idea as they can break?
- Are your products actually in stock?
Engraving:
- How do you engrave an urn?
- How will the engraving look?
- If I pay to have an urn engraved, does that add to the shipping time?
Shipping & Tax:
Transactions & Guarantee:
- Do you offer any guarantee?
- What forms of payment do you accept?
- What is your return policy?
- Who are you? How can I reach you?
Funeral Homes and TSA:
How can you sell these urns at such a discount over funeral home prices?
The markups on funeral home products, in general, are quite high, in part to help to cover the labor and facilities costs that traditional funeral homes incur. Stardust Memorials specializes in selling just memorial products direct to the public and does not have that sort of cost structure for our services. We pass the savings on to our customers. The quality and craftsmanship are excellent. They are the same cremation urns found in all U.S. funeral homes, sourced from the same suppliers, as well as some cremation urns exclusive to Stardust Memorials. (back to top)
If I provide my own urn, will a funeral home use it?
Yes. Generally, funeral homes are used to providing this function as part of their services. The Federal Trade Commission Funeral Rule ensures that every American has a right to provide their own casket or urn for use by a funeral home. Specifically, the rule states that The funeral provider cannot refuse to handle a casket or urn you bought online, at a local casket store, or somewhere else or charge you a fee to do it. The funeral home cannot require you to be there when the casket or urn is delivered to them.
For more information about the FTCA Funeral Rule simply consult their website: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0300-ftc-funeral-rule
You can also read more about 5 Things to Know When Working with a Funeral Home on our blog.
What do funeral directors think when I ask them to use an urn that I purchased elsewhere?
They fully understand the Funeral Rule and are generally receptive and helpful people regardless of whether you purchase the urn from them or from a third party. (back to top)
What is TSA going to do if I try to bring an urn through airport security?
Here is what the TSA says on this topic, directly from the TSA website:
We understand how painful losing a loved one is, and we treat crematory remains with respect. Some airlines do not allow cremated remains as checked baggage, so please check with your airline to learn more about possible restrictions.
Under no circumstances will a Transportation Security Officer (TSO) open a crematory container. To facilitate screening, we suggest that you purchase a temporary or permanent crematory container made of a lighter-weight material, such as wood or plastic. If the container is made of a material that generates an opaque image, the TSO will not be able to clearly determine what is inside the container and the container will not be permitted.
Even if an item is generally permitted, it may be subject to additional screening or not allowed through the checkpoint if it triggers an alarm during the screening process, appears to have been tampered with, or poses other security concerns. The final decision rests with TSA on whether to allow any items on the plane.
With that in mind, generally speaking, wooden urns and biodegradable urns are the easiest to pass through the TSA airport security system. The most difficult urns are metal urns, which do not go through screening without generating an opaque image. For more details and helpful tips, read our blog article on Taking Cremation Urns on Airplanes.
Product Questions:
How large of an urn do I need to buy?
Most people need a standard adult urn which generally is sized to hold the ashes of a person who weighed 200 lbs. or less prior to cremation. Cremation urns do come in extra-large, urns for two, medium/small (a portion of ashes), and keepsake sizes.
A good starting point is to find out what your loved one weighed prior to cremation. Each pound of weight will equal one cubic inch of ashes after cremation occurs. Thus, if the person weighed 150 pounds prior to his/her death, then you will need an urn that has the capacity to hold 150 cubic inches or more of ashes. The majority of our urns hold 200-220 cubic inches of ashes.
Keepsake urns, or mini urns, are popular to hold a small amount of ashes in remembrance. Keepsake urns and medium urns also are used when family members want to divide ashes among several people.
How do I fill a cremation urn?
Urns are easy to fill. Typically our customers are given a temporary container by the cremation provider, which contains the cremated remains of the deceased.
The temporary container usually contains a bag holding the cremated remains, and this bag is easy to transfer to the urn. Even when the ashes are not in a bag, it is not difficult to pour from the temporary container into the urn.
The process of transferring ashes can be an emotional experience, however, and it is worth adding that this can be a good time to call on a close friend to assist you with the task. In our experience, friends are often more than happy to step up and provide the service of transferring cremated remains to the urn.
Stardust Memorials has created a short video tutorial to help you or your friend with this process. (back to top)
What is cremation jewelry exactly?
Cremation jewelry is jewelry that has a hollow inner compartment to hold a small amount of cremation ashes, dried flowers, sand from a meaningful place or a small lock of hair. If you have any trouble filling jewelry for ashes, watch our short video tutorial:
What is a keepsake urn?
A keepsake urn is a small version of a full-sized urn designed to hold just a small amount of ashes. They are often purchased in sets and given to family members. Keepsake urns also are used when the majority of a loved one's ashes are buried or scattered, but there is a desire to keep a small amount in remembrance. (back to top)
What is an urn pendant?
An urn pendant is a brass medallion that hangs on a ribbon that goes around the neck of an urn. It is used in cases where a customer wants to add personalization to an urn, but, due to the design of the urn or what it is made of, it is impossible to add direct engraving. (back to top)
I see that you sell glass urns. Isn't that a bad idea as they can break?
It is true that a glass urn is more fragile than, say, a metal or wooden urn. But having said that, they are not actually all that fragile. Our glass urns are thick and substantial, and it takes quite a bit of force to break them. Obviously, if you were to drop a glass urn on a concrete floor it is likely going to break, like any piece of glass. But with care and attention, they are surprisingly durable. (back to top)
Are your products actually in stock?
Stardust Memorials is a stocking dealer for all of the products that we carry. On a very occasional basis, we utilize drop shipping from key U.S. manufacturers when it makes sense to do so. (back to top)
Engraving:
How do you engrave an urn?
We use different engraving methods depending on the material of the cremation urn. In the case of metal urns, we use mechanical engraving. Mechanical engraving machines make physical contact with the urn -- etching lines in the metal by applying pressure.
The other engraving method is laser engraving. We use laser engraving on wood cremation urns cultured marble urns, and biodegradable urns. Laser engravers work by emitting a laser beam that etches the surface without making any sort of mechanical contact with it.
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How will the engraving look?
We get compliments on our engraving services all the time. We've engraved hundreds of thousands of urns over the years and have a dedicated engraving department and engraving manager. Our engraving experts care about the details such as line breaks, spacing, how many characters, and how it is centered on the urn left to right as well as top to bottom. (back to top)
If I pay to have an urn engraved, does that add to the shipping time?
If we receive the order by 2PM EST Monday through Friday, it is engraved and shipped the same day without any additional time needed. If it comes in after 2PM EST, then it is engraved and shipped the next business day.
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Shipping & Tax:
How much is shipping?
Standard ground shipping is free on all orders within the contiguous 48 U.S. states. Second Business Day service is available for $35 and Next Business Day service is available for $45 on orders in the 48 states. We ship to Hawaii and Alaska and many international destinations at rates specific to those locations. If you add the item to your cart and enter your address, it will give you the exact rate of your destination. (back to top)
How do you ship?
We use a combination of USPS First Class Mail and Priority Mail for lighter packages and FedEx for heavier packages. The actual shipping method depends on location and delivery needs. Packages are sent with insurance and include delivery confirmation and tracking. (back to top)
How long does shipping take?
Generally speaking, standard ground shipping takes 1 to 5 days in the contiguous 48 states. (back to top)
Do you charge sales tax?
In our home state of Michigan, we are obligated to collect a 6% sales tax. We charge sales tax for other states based on the laws of those states. (back to top)
Transactions & Guarantee:
Do you offer any guarantee?
We offer the finest and fullest satisfaction guarantee in the industry: 100% Satisfaction or your money back. This guarantee applies to any product that is returned unused and that has not been personalized. That's our guarantee. (back to top)
What forms of payment do you accept?
The typical credit cards such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express are all accepted, along with checks and PayPal. (back to top)
What is your return policy?
Our returns policies are outlined here. (back to top)
Who are you? How can I reach you?
Stardust Memorials is a family-owned company based in Traverse City, Michigan. It was founded in 2010. In 2015, Stardust Memorials was named a Michigan Top 50 Companies to Watch. In 2016, Stardust Memorials was selected by INC magazine as one of the INC 500 -- a list of the top 500 fastest-growing private companies in the United States. And we have an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.
Our goal is to keep our customers satisfied by providing them with funeral home quality urns at more than half-off of funeral home pricing, a greater selection of beautiful urns, and engraving options to personalize each cremation urn. More importantly, we can be reached via phone and email if you have any questions, and we put extra effort into correcting any problems and truly assisting customers in any way we can. Our toll-free phone number is (888) 872-0228. Our caring staff is available from 8 AM to 5 PM Eastern Standard Time during the workweek. You are welcome to send us a message at help@stardust-memorials.com, and we'll get right back to you. (back to top)