Mike's Militaria is a small, veteran owned company located in small-town Wisconsin. Unlike other major retailers who deal in surplus, we hand-sort every item that passes through our hands from the time we receive the items, to the time we ship.

This allows us to bring you items that are not only in completely functional condition, but are delivered exactly as described. This minimizes the chances of sizing issues (see sizing for your part in that) and in turn, reduces a lot of confusion related to sizing. 

Great question. Some surplus items I receive have either never been issued, or have been immaculately taken care of by the person who it was issued to. All of my reproduction items are clearly described as such, and new-made items are also clearly described as such.

Although other vendors have attempted to exploit the honesty system in the past, I care about the reputation of this business, and am also a collector myself, so I try to clearly and honestly describe all items for what they actually are. 

The shipping charges are based on the weight of each item, combined with the packaging weight (boxes and envelopes have weight to them), and the mailing service. This automatically calculates the cost based on your address, and charges you as such based on weight. You may utilize the shipping calculator in your cart to give you an idea of what shipping costs will be. 

Everything I have available currently will be listed on the website. If you don't see your size, or the item you're looking for, that means, unfortunately, I currently don't have it. 

That being said, I am always getting new inventory, so I encourage you to subscribe to my E-mail list if you haven't already. This way, you'll be among the first to know when I'll be getting new inventory, or when new items will be available, sometimes for pre-order. 

When your item ships, you will receive an e-mail notification to the e-mail you used to complete your order. If you haven't received a notification, it means your item hasn't shipped. 

This is most likely due to the fact that I am behind on orders, which is a good problem to have, but can also usually only ship 50-100 orders per week by myself, and usually I get way more than that. This, coupled with everything else required to run the business means sometimes there will be a week or possibly more waiting period. At this point, I am a one-man operation, but that will most likely be changing soon. 

Please try to understand this and be patient, you will get your item(s) , I'm just not Amazon Prime, I'm only one person. 

I offer two package delivery options: USPS, and UPS. USPS will pick up items from my rural location daily for free, whereas UPS charges me for a pick-up. Because of that charge, I generally wait until I have at least 5-10 UPS Packages before I pay the fee and have UPS pick up items to be shipped. It sounds ridiculous, but those pickup fees add up quickly.

 That being said, I try ship UPS packages out AT LEAST once per week regardless of quantity. If you ordered items and chose UPS, please expect a couple extra days to allow for the pick-up to take place.  

In certain situations, yes. If I totally send you the wrong size (one you didn't order) or the wrong item, those are acceptable grounds for a return/exchange.

Buyer's remorse, "I clicked buy by accident", "My wife found out and now I'm in trouble", and simply returning for the sake of returning are not valid reasons for an order cancellation/return. Unfortunately, I'm not a rent-a-center, and being a very small business, returns bog down operations more than they already are. Maybe someday that will change, but for now, this is the way it is.

All this being said, I try to describe my items accurately and as realistically as possible so there are no negative surprises when you receive your item. Because of this, returns are only accepted in certain situations. Returns are costly for both my small business and the customer, so I try to take every precaution to avoid them.

You MUST contact me within 14 DAYS of receiving an item that is defective or the wrong item, or the return/exchange is not happening: Period.

I also really need you as the customer to do your part and be 100% sure of your sizes before ordering. This alleviates a lot of issues with returns. My items are sized to U.S Sizes, or the respective country's size chart will be described in the description/photos. 

Military surplus is an ever changing industry regarding inventory. Many of the items we stock have been out of production for MANY years, and once they're gone, they're gone. Sometimes I will have something stocked regularly for years, then I won't be able to get them for many years. Surplus is a gamble, which is why it's fun. 

The "Back in stock notification" app is available on listings that are out of stock. This is a great feature that I personally use on other sites for really cool items. It's paid off for me a a LOT in the past, and it will pay off for you as well since you'll be the absolute first to know. 

With this in mind, it pays to sign up for the newsletter so you can get an accurate and quick notification when new items are in stock/back in stock. Also, one of my personal strategies is to set aside a surplus fund to have so I am guaranteed to get what I am looking for when the opportunity rises.

Everything I have available is listed on the site.  The only exception is the "one of a kind" page where I occasionally post interesting and hard to find items, but you'll be able to know that if you're signed up for the newsletter and get notified that there are items up there. 

That being said, WW2 German uniforms and gear were really never surplus in the first place, and they're just as hard and expensive for me to buy as they are for you. Unfortunately, you'll have to keep your eyes peeled in places that specialize in selling that sort of thing regularly, as I generally don't carry extremely expensive items like WW2 German ones. 

On most listings, I utilize stock photos, which are simply one item randomly drawn from stock, photographed, and uploaded. Although military surplus items may vary slightly in color and style, the photo combined with the description will give you an accurate idea of what you're going to receive. It takes a long time to photograph every single item, and is not fair to other customers to hand-pick surplus, which is why I don't offer a "hand pick" option. The only things that will be photographed individually are one-of-a-kind items periodically listed.

Grade 1: Items have been inspected to ensure flaws are minimal. With all surplus items, expect wear, fading, tears, dents, dings, writing, and slight variations in color and style, but you will receive an item that is 100% useable and functional. 

Grade 2: Items will have flaws, or be missing pieces, or will be in such used shape, they can't be classified as Grade 1. Although most items listed as Grade 2 will be functional, some will require minor to major restoration. Usually I will let you know in the description on a subjective basis. 

Grade 3: Items in this grade are, for lack of a better term, screwed. They are still good enough to not be thrown in the garbage, and will require extensive restoration or re purposing. These will be clearly listed and there are no returns on these items. They are sold at stupidly low prices for creative people and a multitude of other uses. 

Weapons, Body Armor, and Chemical Defense gear can not be shipped outside of the U.S. due to ITAR Regulations . It's not my decision, and there's nothing I can do about it nor will I attempt to circumvent this in any way, shape, or form.