We open at 3:00 pm US Central Time on the first day of a new catalog. 
After that, our regular hours are 9 am to 5 pm US Central Time.
 
AVAILABILITY: All items are available on a first-come, first-served basis.  All of our new ‘catalog grade’ items go directly to the catalog and are not available for anyone else to purchase before the catalog opens.  Even the owners and staff at AGM must wait for the catalog to open, just like everybody else.  We can’t guarantee you will get the item you want, but we can absolutely guarantee that you have the same chance at it that everyone else does.  This policy is a cornerstone of our business.
 
CONDITION: We sell items used by soldiers who were participants in historic events. Mint or unissued items will be noted as such, all others will show expected normal service wear. Items are compared with like items of the same age and construction for our condition notations: I = Excellent, II = Very Good, III = Fair. 
 
GUARANTEED ORIGINAL: Items are 100% guaranteed to be as described for identification and originality.  If we make a mistake, you are covered, no matter when the purchase was made. 
 
ORDERING: The fastest and easiest way to order is to use the website.  However, you can also call in an order by telephone at1-800-AEF-1918.  IMPORTANT: If you are reserving items for yourself using the website, please note that buying an item removes it from the sale and reserves it exclusively for you.  Do not reserve items that you do not fully intend to purchase.  It is unfair to your fellow collectors, and to AGM.  If items are purchased and the customer later wishes to keep some and release others, the ENTIRE ORDER is released, and the customer will permanently lose his ability to place online orders in the future.  Ordered items are reserved for you for ten days.  Payment in full or a 30% lay-away deposit on approved lay-aways must be received within 10 days, or the item will become available to other buyers. 
 
OFFICE HOURS: Our business hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (U.S. Central Time). After the first week or so of a catalog, we can be away from the phones quite a bit (wrapping orders, making trips to the post office, etc.), so the best way to communicate is almost always by email - especially if you need to speak with Jeff or Anna. We spend a bunch of time on the road going to shows, on buying trips, etc. Yes - far more time in the truck than in the office. Messages left on the machine may not be noticed right away, so if you can, email is the best option.  We will get back to you as quickly as possible.
 

PAYMENT: We accept Personal Checks, Money Orders, Zelle, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover Cards. We no longer accept PayPal.  Credit cards are accepted at no additional charge to you. Credit card charges may appear on your bill as "Museum Resources" or "Advance Guard Militaria" depending on which account is used.  Wire Transfers are fine for transactions over $1000.  (Email for instructions and details on wire transfers or Zelle payments.)  Make checks or money orders payable to "Advance Guard Militaria".  If you are registered on our site, payment is easy using our online invoices.  If you are not registered, or do not want to use the online invoice, we are always delighted to receive checks in the mail!  Please note - do not go to google maps to get our address.  A weird, jumbled garbage address appears there, in spite of my continuing efforts to have it corrected.  The address is right at the top of every page on the website - 270 State Hwy HH, Burfordville, MO 63739.
 
AGM is many things.. but NOT a BANK: While we are happy to offer Lay-Away (see that entry below), there are always a few customers who order a bunch of stuff on catalog opening day, but then seem immune to all polite reminders and gentle prodding when it comes to payment.  They will be merrily active elsewhere, buying up a storm at shows, making purchases from other dealers, bidding on auctions, taking swings at nice pieces on the various 'make offer' forums... but are curiously radio silent when it comes to paying for items already reserved at AGM.  Apparently we have gained a reputation as the 'nice guys' that you can string along until it is convenient.  Much as I like to be known as the nice guy, we do actually need to conclude transactions in a timely manner.  Payment in full or proper deposit on an agreed upon lay-away is expected to be received with 10 business days after you were invoiced.  After that time, items that were reserved but were not paid for will be available again on the site.  Customers who repeatedly reserve items on opening day but then have to be repeatedly reminded to complete their transaction will be prohibited from future purchases.  SO, if you really wanted something that was reserved before you could get to it, do hit the "notify me" button.  After 10 business days, if the payment or layaway deposit has not been received, you may be pleasantly surprised with a second chance at the item you missed.  
 
LAY-AWAY: We’re all collectors ourselves, and know what it is like to stretch the budget for a new purchase. As such, we do offer a free lay-away plan: 30% deposit, and the balance paid off within 30 days of the order. When circumstances warrant special arrangements, we are glad to work with you so that you won’t miss the item that you want. Please make note of the rules for Lay-Away:
*MINIMUM ORDER FOR LAY-AWAY IS $100.00
*Customers are limited to one lay-away invoice at a time.  Your first lay-away invoice must be paid in full before you can start a new one.  
*The deposit is due in the normal 10-day payment window. If no deposit is received in 10 days, the item is not on lay-away, it's just on a past-due invoice and will be sold to the next customer who asked for it.
*All Lay-Aways must be settled in no more than 3 payments. This includes the deposit.  It is just too much of a hassle to keep track of bi-weekly $30 payments on a $1000 order.  This applies to EVERYONE, new customers, family, people we have been friends with for 30 years... absolutely everyone.  Total of 3 payments only, please. 
*Lay-away orders carry no return or exchange privilege  This of course does not apply to returns for reasons of authenticity.  Items are always guaranteed to be original and correctly identified.
*Delinquent accounts are subject to forfeit of payments made.   
 

SHIPPING: See chart below for shipping and insurance rates.  ‘Feather Rate’ is for very small / light items such as insignia, etc., and ‘Anvil Rate’ is for heavy / awkward / fragile items.  We ship most items by UPS, feather rate items by US Postal Service.  For normal size items we very much prefer UPS - if you can provide a street address rather than a PO Box, we really appreciate it (and it is normally much less expensive for you!)  

The Standard Rate reflects a survey of our actual shipping costs (supplies, labor, & freight) over the past two years.  Based on order total, it is not exact, but a compromise designed to get reasonably close but not require you all to wait while we pick and weigh each order to get a more precise figure.  If we get your order together and find that the rate was wildly out of line, we will adjust to your benefit. We did have to raise rates to reflect all of the price increases that the carriers and suppliers have had since the last time we made changes.  Most of the changes are small, but we did need to raise the threshold for FREE standard shipping from $1,000 to $2,000 orders.

PLEASE NOTE: We begin shipping orders as soon as possible but there are always many orders to process - PLEASE ALLOW TWO TO THREE WEEKS FOR DELIVERY.  Also, please be aware whenever we start a new catalog, I tell our shippers that it is far better to finish 10-20 orders in a day that are checked, double-checked, and wrapped properly than it is to knock out 40-50 orders in a day and have a mistake.  We will wrap and ship your item the very same way I would want someone to wrap something that I purchased for my collection.  That takes more time, but I believe that the extra effort is well worth it!  

 
INSURANCE: See the shipping chart above.  Because most folks like to keep their shipping cost as low as possible, we do not require insurance.  Insurance is optional (completely your choice, except for firearms orders in which it is required), but be aware that the buyer agrees to assume all risks for uninsured packages.  To clarify: if a package goes missing and you purchased insurance, then it was insured and you are covered.  If a package goes missing and you did not purchase insurance, you are not covered.  Could you skip the insurance and then reclaim the entire amount of your invoice through a Credit Card chargeback?  Well.. yes.  It would be a sneaky, dastardly thing to do, but honestly we could not actually prevent you from doing this.  Fortunately, our customers are more honorable than that.  If someone did choose to take such action, though, it would certainly be their final interaction with us.
 
FIREARMS: In case you missed it on the shipping chart - firearms ship for the standard rate (which is often $0 for orders over $2000) + $40 additional per firearm.  Insurance is required on all firearms shipments, antique or modern.  Modern firearms must ship to an FFL.
 
CALIFORNIA and NEW JERSEY BUYERS: Due to recent legislation in your states, all firearms (modern or antique) will need to be shipped to a licensed FFL dealer for transfer.  I am genuinely sorry for your circumstances there.  In solidarity with our friends trapped behind enemy lines - should any active AGM customer decide to emigrate to a free state, send us your new address and a photo of your moving truck receipt, and AGM will contribute $50 toward your exodus.  (No kidding, we will really do that.)  Just in case you need the links: uHaul   Penske   Budget
 
RETURNS: Though we try very hard to avoid it, we make mistakes just like everyone else.  If an item is not as described, you are covered.  We request that you call and obtain a return authorization number, though, because often a question about an item can be easily answered or any conflicting information resolved.  Unauthorized returns are not accepted.  Also, we do not ever guarantee original pre-1946 uniforms, hats, and equipment to fit.  If you are into wearing the stuff, hey.. everybody has their fetish, I guess.  However, whether an item fits is none of our concern and we will not accept returns for reason of size (or durability).  Any alteration, cleaning, oiling, or other tampering with an item voids all return privileges.  Refunds are for the original purchase price only.  Inappropriate returns (i.e. I discovered I already had one, my wife is mad at me, etc.) may be accepted solely at our discretion for store credit only, with an appropriate restocking fee.  Your trust and happiness is EXTREMELY important to us.  If we have erred, we will do whatever it takes to remedy the issue. 
 
PERSONAL DELIVERIES: We occasionally make show deliveries of items that are too large, bulky or fragile to be delivered by conventional means. (cannons, aircraft propellers, glass display cases, etc.) All other orders MUST be shipped from our warehouse. This is to ensure that all of our customers receive their orders in a timely and efficient manner; and to ensure the maintenance of our sanity while trying to leave on time for a show. Sorry guys, no more show deliveries of ANYTHING. I don’t care if it IS a cannon. We’ll slap a label on it and ship it. All orders must be paid for through normal channels and shipped. The Show deliveries and the nonsense surrounding them are a headache that we have officially eliminated as of March 2009. Absolutely no exceptions whatsoever.
 
PRIVACY POLICY: We do not trade or share customer information including emails, phone numbers, addresses, etc. Your information is secure at AGM. If you ask a question that would be better answered by someone else, we will specifically ask for your permission before forwarding your inquiry to a third party.  More often, we are approached by someone who missed an item, and wants to offer enough $$ to tempt the new owner to sell it to them.  We absolutely do not reveal the identities of buyers, nor will we share contact information with anyone, no matter how much they insist.  In cases like this, the petitioner is welcome to send a letter to AGM, which we will then in turn forward for them.  If the person who now owns the desired item wants to make contact, they can.. but if they do not, then that is the end of the story.  
 
CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS: Most artifacts of military history represent significantly unsettled times; eras which contain all of the highs and lows that humanity has to offer.  That is a large part of their collector appeal, but also one of the things that makes the collectors of such artifacts vulnerable to both deliberate and unintended misunderstandings about their hobby.  We have been in this business long enough to understand quite well that collectors are far more likely than the average person to have a very well-developed, scholarly understanding of historical events, and that their motivations for collecting artifacts from these events are in parallel with those of any well-respected history museum.  However, if you are in fact the very rare exception to the rule; the person who collects as a part of celebrating a philosophy that most of us would describe as racist, hateful, discriminatory, etc., then by all means hop back on your bike, and please take your business elsewhere.
 
PHOTOS & DESCRIPTIONS: Remain the intellectual property of AGM. Our photos and descriptions may not be reproduced elsewhere without specific permission.  However, copies for your records are available for registered users via the USER CP page.  These typically remain up and available to you throughout the life of a catalog.  Once the new catalog goes up, though, the older items drop off this page.