Frequently asked questions

We charge one flat rate per order based on where it is going. There is no minimum order value and no free-delivery threshold — the price you see is the price.

• Rs 399 — Colombo & suburbs. Colombo 1–15, and Nawala, Rajagiriya, Battaramulla, Malabe, Nugegoda, Maharagama, Kottawa, Ratmalana, Mount Lavinia, Dehiwala and Boralesgamuwa.
• Rs 499 — rest of the Western Province. Anywhere else in the Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts.
• Rs 599 — rest of Sri Lanka. Every other district, island-wide.
• Free — store pickup. Collect from our Dehiwala counter. There is no area limit on pickup: you can order from anywhere in the country and collect in person.

Pick your district at checkout and the exact charge appears before you place the order — you will never be surprised by it afterwards. If your address is in the Colombo district, we also ask for your area, because that is what decides between the Rs 399 and Rs 499 rate.

Large or bulky items are the one exception. Where the size or weight of a package means the courier charges us significantly more, we confirm the delivery charge with you by phone or WhatsApp before we dispatch, and you are free to cancel at that point at no cost.

Prescription orders placed through Order Online work slightly differently: the rates shown there are indicative, and your pharmacist confirms the actual charge when they send your quote. One detail catches people out — Boralesgamuwa is a Rs 499 area for prescription orders, even though it is a Rs 399 area in this shop.

Orders are typically dispatched within 2–7 working days of payment clearing, and most Colombo-area deliveries arrive within a day or two of dispatch.

Two things move that clock. The first is payment: we pack an order once we have verified your bank transfer, so the sooner your slip reaches us, the sooner it goes out. The second is stock — if something in your order needs to come in from our supplier, we will tell you rather than leave you guessing.

You will get an email the moment your order leaves us.

Yes, though it works differently depending on where you are.

• Colombo & suburbs deliveries go out with our own riders. There is no courier tracking number for these, but your order page shows each step — packed, dispatched, delivered — and we call ahead.
• Everywhere else goes by courier with a tracking number you can follow online. It appears on your order page and in your dispatch email.

You can check any order at Track your order with your order number and phone number, or from My account › Your orders if you are signed in.

Yes, and it is free from anywhere in the country. Choose Free store pickup at checkout and collect from No. 34, Galle Road, Dehiwala — we are open Monday to Saturday 9:30 AM–9 PM and Sunday 11 AM–9 PM.

We will message you as soon as your order is packed and ready. Bring your order number, or just a screenshot of it.

You can pay at the counter when you collect — cash or card — so there is nothing to transfer in advance. See the answer below.

A few products — anything that must stay refrigerated, and controlled medicines — cannot safely be handed to a courier. A cold-chain product that spends a day in a delivery van is no longer a product we would sell you.

These items are marked Store pickup only on their page, and adding one switches your whole order to pickup. Pickup is free, so this never costs you anything beyond the trip.

It depends on whether you are having your order delivered or collecting it.

Delivery — bank transfer. Here is the whole sequence:

• Place your order. Nothing is charged at this point and you are not committed to anything.
• Your order page shows our account details, with a copy button on every line so you can paste them straight into your banking app.
• Transfer the total, then upload a photo or screenshot of the slip on that same page.
• We check the slip by hand — usually the same day — and start packing as soon as it clears.

Collecting from our Dehiwala outlet — pay at the counter, cash or card. Choose Pay at our outlet at checkout and there is nothing to do until you arrive. We pack your order, message you when it is ready, and you settle up at the till. You are welcome to pay by bank transfer beforehand instead if you would rather collect and go.

We do not take card payments online and we never ask for, collect or store card details — the card option above is the terminal at our physical counter. If anyone contacts you claiming to be Lanka Chemist and asks for card or PIN details over the phone or by email, it is not us.

Yes — for collection orders only, and there is no minimum or maximum. Pick Free store pickup and then Pay at our outlet at checkout, and pay at the counter by cash or card when you come in.

Please wait for our message before setting off. We will email and WhatsApp you the moment your order is packed and waiting; turning up before that means we may not have it ready.

This is not a contradiction of our no-cash-on-delivery policy — it is the same principle. Your order is prepared and held inside the pharmacy, so the products never leave our care and our storage conditions until they are paid for. Nothing can come back to us in an unknown condition. That is exactly what we cannot guarantee once a package is out on a delivery run.

Because we dispense medicine, and medicine that comes back to us is medicine we have to destroy.

Everything that leaves this pharmacy has been bought from a legitimate supplier and kept by us under the conditions the manufacturer specifies — the right temperature, out of direct sunlight, sealed, handled only by our own staff. That unbroken chain of custody is the entire basis on which we can look you in the eye and say a product is genuine and safe to take.

The moment a package is refused at the door, or handed back to a rider, that chain is broken. We have no way of knowing how it was kept in the hours or days in between. So we could not, in good conscience, put it back on the shelf and sell it to the next customer — and that customer might be someone giving it to a child, or an elderly parent, or taking it alongside something else. The only responsible thing to do with returned stock is write it off.

Cash on delivery means accepting that risk on every single order, and the cost of it lands somewhere: either in destroyed stock, or in higher prices for everyone who does pay. We would rather keep our prices honest and simply ask you to pay first.

So nothing leaves our pharmacy unpaid, and nothing comes back to be resold. It is a small inconvenience at the start in exchange for a guarantee that matters rather more: everything we sell you has been in our care, and only our care, from the supplier to your door.

Collecting in person is different, and there you can pay at the counter — cash or card. The order is prepared and held inside the pharmacy, so nothing has left our care and there is nothing to take back. Order online, choose Free store pickup, and settle up when you come in. Pickup is free from anywhere in the country. See paying at our outlet.

Yes. Your order is saved and waiting — nothing expires the moment you close a tab.

• Easiest: the confirmation email we sent has a link straight back to your order page, where the account details and the slip upload are.
• Or sign in. If you placed the order while signed in — or you sign in afterwards with the same email address and use Link previous orders — the order appears under My account › Your orders with an Upload payment slip button on it.
• Or message us. Send your order number to us on WhatsApp and we will send the details across.

We do send a reminder and then a final notice by email if we haven't heard from you. If payment still hasn't reached us 7 days after the order, we cancel it automatically and email you to say so. No charge, no penalty — reorder whenever you are ready.

Usually the same working day. A person checks each one against our account — it is not automated — so slips uploaded late in the evening are generally cleared the next morning.

You will get an email confirming payment, and your order moves to Confirmed on its order page. If there is a problem with the slip — an amount that doesn't match, or an image we can't read — we will call or WhatsApp you rather than leave the order sitting.

Anything that clearly shows the transfer went through: a photo of a bank deposit slip, a screenshot of your online-banking confirmation, or a screenshot of the transaction from your banking app.

We need to be able to read the amount, the date and enough of the reference to match it to our account. JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC and PDF all work, up to 10 MB. If you upload the wrong file, just upload the right one — the newer one replaces it.

No. You can check out as a guest with just your name, phone number and email.

An account is worth having if you would like to pay for an order later, reorder easily, or keep your delivery details for next time — everything you have ordered sits in one place under My account, including any prescription orders you placed while signed in.

Before you have paid: yes, easily. Call or WhatsApp us with your order number and we will amend or cancel it. Nothing has been charged, so there is nothing to refund.

After you have paid: contact us as soon as you can. If your order has not been packed yet we can usually still change it. Once it has been dispatched it is on its way, and our Returns & Refunds policy applies.

Check your spam or promotions folder first — that is where it usually is. Add our address to your contacts and future emails will land properly.

If it genuinely hasn't arrived, your order is still fine: go to Track your order with your order number and phone number. If you don't have the order number either, message us on WhatsApp with the phone number you ordered with and we will find it.

Yes. We are a registered Sri Lankan pharmacy and we buy only from licensed local suppliers and authorised distributors — never from parallel or grey channels.

Every product is stored on our premises under the manufacturer's conditions and dispatched by our own staff. That is also precisely why we don't accept returns of medicines, or offer cash on delivery — see the answer above.

We dispatch from live shop stock, so you get the same stock a customer at our counter would. If anything in your order is close to its expiry date, we will tell you before we send it and you can decide.

If something arrives closer to expiry than you would expect, tell us within 3 days and we will put it right.

Not through this shop. Everything on the storefront is over-the-counter — the things you could pick off a shelf yourself.

Anything that needs a prescription, or a pharmacist's judgement, goes through Order Online instead: you upload a photo of your prescription, our pharmacist reviews it, and we send you a quote covering the items and delivery. Nothing is charged before you accept that quote.

No. Product information on this site is general reference only and is not a substitute for advice from a qualified doctor or pharmacist.

Always read the label and the patient information leaflet, and follow the directions for use. If symptoms persist, see your doctor. Our pharmacists are also happy to answer questions — call or message us.

Medicines and health products cannot be returned once they have been dispatched. This is the same reason we don't offer cash on delivery: once a product has left our storage conditions we cannot verify how it was kept, so we cannot resell it to anyone else, and we will not.

What we absolutely do put right, at our cost: anything damaged in transit, anything incorrect that we sent by mistake, and anything faulty or close to expiry. Tell us within 3 days of delivery with a photo, and we will replace it or refund you.

The full wording is in our Returns & Refunds policy.