Shipping and Returns

Who We Use

We use mainly Royal Mail and Parcelforce to send your purchases, except for high value items when delivery will be arranged with you and will be via a courier. For very high value items, we will endeavour to use a single courier from door to door but this obviously depends on where you are in the world.

For operational reasons (e.g. they are in different locations), orders for multiple items may be despatched separately. The system will show multiple shipping methods in the cart if this should be the case.You will not pay any extra shipping charge for this.

If you believe the shipping cost that the system has quoted you for multiple items is excessive, please email us and we will look into it and get back to you as a matter of urgency.

When

We aim to despatch all purchases within three working days from order completion (i.e. payment cleared and delivery arrangements finalised). On rare occasions we may not be able to manage this and we will let you know at the earliest opportunity if this should be the case.

Shipping Outside the UK

Please create an account by clicking the "My Account" button in the black Navigation Bar underneath our masthead. Once you have created an account (which takes less than a minute), click on the Continue button and then click "View or change entries in my address book". You can then enter your shipping address, including your country. If your country is not in the dropdown list of available countries, unfortunately we cannot ship to your country at this time.

Import/Customs duties, government taxes, Customs Brokerage Fees and allied charges are not included in the item price or shipping cost. We have no control over these and they are the buyer's responsibility and you must pay these charges and fees in accordance with your local laws. If you are concerned, please check with your country's Customs authority to determine what these additional costs will be prior to confirming your order. On no account will we accept returns because of unexpected charges of this nature.

Please note that we always put the full, legally required value on customs declarations. Please do not ask us to put lower values or mark packages as a gift. If this is not acceptable to you, please do not order form this site.

We will ship to Italy but be aware that items can take up to 3 MONTHS to arrive because of Italian postal and customs authorities. We have absolutely no control over this. For high value items which are sent via courier, your purchase will normally arrive within one week of despatch.

How can I pay?

For most purchases you can use any major credit or debit card. We use Paypal as our card payments processor but you do not need a Paypal account. None of your credit card information is entered into or retained on this site - it's only collected over a secure link by Paypal.

Certain high value transactions must be paid using Bank transfer. Please ensure you select this method during checkout if the item description requests you to do so.

If a product should be mistakenly listed on this site at an incorrect price or with incorrect shipping charges, we reserve the right to refuse or cancel any orders placed for such a product, whether or not the order has been confirmed and your card charged. If your card has already been debited for the purchase and your order is cancelled, we shall refund the full amount paid for that product, plus its contribution to the total shipping charges, to your card account.

Insurance

Insurance is compulsory for certain items. The price of this is included in the stated shipping charge where it is required.

We obtain certificates of posting for all non-tracked parcels and our responsibility for them ends at that point. For tracked and otherwise insured packages, please email us for instructions if your package has not arrived within a reasonable time. Please note that "A reasonable time" varies dramatically from country to country.

Returns

For goods despatched to a UK address and paid for with a UK debit or credit card, the UK Distance Selling Regulations apply and we will accept returns in accordance with those regulations.

For goods which fall outside the UK Distance Selling Regulations but still within the UK, the Sale of Goods act may apply and our returns policy is fully in accordance with the Act.

In all other circumstances, all sales are final.

If your package arrives damaged you should refuse delivery and contact us immediately so that we may begin a damage claim with the carrier. You will be given instructions regarding this process and the damaged items will be reimbursed or replaced once the claim has been completed.

If you wish to return an item as faulty or not substantially as described on the site, you must return the goods to us with the period required by the appropriate Act or, where no Act applies, seven days from receipt, whichever is the shorter. We do not accept photographs of allegedly faulty goods - we must have the physical goods so that we can claim from our insurers. Please note that for higher value items, and occasionally for others, we will have made witnessed photographs on transparencies (i.e. not digital) of the goods before despatch.

If you have paid Customs duty etc on your consignment, you can recover those charges, except for customs brokerage fees, if you return it. Partial return would lead to a partial refund. You will need to contact either the carrier who delivered the consignment or your local Customs authority, as appropriate, to find out how to make a claim. We cannot help you with this as we do not know how Customs works in most countries.

It is your responsibility to ensure you use adequate packaging, etc., obtain the local equivalent of a certificate of posting and insure packages appropriately. We accept no liability for returned items lost or damaged in transit. We will refund such return costs, with the original purchase price and postage costs, where a returned item proves to have been been damaged before you received it or substantially not as described on the site.