Postage FAQ CONTENTS Throughout this site "Great Britain" and "GB" refer to the mainland only. Islands are treated as a separate zone for shipping calculations.   Do you ship outside the UK? Don't use spam arrest for email You must be at home Type address carefully Shipping Rates Value Added Tax eBooks Additional Charges Minimum charge UK Islands Weekend Delivery Do you ship outside the UK? Yes, with certain restrictions, we ship small items almost anywhere. Larger items may not be viable because of the cost. (We do not usually ship dishes or large/ heavy / fragile items outside GB - because it can be slow, expensive and risky). Please refer to our Sales Help FAQ page. The shopping cart may give you a choice of shipping methods. Some of these methods do not provide fast delivery or tracking. If you need either of these options you MUST TELL US. You are welcome to place a PROVISIONAL ORDER to determine the postal charge. To do this, choose payment by cheque instead of credit card. On the shopping cart CHECKOUT page you should type in the NOTES window the words "PROVISIONAL - PLEASE ADVISE EXACT SHIPPING COST". Sales will then email you the exact charge and, if you wish to place the order, you can go to THIS page and enter your credit card details. If you use an email checking service such as "Spam Arrest" or if you use AOL you must not place an order with it because our servers will be unable to reply. If you use AOL to email us you may not receive our reply. (Some AOL user accounts lose up to 50% of messages sent to them). If necessary, get yourself a free Yahoo address and use that for your order. Take great care to type your email address correctly. (At least one person each day does not. Will it be you?) MORE INFO YOU MUST BE AT HOME! Unless you ordered something small, that will fit in a padded envelope for First Class Post, your delivery will probably need a signature. In many cases the delivery driver will NOT accept a neighbour's signature. This means that somebody must be at the delivery address to sign. (More notes about this on our sales help page). It is not possible to make an appointment for a delivery. WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU ASK US FOR "INSURED" DELIVERY SINCE ROYAL MAIL ARE LOSING MILLIONS OF PACKAGES EACH YEAR! Shipping rates general guide. Please read this page carefully. Throughout this site "Great Britain" and "GB" refer to the mainland only. Islands are treated as a separate zone for shipping calculations. Delivery Method: UK 3 day (First Class - usually next working day for GB if you place your order before 1pm, but not guaranteed ). Small packages only. See note 1 below. Recorded (First Class signed for - usually next working day for GB if you place your order before 1pm, but not guaranteed). Small packages only. See note 1 below. Special Delivery (First Class signed for - insured, next working day for GB if you place your order before 1pm and if item's in our stock). Small packages only. See note 1 below. For larger packages, or items shipped direct from a warehouse, we'll use 2 wkg day delivery. See note 2 below. Please choose Special Delivery only for small, lightweight items that we are likely to have in stock. UK 2 wkg day (Carrier - usually next working day for GB if you place your order before 1pm, but not guaranteed so it may take 2 - 3 working days). See note 2 below. UK Offshore (As quick as we can get it to you by any appropriate method). See note 3 below. EU Fastest (As quick as we can get it to you in Europe by any appropriate method). See note 3 below. Cheapest (Outside the UK only - typically one to three weeks). See note 4 below. eBooks only (If you are ordering only eBooks and nothing else - no charge and immediate download availability advised via email) If you select a method which is not appropriate due to your location or the size/weight of the order, the shopping cart will warn you. The above delivery times are dependent on stock availability and order reaching us before 1pm latest. We deliver by four methods as follows. 1. "3 day" Postal delivery (First Class), Special Delivery (First Class) and Recorded Delivery (First Class) direct from our small Sales Warehouse in Telford. Here we keep only small items such as kits, connectors, components, remote controls, SkyLinks and some (not all) LNBs. Normally we use First Class Post so you might get your order next day (but not guaranteed). Recorded delivery or Special delivery can be requested (see our Sales Help page). Special delivery normally promises next day delivery by noon (if your order reaches us before 1pm and if items are in stock) and guarantees a postage refund if it doesn't arrive on time. Whilst Saturday Special delivery is possible, it costs more than weekday Special Delivery so you must incude a note that you will accept an additional charge (currently £2) AND get the order to us before 1pm on a Friday. If an item is large/heavy or not stocked at our office then we will not be able to deliver it on a Saturday. 2. "2 day" Carrier delivery from one or more large warehouses around the country. We get them to deliver direct to you, based on whichever warehouse has stock of the items you want and, sometimes, which is nearest to you. Normally you'll get your order next working day (but not guaranteed) provided we receive your orrder by 1pm. See our Sales Help Page. This system lets us give you "next working day delivery" most of the time (if you place your order in the morning) and lets us keep our prices competitive. It would be much more expensive if we kept huge stocks of everything in our Sales warehouse. However, for larger orders, it can result in a postal delivery and one or more Carrier deliveries to you with different items during the day. As you can imagine, this takes some coordinating and you must have someone available from 8am to 6pm to take delivery on the days within the delivery time frame following despatch. See our Sales Help Page. 3. Airmail or equivalent for small packets or Parcel Force 48 or similar to all destinations outside mainland Great Britain. This applies to Channel Isles, Ireland, most Scottish Isles and all non-UK destinations. (The only exception is for small padded envelopes which can be sent by First Class post to Channel Isles, N. Ireland and Scottish Isles.) As you live abroad, you will be familiar with your local postal service, some of which can take up to 4 weeks to deliver to your home (or local pickup point)! 4. "Cheapest". If you are outside the UK you may be able to select "cheapest" as the shipping option. This will provide a lower estimate of cost and our Sales department will contact you to confirm the true shipping cost. Note, however, that "cheapest" may be a slow method and delivery could take a lot longer than normal - typically weeks. As you live abroad, you will be familiar with your local postal service, some of which can take up to 4 weeks to deliver to your home (or local pickup point)! In your "Shopping Cart" you'll find a choice of "Delivery Locations" (see below). Select the appropriate one in the "cart" when you have added your first item to the "cart" then click on "Recalculate". The "Shopping Cart" will calculate the Shipping charge for you and will update the total as you add each additional item to your cart. (As this system is not perfect it may occasionally want to overcharge or undercharge you. Please add a note to your order if you think the charge is incorrect. This will delay your order because we will have to exchange emails with you so, if you are happy with the charge, don't question it!) We will normally correct it if it's wrong anyway. Also see notes at the bottom of this page. You can use the "shopping cart" as a calculator! Don't be afraid to use it this way. You can add items to the cart and use it to calculate the cost. There is NO obligation to buy. We have no way of knowing what you add to the cart until you actually complete and send the order. (You can delete items from the cart by changing the quantity to "0" and clicking "Recalculate". There is no need to do this if you simply abandon the order). You do not need to ask us "how much will it cost to post..."! Delivery Locations: Mainland UK Offshore UK* Channel Isles UK (no VAT) EU countries International (No VAT) *For offshore islands connected by a road bridge, please select "Mainland UK", since a ferry charge will not be incurred.   Value Added Tax (V.A.T.) VAT is not included in catalogue prices. We must add VAT at the current UK rate to the total (except bound books and manuals). If you are in Europe but not in a EU country please Select "International" as the Shipping Destination. VAT will not be included. Please ensure that you are in a VAT exempt area before selecting this option, otherwise your order will be delayed. If you are outside Europe, please select "International" as the Shipping Destination.   eBooks Obviously there is no shipping charge for eBooks since you will download them. VAT will be added unless your credit card registered address is in a non-EU country. Whichever Delivery Location you choose, the "shipping charge" will be ZERO unless you order other items, at the same time, which need to be shipped to you. * Additional charges In some cases we may have to charge more for carriage but we will always inform you by e-mail and get your permission beforehand. Delivery of heavy or large items outside Great Britain may be very expensive or may not be feasible at all if the carrier company does not deliver to your location. If you have any questions, please send them to either Sales or to Technical before you place your order. (Most questions are already answered on our help pages - click the "FAQs" tab at the top of this page). We are currently trialling Paypal. There is a 4% surcharge for using Paypal. Why is your minimum postage charge £2.50? This is surely robbery if I just want a 16p "F" connector! Postal charges changed in september 2006 so that they now depend on thickness and area as well as weight. It costs the company £2 to "raise an invoice" (whatever that means - accountant-speak - probably includes paper, ink, printer wear & tear, computer maintenance, wages, heating, lighting etc. for 2 minutes) and 20 - 50p for a "jiffy bag" plus £1 postage for a small package. So our minimum charge of £2.50 is actually very reasonable. On a small order we could even make a loss! Most other companies charge more. Why does it cost £xx to ship to Ireland/Scottish islands/Channel Isles? We are only a ferry ride away! Although Parcel Force offers low cost delivery to these places, the warehouses which ship our orders do not use this service. So, to get the order to you quickly and reliably, they use carrier services and these usually charge us a minimum of £21 for going "over water". If the package is light in weight then we can sometimes employ Royal Mail but anything over 2kg is definitely going to be expensive. The cart cannot calculate the exact shipping charge for destinations outside mainland Great Britain. You are welcome to place a PROVISIONAL ORDER to determine the postal charge. To do this, choose payment by cheque instead of credit card. On the shopping cart CHECKOUT page you should type in the NOTES window the words "PROVISIONAL - PLEASE ADVISE EXACT SHIPPING COST". Sales will then email you the exact charge and, if you wish to place the order, you can go to THIS page and enter your credit card details. Why is the "cart" trying to charge me £7.50 just to ship a lightweight aerial? This is the minimum charge for shipping items to you from a warehouse. We don't have room to stock larger items so we have to get them delivered direct to your door by whichever trade warehouse has them. The trade warehouses use carrier companies for delivery by hand and they charge us a minimum of £7.50 to £10 + VAT. For fragile items such as dishes and aerials, it's cheaper and quicker to do it this way than to get them packed in an expensive protective crate and sent by Royal Mail.   Weekend Delivery Saturday delivery is not an option except for small items sent by Royal Mail. Sunday delivery is not an option. If your order is small (fits in a padded bag) then you can request Saturday delivery and we will use Royal Mail Special Delivery. But please note that Royal Mail do not guarantee Saturday delivery by this method so it may still turn up on Monday.