Shipping & Taxes

 

Shipping

We dispatch orders on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with around 10am GMT on the day of dispatch being the cut-off typically.  Our shipping providers don't collect on Scottish bank holidays.

 

Customers in the UK

Domestic orders will be dispatched by Royal Mail RM24 (the business equivalent of First Class).  We dispatch orders on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 

Delivery time is typically within 1-2 days of dispatch but can be a bit longer during peak periods. 

We provide free tracking for orders over £50 and as an upgrade option at checkout for orders under £50.   We have anecdotal evidence that Royal Mail prioritise tracked parcels over non-tracked parcels.  

 

International Shipping

*** FOR OUR CUSTOMERS IN THE USA: WE ARE NOW ABLE TO SHIP TO THE USA AGAIN.  ALL ORDERS WILL BE DISPATCHED USING ROYAL MAIL'S NEW 'TAX PAID' SERVICE.  USING THIS SERVICE, NO ADDITIONAL TARIFFS OR TAXES SHOULD BE CHARGED WHEN THE PACKAGE ARRIVES IN THE US.  ***

We use DHL's GlobalMail Tracked as our standard international shipping option for most destinations.  We continue to use Royal Mail for THE usa, Australia and New Zealand.

Delivery times can vary occasionally, but we are typically seeing GlobalMail is delivering to Western Europe and the USA in 5-10 days and elsewhere in 10-20 days.

Though these times have proved to be fairly reliable, they are not guaranteed.  However, if delivery runs significantly longer with no sign of progress we will offer a refund or replacement. 

Delivery in the EU is faster when taxes are pre-paid (possible only through our ebay and Amazon stores, see notes under 'Taxes' below).

We are now able to offer DHL Express as a faster delivery option; typically arriving in around 1-2 working days in Europe and 3-4 working days to elsewhere.  This option will be visible at checkout for supported countries.

Please be assured that we work hard to ensure a smooth delivery and in the rare event that there is a problem we will work with our customers fairly and amicably to find a solution. 

 

Taxes 

For our customers in the UK, the price you see includes VAT.

For our customers in the USA, the price you see includes all taxes and tariffs.  We will ship the parcel to you using a 'tax paid' service so no further charges should be expected on arrival.

We will not charge VAT (sales tax) to buyers outside the UK and USA.  That means that the prices that customers outside the UK see on our website are 20% lower than for customers inside the UK.  Our website is configured to display prices excluding tax when it knows that the customer is outside the UK.  There is a banner at the bottom of the page that can be used to select your country and currency.  In any case, the total will be correct at checkout once the delivery address has been entered.

Our customers outside the UK & USA may be asked to pay import fees or taxes by their own country when the tools arrive.  If applicable, the delivery company will contact you to inform you of how these fees can be paid online. 

Taxes and fees vary by country and will be paid by the receiver on arrival.

In the EU tax is typically around 20% (on the cost of the tools and the shipping) and a further administration fee of around 5-15 Euros is added (or around 10-20 Euros if using the Express option).  This varies from country to country.  The admin fee charged by Greek customs is known to be very high.

Customers in the EU that prefer to pay their tax up front can do so via our ebay store  or our Amazon store (navigate to sellers other items from these links) if the order value is less than about 150 Euro.  If you order value is close to 150 Euro please confirm at checkout if ebay/Amazon has included tax in the purchase price.  When tax is collected by ebay or Amazon no further tax will be charged on arrival.  This has the additional benefit of speeding up delivery.  Our ebay store includes nearly all of our products while the Amazon store only has individual tools, not our kits.