Delivery charges and delivery timescales 2024

The following charges are applied on our website for delivery including packaging, we use the Royal Mail parcel delivery service as this seems to be the most reliable and all parcels are sent with insurance, a signature will be required at the time of delivery. 

International courier costs constantly change and vary significantly from country to country.   If the standard charges below exceed the actual delivery cost by more than £5, we will refund the difference.  

If the actual delivery cost exceeds the charges below by more than £10, we reserve the right to request a delivery surcharge not exceeding the actual cost of delivery. In any such cases you would have the right to decline to the pay the surcharge and to receive a full refund.  

We reserve the right to decline and refund orders e.g. to locations where delivery may be adversely affected by conflict, natural disaster or political unrest.

Dispatch and delivery times

Stock items we dispatch within 1-2 business days by royal mail or (if requested) courier in the UK, Europe and worldwide.   

If an item is being modified for you, please allow 2-4 days. If an item is being made for you, we will advise you how long that will take prior to purchase, if it is not already stated in the item description in the shop.

Delivery is usually by Royal Mail and all items are sent securely packaged. Blanks / rods are posted in a protective tube. Purchases of are posted with tracking (if available), a signature on delivery, and are insured. If tracking is available, you will be provided parcel tracking details.

Delivery times are typically 2-3 days in the UK, 7-10 days in Europe and 10-18 days worldwide. Deliveries can take longer especially to rural areas. Italy and Canada usually take 14-21 days. Allow an extra 7-14 days around Christmas.  

Express delivery

On request we can send your order by an express delivery service charging you the additional cost, but we cannot guarantee delivery arrival dates.  If you have a deadline, especially near Christmas, please make your purchase in good time.

Import charges

Customers from outside the UK are responsible for any import duties, processing charges and sales tax (VAT, GST etc) that may apply in your country.  Starting 2021 this also applies to sales to the EU and EEA.

If a delivery is returned because the recipient refuses to pay the customs charges due, a 10% restocking and handling charge will be levied. The delivery charge will not be refunded. The refund issued will be 90% of the purchased goods value (in £GB) excluding the delivery charge.

Late or missing parcels

The delivery timescales listed about will cover 95% of cases, but sometimes delivery take longer than usual for no obvious reason, or because of events such as bad weather or COVID. 

If you are unlucky enough to experience longer than normal delivery times, Royal Mail provides a lost package tracing service.  However they will not investigate until 25 working days after the expected date of delivery.  Usually this means that there is nothing we can do until about six-seven weeks after the posting date. In our experience 99.9% of the time the parcel has shown up by then.   

In the event your parcel is lost or damaged, you will receive a choice of a refund or replacement, provided that you supplied the correct delivery address in the first place.