POSTAGE for Europe customers

We send by airmail, normally for relatively quick delivery.Using insured mail (track and trace) can make it quicker and inform you of transit progress in the UK (and within your country if your country provides this service), but this costs £8 extra - see below.

STAMP orders are POST FREE to any destination (ordinary airmail at your risk, orders over £250 sent by Signed For/Tracked with insurance up to Post Office limits). Postage £8 extra for orders of £250 or below, if insurance and track & trace is required (add this cost when ordering, if you wish this extra postal service).

BOOK orders : We charge for postage based on the value of the total book order (broadly, more or bigger books cost more to post).
Basic postage for books is automatically calculated on your order total, on the checkout page.
Delivery by airmail to Europe (posted at your risk).

Customers in Europe : Please write your name and address in PLAIN ORDINARY letters, WITHOUT ACCENTS. Unfortunately some email systems in the UK cannot handle foreign characters. We love the complexity of European culture, but emails in the UK do not understand them, and give weirdly incorrect results instead, which can complicate delivery to you.

Postage costs for a book order

• up to £10 costs £8,
• up to £15 costs £12,
• up to £20 costs £15,
• up to £30 costs £20,
• up to £60 costs £25,
• up to £99 costs £30,
• up to £150 costs £35,
• larger orders over £150 cost a flat fee of £45 (excluding any "postage supplement" on the couple of very heavy publications on the site where this charge is advertised).

These costs cover mailing by regular airmail, with certificate of posting, but at your risk in the mail, no insurance, NO track and trace.

If you require special delivery mail for insurance (up to Post Office limits), and tracking within UK, (and abroad if provided by your country's postal service) this costs £8 extra, and is an option you can purchase in addition to the standard delivery charge.

Goods are sent with a customs form. Up to £270 value, we use the small, simple CN22 form. Over £270, we have to use the larger CN23 form, and if you have a required importer's tax number, please advise us. Depending on your country, there may be delays at your local customs office which are beyond our control.

Sending to EEC countries : Transit time is typically 1 to 2 weeks, but sometimes more, owing to Customs offices in Europe being over-stretched and difficulties over constantly changing regulations. This delivery time can vary depending on conditions in your destination country and sometimes there are unexpected delays. We strongly recommend choosing "track and trace" (it is like registered mail) which costs £8 extra - this can help us both to trace items if they are held by your local Customs office for payment of local import tax, and provide insurance as far as this is provided by your local postal system. Otherwise, by ordinary untracked post, your books may get stopped and delayed at Customs, and the delay cannot be traced. Sometimes your postage payment will cover tracking without insurance, and we will provide this if the payment is sufficient to cover it. At least it gives an idea of the journey progress.

Customers in France :
Update Regarding new additional Tariffs on books mailed to France :
Philatelic information brochures under 750 gram weight (typically less than 200 pages and soft-bound) may qualify for tariff-free despatch. However more weightier BOOKS on stamps (typically 200+ pages soft-bound, or most hardbound books) are now charged a high tariff plus we have to charge a separate customs documentation charge at the counter here in the UK, to be added to your payment. Customers in France please email us to check current situation before ordering bigger books, the rules on tariffs change often and without notice. For customers in France buying books, the Macron tariff supplement plus a fee for the extra paperwork are both payable in advance at our UK Post counter at the time of sending. For books up to about £50 cost, and average weight, needing to pay the surtax,the fee plus documentation usually cost approx £10 extra. For customers ordering Macron-affected books, please pay this French import supplement at the time of your order. Books attracting the tariff cannot be mailed without this supplement payment. You can pay by paying a £10 supplement (from the drop-down list at left) when you order. It is only payable on heavier books, not information literature under 750 grams, nor on any stamps or postal history.