Terms of Business

Welcome to Rail-Books, here you can order some of the latest railway books online for delivery to your home at competitive prices. The selection of books listed on this site represents the core stock of new and clearance titles. There is also an extensive range of pre-owned titles available. We can obtain most transport titles that are in print but not listed on the website in around 10 working days. Therefore, if you are looking for a book that is not here, please telephone or use the "contact us" page.

We are committed to a high level of service and if you are not satisfied with the service we provide, please let us know by using the "contact us" form.

Most orders to UK addresses are post free and all are dispatched by Royal Mail's 48 Hour service (delivery times are equivalent to 2nd class mail) which is not tracked. Heavy or bulky orders may be sent out by other means such as courier; we will advise you at the order fulfillment stage if an order is being sent via courier instead of Royal Mail.

The cost of shipping will be added to orders for non-UK addresses at check out and dispatch will normally be via Royal Mail Air Mail (which is not tracked). However, heavy or bulky orders may be sent out by other means such as courier. 

We aim to dispatch orders within 2-3 working days of receipt of cleared payment. While we try to hold stocks of all titles, some books may occasionally be temporarily out of stock for a variety of reasons. We will contact you if there is going to be a significant delay (over 10 business days) in dispatching your order. Certain books are not stock items and will have to be ordered in; these are marked accordingly on the website. This typically takes around 10-15 working days.

Please refer to our Postage and Shipping page for more information about the shipping of your order.

Customers may also pre-order books for collection at one of the various shows attended by Rail-Books. Please do not purchase via the website but instead get in touch with us directly or use the "Contact Us" form.

PAYMENT
The e-commerce platform used by Rail-Books accepts payments via all major credit and debit cards such as Visa, Mastercard and American Express. You may additionally use PayPal.

REFUND POLICY
If you find that you have purchased a book in error, please be aware that UK law allows you 14 calendar working days to cancel your order and return the book. Please contact in writing us BEFORE returning any publications and follow our instructions regarding return. Once the book has been received by us in good condition, a refund will be made of the book price. On-line retailers are not liable for the costs of returning unwanted purchases.

Whilst we endeavour to ensure that books are as described and will do so to the best of our ability, where books are found to be faulty or not as described, a full refund may be made but please contact us BEFORE returning the book.

SHIPPING

While the vast majority of parcels will arrive at their intended destination in a timely fashion (typically 2-3 workings days for UK addresses and 5-8 working days for non-UK addresses), those to non-UK addresses may belayed by factors beyond the control of our shipping agents such as customs examinations.

In the extremely unlikely event that a parcel goes missing, please allow 3 weeks (UK addresses) and 6 weeks (non-UK addresses) from receipt of a shipping notification before formally reporting the parcel as missing. Any such reports must be made in writing - e-mail or a message sent via the website is acceptable. In the event of any compensation (either financial or in the form of supply of a replacement) being made for missing parcels, the original parcel and its contents will revert to becoming the property of Rail-Books and should therefore be returned to Rail-Books immediately upon receipt unopened in the original packaging.

Customers are asked to ensure that they quote the full, correct shipping address when placing orders including house number and zip/post code. Occasionally, parcels are returned to us on account of the local delivery agent being unable to deliver to you, e.g. incomplete address, failure to collect from nearest mail delivery point. We are happy to attempt to ship it to you again upon payment of the appropriate shipping charge (this includes UK orders). If we do not receive this payment, your order may be cancelled and you will receive a full refund less any shipping costs incurred by us. With the exception of PO Box addresses, we do not dispatch untracked parcels to third party mail handing services (e.g.Parcel Motel). 

While books are generally exempt from taxes in many nations, some countries levy an import tax or local sales tax on purchases from overseas. Customers from those countries are responsible for payment of any import taxes etc. and Rail Books are not liable for the impounding of parcels by revenue authorities pending payment of import/local taxes.

Please also refer to our "Postage & Shipping" page which forms part of our Terms of Business

Updated: 1 January 2023