Frequently asked questions

How can I have my order delivered outside the UK?

We have standard shipping options for orders of up to 10 items to most overseas locations. There is no standard invoicing for orders outside the UK, although we can provide a proforma invoice if this is your only option. Shipping costs can be looked up at the Basket stage, and will adjust automatically when you enter the shipping address at the Checkout stage. There are two shipping options:
Royal Mail International Standard is an economical choice, but is not a signed for option. We will obtain proof we have posted your order, but we are unable to replace orders that do not arrive as we cannot track them with this option. Royal Mail International Tracked and Signed is no faster than the standard option, but it provides the peace of mind of a tracking reference that allows you to check up on your package and for compensation in the event of loss or delay. Please be aware, it is only possible to send Tracked or Signed (not Tracked and Signed) mail to Australia and a few other exceptions. We will source the most comprehensive option for your location. Please note that overseas orders may be delivered in multiple packages due to weight restrictions and, although they will be posted together, they may be split during transit and arrive separately. This is most economical for our customers. We will notify you of this when your order is shipped, and provide you with multiple tracking links to cover all the packages. To make overseas orders of more than 10 books, please email orders@talk4writing.com so that we can correctly quote for a courier; once you have confirmed that you are happy with the quote, we will set up a temporary shipping option personal to your order on the website.



What does 'Pay Offline' mean?

This option relates to invoice payment. Please note that invoice payment is only available to UK schools and for orders of £100 or more. This is to reduce administration for all parties and keep our products as low cost as possible for all customers. Please do not select 'Pay Offline' for orders of less than £100. Unfortunately we can no longer offer proforma invoicing as the administrative costs do not allow us to maintain the minimal pricing on our self-published products.

If you are required to submit a corresponding purchase order number please add this at the Checkout stage, or email these to orders@talk4writing.com asap after placing your order, quoting your order reference.

All invoices are paperless. Please use the email address for your school bursar or business manager as the contact email, or forward the invoice email as appropriate. Payment can be made by card, Bacs or cheque. To pay by card, click the button in the invoice email to be redirected to a secure payment site. For Bacs and cheque, please quote the invoice number as the reference so that payment can be identified. The email address for Bacs remittance forms is orders@talk4writing.com.



Can I pay for my order by invoice to my school, rather than paying for it online?

Yes, but please note that invoice payment is only available to UK schools and for orders of £100 or more. This is to reduce administration for all parties and keep our products as low cost as possible for all customers. Please do not select 'Pay Offline' for orders of less than £100. Unfortunately we can no longer offer proforma invoicing as the administrative costs do not allow us to maintain the minimal pricing on our self-published products.

If you are required to submit a corresponding purchase order number please add this at the Checkout stage, or email these to orders@talk4writing.com asap after placing your order, quoting your order reference.

All invoices are paperless. Please use the email address for your school bursar or business manager as the contact email, or forward the invoice email as appropriate. Payment can be made by card, Bacs or cheque. To pay by card, click the button in the invoice email to be redirected to a secure payment site. For Bacs and cheque, please quote the invoice number as the reference so that payment can be identified. The email address for Bacs remittance forms is orders@talk4writing.com.



How much does UK delivery cost? What are the courier arrangements?

If you’re ordering under 2kg to the UK, your order is delivered by Royal Mail Signed 2nd Class. If you are ordering over 2kg to the UK, the package is delivered via the CollectPlus Store to Door courier service. Using CollectPlus for heavier items keeps your postage costs lower. You will receive a tracking number by email to track your parcel. If the courier cannot obtain proof of delivery to the delivery address, a nearby address, or a safe place, the parcel will be retained and you have 7 days to contact CollectPlus to make alternative delivery arrangements.

For the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, please allow up to 3 working days on top of usual delivery times. For Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Isle of Wight, please allow 1 extra working day on top of usual delivery times. Courier rates on larger orders only apply to the UK. If you are a British Forces school and wish to use the BFPO, please select the BFPO shipping option at the Checkout stage for correct rates to be applied to your order.



Do you supply to trade?

At this point we don't intend to distribute to trade, so the book is only available to buy directly through the online shop. Please email contact@talk4writing.com if you would like to be notified should this change.



My shipping address looks wrong - what do I do?

Please check the shipping address shown on your confirmation email carefully and email orders@talk4writing.com immediately if you have any concerns that there are inaccuracies, or that the format is not appropriate for your shipping country. The autofill address on the website is worldwide rather than UK specific, so the top lines of addresses occasionally disappear. It is possible to overwrite the autofill and to add commas if more address lines are needed. Don't worry, most missing school names are picked up and corrected on the package. Feel free to email orders@talk4writing.com if you would like reassurance that your address has been corrected.

The Talk for Writing Bookshop cannot be held liable for packages returned to sender due to incorrect addresses provided at the point of order. If the autofill is not appropriate, please simply type over with correct info. If a PO Box is required, please clearly state 'PO Box #' in the address. For more reliable shipping to China, please email the address in characters as well as in English through the webshop.



My credit or debit card doesn't work - what's going on?

Please check the billing address you have entered carefully. Have you entered the postcode correctly? The autofill address on the website is worldwide rather than UK specific so top lines occasionally disappear. Also bear in mind that the card you are using may be registered to a different address to your shipping location - for example, we are posting to a school but payments are linked to an academy trust, or an order is being paid for from a personal card but is being delivered to a work address. The cardholder name must be entered exactly as it appears. This means including any school or academy chain name that appears as part of this.



Do you post through BFPO?

Yes, but please note that courier rates on larger orders only apply to the UK. If you are a British Forces school and wish to use the BFPO, please select the BFPO shipping option at the Checkout stage for correct rates to be applied to your order. If you are concerned that your address is not displaying appropriately to comply with BFPO at the Checkout stage, please click 'Add a Note' at the Cart stage or email orders@talk4writing.com and we will ensure it is correct on your package. Please note that overseas orders may be delivered in multiple packages due to weight restrictions and. although they will be posted together, they may be split during transit and arrive separately. This is most economical for our customers. We will notify you of this when your order is shipped, and provide you with multiple tracking links to cover all the packages.



Why can't I email a purchase order instead of ordering through the website?

By ordering through the website, you ensure that your address details and other information are entered correctly and that no errors are made in transcription. As shipping costs are calculated by the website based on weight, it is important you complete the order process yourself in order to ensure you are happy with these. You will also know whether tracked or standard postage is most appropriate for your order. It is important that you read the conditions of sale, in particular the invoicing options. We do not offer invoicing on small orders (£100 or less) as the administrative cost of chasing small invoice payments is prohibitive. We have begun self-publishing in order to keep the cost of our resources as low and accessible as possible, and this requires streamlining administration where possible. You may have Talk for Writing set up as a supplier on your systems already, but this may be for conferences, projects or training provision rather than the online shop. If purchase orders for ordering resources are being automatically emailed to staff managing aspects other that the online shop, this delays your order being processed. Payments can also end up being made into the wrong bank account. If you are required to submit a corresponding purchase order number, there is a field for this at the Checkout stage. If the invoicing address is different to the delivery address, please click 'Alternative invoice address' at the Basket stage. If you miss either of these during the order process, please email details to orders@talk4writing.com along with your order reference or invoice number.



My DVDs dont work - any ideas?

If one of the DVDs has a problem but the other works normally, please contact orders@talk4writing.com.

If both DVDs are not working, it is unlikely this is a fault with the DVDs but more likely a problem with the DVD player or a software issue. Please try these in a different machine before reporting them as faulty. You could also try downloading VLC Media Player; this is free and compatible with Windows: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.en-GB.html.



I can't see my basket, or how to pay - is the website broken?

Unfortunately some school IT security systems block the website from working correctly as they will identify it as an online shop. If possible, to prevent future issues for yourself and your colleagues, please request that your IT department relax controls for https://www.talkforwritingshop.com/. We are a safe site hosted through the WIX web design framework, and there is nothing to buy here except education resources!

If this is not possible, please contact us by phone on 07514 034010 or email orders@talk4writing.com and we will put your order through asap. Please note, we will simply be typing your details into the front end of the exact same website, and card payments will be directed through the same online secure payment site. We do not have a card machine or record any payment card details at any time.



How do I track my package? What if my delivery goes wrong?

A tracking link is provided in your shipping confirmation email, except if you selected International Standard postage, which is a non-tracked service.
 Please check your tracking link for updates if you have concerns about the delivery. From the UK Royal Mail tracking webpage there is a button that links to the relevant delivery partner webpage so you can continue tracking outside the UK. If this button does not work, you could try entering your tracking reference into the tracking webpage of your national post service. If your tracking link shows a missed delivery and that your package is held at a delivery office for collection, it is important that you contact the office urgently, as some post services return to sender within a week.

The Talk for Writing Bookshop cannot be held liable for missed deliveries to buildings closed for school holidays if we are not informed of these. Please add a note to the 'Alternative invoice address' box at the basket stage to inform us of building closures we may need to time your delivery around. For deliveries going ahead during holidays, it is helpful to provide a number for the caretaker in case they are using loud machinery and do not hear deliveries arrive. There will be a reminder on the webpage banner in the lead-up to UK school holidays. If your package is being returned to sender and you need the goods urgently, you can place another order and we will refund the product cost of your original order when it arrives back with us (this can be several weeks). Items returned to sender have often been in the post system for many weeks - please note that any items received back showing signs of wear, such that we can only sell them as 'seconds', will be refunded at 90% of product cost. We can re-send packages returned to sender but please note the original shipping charge will be applied to contribute towards the cost of this; a proforma invoice will be emailed that can be paid securely by card, and goods will be resent upon payment.

The Talk for Writing Bookshop cannot be held liable for packages returned to sender due to incorrect addresses provided at the point of order. If the autofill is not appropriate, please simply type over with correct info. If a PO Box is required, please clearly state 'PO Box #' in the address. Please check the shipping address shown on your confirmation email carefully and email orders@talk4writing.com immediately if you have any concerns that there are inaccuracies, or that the format is not appropriate for your shipping country. For more reliable shipping to China, please email the address in characters as well as in English through the webshop.