Yes, we really do offer FREE worldwide shipping!
Some customers think that offering free worldwide shipping sounds too good to be true so to save you time emailing us to check, we're happy to confirm that we really do offer genuine FREE worldwide shipping on all orders from this site.
That's unique and we can only offer this by employing a very specific method of accounting. We don't want to bore you with the details as most customers are just delighted at the free shipping, but customers on the Channel Islands and outside the European Union may wish to know more about how VAT (Value Added Tax) affects their order.
VAT is a European Union-wide tax applied by the UK government on all goods except on special categories such as food, children's clothes, books etc. When retailing goods it is illegal to add VAT to a price (ie to advertise a net price) as this is only allowed if selling to business customers. So, unlike sales taxes in some US states for example, our prices already include VAT. The current rate of VAT is 17.5% (from 1st January 2010).
There is no reduction in the total (gross) price for orders being shipped to the Channel Islands or outside the EU as the value of the VAT included goes towards the costs of offering and administrating free worldwide shipping.
If we were to first remove the 14.89% VAT included in your order we would have to charge for shipping separately, which comes to the same thing . . . in fact, it would actually cost you more. We realise that this is not a detailed explanation (we're not accountants) but we hope it helps explain the situation with VAT.
We ship all orders by ROYAL MAIL INTERNATIONAL AIR MAIL with the option at checkout to use the slightly faster INTERNATIONAL SIGNED FOR service. We may also use ISF at our own discretion on larger orders over a certain value. Where required we will attach a "CN22" Customs Declaration form to the package, describing the contents as TARTAN RIBBON, COMMERCIAL SAMPLES, VALUE <$10(US). This should avoid any delays at customs and avoids customers being asked to pay import duties / taxes.
Delivery timescales vary wildly from country to country but Royal Mail quote that standard Air Mail takes . . .
EUROPE 3-5 working days average after date of posting
ITALY 5-10 working days after date of posting
OUTSIDE EUROPE 7-10 working days after date of posting
REMOTE LOCATIONS up to 21 days after date of posting
In all cases, Royal Mail deliver to point-of-entry to the country in question and final delivery to you is handled by your country's own domestic postal service. Delays at customs or caused by the domestic postal service are not our responsibility. Royal Mail do not consider an Air Mail item late or lost for at least 21 working days after date of posting.
IMPORTANT . . . if you are not at home to accept delivery, your Postal Service will retain it for around 7 days before returning it to us. This is a slow and expensive process and if you want us to re-send the item, you'll need to pay the additional shipping so if no-one is normally at the delivery address during the day, PLEASE plan ahead using the estimated delivery times shown above. If the order hasn't arrived in that timescale, we advise you contact your Postal Service to check they are not holding a package for you.
Believe us when we say this situation arises every week and it can be expensive to have your order shipped a second time . . . let's put it this way - we're happy to offer FREE worldwide shipping, but only once per order.