Delivery, refunds and exchanges

Sold by Nick Howarth, trading in his own name, not registered for VAT. Full seller details are on the terms page.

What things cost

You are quoted in your own money. Readers in South Africa pay rand; everywhere we post has a published price in the local currency, and the order form switches to it as soon as you choose a delivery country. It is the authority on what you will pay — the table below is a summary of the same list.

The hardcover is South Africa only for the moment. The regional editions are priced and on their way, but not printing yet, so the order form will not take an order it cannot fill — choosing a country outside South Africa marks the hardcover coming soon and offers the softcover, which posts everywhere on the list. Ask us if you would rather wait and be told when it opens.

War in Peace is also published in Afrikaans as Onlus en Oorlog, in the same two bindings at the same price. That printing is bound and posted in South Africa, so the two Afrikaans editions go to South African addresses only and appear on the order form once South Africa is the delivery country.

Postage is on top of those figures and depends where the parcel is going. It is worked out and shown before you pay — there is no handling fee, and nothing is added after the order form. Inside South Africa it is a flat R120 whether you order one copy or ten, because they travel in one parcel: a single softcover comes to R595 delivered, and each further copy adds only its R475.

Paying in a currency we do not settle in

Our payment provider, PayFast, settles in South African rand. So when the price you are quoted is in dollars, pounds, euros or Australian dollars, what is actually charged is that amount converted to rand at the exchange rate at the moment you order. The order form shows you both figures before you pay, and the rand one is what appears on your statement.

The rate moves. Two consequences worth stating plainly: the rand figure can change slightly between reading the page and paying, and your own bank may convert back at its own rate and add a fee of its own. Neither is something we control or profit from.

The order form is the authority on price, not this table: both come from the same list on the server, but the form is the copy the payment is signed against.

Delivery

Where your copy comes from

Copies are printed close to the reader rather than all posted from one place. South African orders are printed, packed and posted by us; everywhere else the softcover is printed at the nearest print site — the United States, the United Kingdom or Australia — and posted from there. It arrives faster that way, and there is usually no customs charge. The hardcover is not yet part of that arrangement, which is why it is South Africa only for now.

Dispatch

Orders are dispatched within a few working days of the payment clearing — normally three to five, and within seven at the outside. You get an email the day yours goes into the post.

How long it takes after that

The order form quotes a window for the country you choose, in working days once the parcel has been handed over. Broadly:

They are estimates, not guarantees. Delivery times vary with the courier, customs, public holidays and weather, and none of those are ours to control. If a parcel is a week past the window the order form quoted, write to us and we will chase it.

Countries we cannot quote yet

We post to a long list of countries, and the order form carries a longer one still. Where a country appears marked — not yet, it means we do not have a postage rate for it from the printer and will not guess at one. Choosing it says so rather than quoting you a price we would have to go back on. Ask us and we will get a quote and arrange it by hand.

Tracking

Where a tracking number exists it goes out in the dispatch email. It can take a day before the carrier shows anything against it.

Duty and customs

Because copies are printed close to the reader, most orders never cross a border and no duty arises. Where one does — an order to a country served from a print site in another — any import duty, VAT, customs charge or local handling fee is the reader’s to pay. Those are levied by the destination country, not by us, and we have no way of knowing in advance what they will be.

If something is wrong with your book

If your copy arrives damaged, defective or is simply the wrong one, tell us within 7 days of it arriving. We may ask for a photograph of the damage before approving a replacement or a refund — it is quicker than posting a damaged book back and forth.

Please include:

• your order reference
• your contact details
• what is wrong with it
• photographs of any damage

Once the problem has been confirmed we will send a replacement where one is appropriate, or refund you.

Refunds

Refunds are considered for books returned in their original condition, and for books that arrived damaged or defective. We do not refund a book that was damaged after it was delivered, or one that shows signs of use.

A refund goes back to the card that paid, through PayFast. Their side of it usually takes a few working days after we approve it. It is refunded in rand, being what was charged; if the exchange rate has moved since, the amount your bank returns to you may differ a little from what it originally took.

Cancelling an order

If you change your mind before the parcel has been posted, tell us and we will cancel and refund it in full. Once it is in the post it falls under the return terms above.

Digital editions

There is no digital edition of War in Peace on this site today. If one is added, the same rule as everywhere else applies: an ebook or download is non-refundable once access has been granted or the file has been downloaded. If you cannot get at something you paid for, that is a technical problem and we will fix it rather than shrug at it.

Bulk and corporate orders

The order form takes up to ten copies. For more than that — a unit reunion, a library, a shop — get in touch and we will quote you directly.

Getting hold of us

The contact form, or nick@townshiptales.com. We aim to answer within two working days.