Retale Buyer Protection Policy

Buyer Protection is how Retale sorts out problems with Books bought through Retale. Every Seller agrees to it as part of the Seller Policy. When a refund of the Book price is made under it, it’s the Seller’s refund, made by Retale on the Seller’s behalf as the Seller’s agent. Where a refund also includes the delivery charge and the Retale Fee, Retale refunds the Retale Fee itself, and the delivery charge either itself or on the Seller’s behalf, as sections 6 and 7 explain.

1. What Buyer Protection covers

• a Book that doesn’t arrive;
• the wrong Book; and
• a Book that’s significantly different from its Listing in a way that wasn’t disclosed, for example undisclosed damage, missing pages, or a lot of writing or highlighting that wasn’t mentioned.

It doesn’t cover changing your mind, small differences, normal signs of use in a secondhand Book, or anything clearly shown or described in the Listing. Our Condition Guide explains what each condition grade allows.

2. Time limits

• Tracked delivery: within 48 hours of the courier recording the Book as delivered. If you confirm the Book arrived, or the 48 hours pass, the Transaction completes and the Seller is paid.
• Not arrived: if tracking hasn’t shown the Book as delivered 14 days after it was posted, you can report it as not arrived. We email you when this happens, and you have at least 3 more days to report it before the Seller is paid.
• Collection: within 48 hours of the collection code being entered.

If the courier never scans a parcel at all within 14 days of the Seller saying it was posted, we treat it as a problem ourselves and decide it, without you needing to report it.

These time limits are for Buyer Protection only. They don’t restrict your legal rights. If you miss them, you can still contact us, and the Seller, using your legal rights.

3. How to report a problem

Open the order from your Orders page and choose “Report problem”. Say what’s wrong (damaged, wrong Book, not as described, missing pages, not arrived or something else) and add photos showing it (up to 5). Photos are needed for everything except a Book that hasn’t arrived. While a problem is open, the order is paused, so the Seller isn’t paid.

4. What happens next

4.1 The Seller replies

The Seller has 48 hours to choose one of these:

• Refund you in full and let you keep the Book.
• Offer you a partial refund. You have 48 hours to accept it. If you decline, or don’t answer, Retale decides.
• Accept a return, choosing whether they or you pay the return postage (see section 4.2).
• Disagree, in which case Retale decides.

If the Seller doesn’t reply within 48 hours, Retale decides. Either of you can ask Retale to step in at any time instead of agreeing between yourselves.

4.2 Returns

If a return is agreed, Retale gives you a tracked return label. You must post the Book within 5 days. Once it’s delivered back, the Seller has 48 hours to confirm it’s arrived; if they don’t, you’re refunded automatically. If you don’t post it within 5 days, the problem is closed and the Seller is paid. If the Seller chose to pay for the return postage, they pay for the label by card; if you’re paying, the cost is taken off your refund.

4.3 When Retale decides

We may:

• ask either of you for more information or photos;
• look at the Listing, the order, the tracking and your messages about the order; and
• contact the courier.

We decide using the evidence reasonably available to us, and email you both with the outcome.

5. Evidence

Evidence must be genuine and accurate, and you mustn’t leave out anything important. Helpful evidence includes photos of the Book, its packaging and the damage, the parcel label, and what you were sent compared with the Listing.

6. What you get back when Retale decides

6.1 Lost in the post

You get back everything you paid: the Book price, the delivery charge and the Retale Fee. The Seller isn’t paid for the Book. Retale bears the delivery charge and the Retale Fee and claims from the courier where it can; if it recovers the value of the Book, it passes that to the Seller.

6.2 The wrong Book, or a Book that’s seriously not as described

You get back everything you paid. The Seller isn’t paid for the Book and is charged the delivery charge, because sending the right Book, as described, is their responsibility. Retale bears the Retale Fee.

6.3 Anything else

You get back the Book price, or part of it, depending on how serious the problem is. We may ask you to return the Book first. The delivery charge and the Retale Fee aren’t refunded.

7. What you get back when you and the Seller agree

• The Seller refunds you and lets you keep the Book: everything you paid. The Seller is charged the delivery charge, unless the Book was lost in the post.
• You accept a partial refund: the amount agreed.
• A return: the Book price, once the Book is back with the Seller, less the return postage if you were paying it.

8. When the Seller doesn’t post

This isn’t a Buyer Protection claim. If the Seller doesn’t post the Book by the deadline, or cancels, the order is cancelled and you get back everything you paid, including the Retale Fee.

9. Business and Charity Sellers

If you bought from a Business or Charity Seller, Buyer Protection works alongside your legal rights, including your right to cancel within 14 days of delivery and your rights if the Book isn’t as described or of satisfactory quality. You never have to give up a legal right to use Buyer Protection. See the Seller Policy for how to cancel.

10. The Retale Fee

The Retale Fee pays for using Retale, including Buyer Protection. It’s refunded when you get everything back (sections 6.1, 6.2, 7 and 8), when you cancel a purchase from a Business or Charity Seller under your legal right, and wherever else the law requires. Otherwise, including when you get the Book price back under section 6.3, it isn’t refunded.

11. False or abusive claims

We may reject a claim where the evidence reasonably shows that:

• the claim is false, or the circumstances have been misrepresented;
• the Buyer caused the damage;
• the Buyer is trying to get a refund while keeping a Book they agreed to return; or
• the Buyer is otherwise abusing Buyer Protection.

We may also act under section 19 of the Terms where there’s repeated or serious abuse, by a Buyer or a Seller.

12. Our decisions

Our decision is final for Buyer Protection. It doesn’t stop either of you using your legal rights, going to court, or complaining about our service (section 24 of the Terms).

13. Contact

For anything about an order, please use the order page, so we can see exactly what you’re referring to. For anything else, email admin@retalebooks.co.uk.