retale

Retale Terms & Conditions

Version 1.3 — Effective 14 October 2026

These Terms are the agreement between you and Retale Marketplace Limited. They include our Buyer Protection Policy, our Seller Policy, our Privacy Policy and our Cookie Policy. Please read them before you use retale. If you’re a consumer, nothing in them takes away your legal rights.

The key points

  • You must be 18 or over and live in the UK to use retale.
  • Retale isn’t the seller. You buy each book from the person or business selling it; we act as their agent and take the payment for them.
  • Prices on listings include the Retale Fee. Delivery is added at checkout, and you see the full total before you pay.
  • Sellers must post within 7 days, or the order is cancelled and you’re refunded in full.
  • If something’s wrong with a book, report it from your order within 48 hours of delivery (see the Buyer Protection Policy).
  • Buying from a Business or Charity Seller? You also have a legal right to cancel up to 14 days after delivery.
  • Sellers are paid once the sale is complete, through Stripe.

1. About Retale

1.1 Who we are

Retale is operated by Retale Marketplace Limited, a company incorporated in England and Wales under company number 17415308. Our registered office is 47 Peplins Way, Kings Norton, Birmingham, B30 3NJ, United Kingdom. You can contact us at admin@retalebooks.co.uk.

1.2 What Retale does

Retale runs an online marketplace where people and businesses in the UK buy and sell secondhand books. We provide the marketplace, accounts, messaging, Buyer Protection and delivery labels. We also act as each Seller’s commercial agent: we negotiate and conclude the sale of the Seller’s Books on the Seller’s behalf and receive payment for them (see section 7.2). Unless these Terms say otherwise, Retale is not the seller of a Book and never owns it. The contract for the sale of a Book is between the Buyer and the Seller.

1.3 The documents that make up our agreement

These Terms should be read together with the Buyer Protection Policy, the Seller Policy (which includes Business Seller returns and cancellation), the Privacy Policy and the Cookie Policy. If these Terms conflict with another of those documents, these Terms win, unless the other document says it overrides a particular part of these Terms.

2. Definitions

3. Using Retale

3.1 Accepting these Terms

By creating an Account, or by listing or buying a Book, you agree to these Terms. If you don’t agree, please don’t use Retale. If you use Retale for a business or organisation, you confirm you’re authorised to agree to these Terms on its behalf.

3.2 Who can use Retale

4. Your Account

4.1 Accurate information

You must give us accurate, complete and current information, and update it when it changes. You must not impersonate anyone, use someone else’s Account or give false identity or business information.

4.2 Keeping your Account secure

Keep your password private. You’re responsible for what’s done through your Account, unless it happens because we failed to take reasonable security measures. Tell us straight away if you think your Account has been used without your permission. You stay signed in on a device for up to 30 days unless you sign out.

4.3 Seller status

When you set up selling, you must choose the status that matches how you sell: Private Seller, Business Seller or Charity Seller. One Account can’t be both a Private Seller and a Business Seller. If your circumstances change, contact us so we can update your status before you sell again.

4.4 Closing your Account

You can close your Account at any time from your account page. You can’t close it while an order or return is still in progress, or while money is on its way to you. Closing your Account takes your Books off sale, declines any open offers and deletes the information our Privacy Policy says we delete on closure. Reviews you’ve left for other members stay, shown as from a “Deleted user”, so their ratings stay fair.

5. Buying through Retale

5.1 The Seller is the contracting seller

When you buy a Book, your contract for the Book is with the Seller named on the Listing and at checkout. Retale arranges the Transaction but isn’t the seller, manufacturer or owner of the Book.

5.2 Knowing who you’re buying from

Each Seller is shown by their Retale username. Business Sellers and Charity Sellers are marked as such, and their legal name, geographic address and email are shown on their Listings, in your basket and at checkout, before you buy. Buying from a Business or Charity Seller gives you extra legal rights (section 10.2); buying from a Private Seller doesn’t.

5.3 Listing information

The Seller is responsible for the Listing being accurate, including its description, photos, edition and condition. Please check the Listing before you buy. Our Condition Guide explains what each condition grade means.

5.4 How a purchase works

At checkout you see the Book price, the Retale Fee and the delivery charge, and the total, before you pay. The Transaction is made when your payment goes through; we then email you to confirm it. A Book isn’t held for you while you’re at checkout: if someone else pays for it first, we tell you and you aren’t charged. In the rare case two payments land at the same moment, the later one is refunded in full automatically. Books from the same Seller bought together are sent in one parcel, but each Book is its own Transaction.

5.5 Offers

You can make an offer on a Listing. The Seller can accept, decline or make a counter-offer, up to three rounds in total. An offer that isn’t answered within 48 hours expires. When an offer is accepted, the Book is held for the Buyer for 12 hours at the agreed price. An accepted offer isn’t a purchase: nothing is owed until the Buyer pays, and if they don’t pay within the 12 hours, the Book goes back on sale.

5.6 Book requests

You can ask for a Book that isn’t on Retale. If a Seller lists it, we let you know, and the Book may be held for you for 24 hours so you can buy it first. You don’t have to buy it.

5.7 Cancelling a purchase

Once you’ve paid, you can’t cancel a purchase from a Private Seller simply because you’ve changed your mind. The Seller can cancel it before posting, and you’re then refunded in full. If you bought from a Business or Charity Seller, you have a legal right to cancel (section 10.2).

5.8 When we may stop or cancel a Transaction

We may stop or cancel a Transaction where we reasonably need to because of suspected fraud, a Book that isn’t available, a significant Listing error, a payment failure, a legal requirement or another genuine security or platform problem. If we cancel a Transaction you’ve paid for, you’re refunded in full.

6. Prices and fees

6.1 Book price

The Seller sets the price of the Book. The lowest price a Book can be listed at is 30p.

6.2 The Retale Fee

Buyers pay Retale a Retale Fee for using the marketplace, including Buyer Protection. It is currently 60p plus 5% of the Book price, and the current rate is always on our Fees page. The price shown on a Listing already includes it. The Retale Fee is Retale’s own charge: it isn’t part of the Book price and isn’t paid to the Seller. Sellers don’t pay a fee to list or sell.

6.3 Delivery charges

Collection is free. For tracked delivery, the charge is worked out from the courier’s live price for that parcel, plus the small per-label fee our delivery provider charges us, plus 5% towards the VAT we pay on the label, rounded up to the next penny. It depends on the parcel, the courier and the option you choose, so it’s shown at checkout, before you pay, rather than on the Listing. The delivery charge is paid to Retale and used to buy the label; it isn’t paid to the Seller.

6.4 Business Seller pricing

Where a Business Seller must charge VAT, the price it enters must already include VAT. The price shown is the final amount, not a figure VAT is added to. The Seller is responsible for its own VAT, tax and accounts.

6.5 No hidden charges

The total shown at checkout is everything you pay to Retale for that purchase. Nothing is added afterwards.

7. Payments

7.1 Paying

Payments are in pounds sterling and are processed by Stripe, our payment provider. We don’t receive or store your full card details. We don’t currently accept American Express.

7.2 Retale as the Seller’s agent

Each Seller appoints Retale as its commercial agent, with authority to negotiate and conclude the sale of the Seller’s Books with Buyers on the Seller’s behalf, and to receive payment for those sales on the Seller’s behalf. Retale acts for the Seller only; it doesn’t act as the Buyer’s agent for payment.

When a Buyer pays Retale for a Transaction, the Buyer is treated as having paid the Seller. The Buyer’s obligation to pay for the Book is fully discharged at that point, and the Buyer owes the Seller nothing more for it, even if Retale were later unable to pay the Seller.

7.3 Seller payouts and Stripe

Retale holds the proceeds of a sale on the Seller’s behalf until the Transaction is complete (see the Seller Policy). The amount due is then sent to the Seller’s payout account with Stripe, which pays it into the Seller’s bank account. Before listing a Book for the first time, a Seller must set up that payout account.

Payment processing services for Sellers on Retale are provided by Stripe and are subject to the Stripe Connected Account Agreement, which includes the Stripe Services Agreement (together, the “Stripe Services Agreement”). By agreeing to these Terms or continuing to sell on Retale, you agree to be bound by the Stripe Services Agreement, as Stripe may change it from time to time. As a condition of Retale enabling payment processing through Stripe, you agree to give Retale accurate and complete information about you and your business, and you authorise Retale to share it, and information about your Transactions, with Stripe.

7.4 Payment problems

A Transaction may be delayed, declined, reversed or cancelled where a payment can’t be processed, or where this is reasonably necessary for security, fraud prevention, legal compliance or technical reasons. Stripe runs its own fraud checks and may decline a payment.

7.5 Chargebacks

If a Buyer asks their card provider to reverse a payment instead of using Buyer Protection, we pause the Transaction, so the Seller isn’t paid while it’s open, and give the card provider the evidence we hold. The card provider makes the decision. Please use Buyer Protection first: it’s usually quicker.

7.6 Balances

Money we hold for a Seller can’t be spent on purchases on Retale. Retale isn’t a bank, and no interest is paid on money we hold.

8. Delivery and collection

8.1 Delivery options

Sellers choose which options they offer, in their account settings, and those apply to all their Listings: tracked delivery within the UK (to the Buyer’s door, or to a parcel locker or parcel shop where the courier offers it), local collection, or both. The options and their cost are shown at checkout.

8.2 Delivery labels

For tracked delivery, Retale buys the label through its delivery provider, Sendcloud, using the details needed to send the parcel. The courier’s own terms apply to the parcel, including its rules on packaging and size. The Seller must pack the Book properly and use the label for that order only.

8.3 Posting deadline

A Seller must post a Book within 7 days of the Buyer’s payment. A Seller may ask once for up to 7 more days, which the Buyer can accept or decline. If the Book isn’t posted by the deadline, the Transaction is cancelled automatically and the Buyer is refunded in full, including the Retale Fee. Once the courier has the parcel, neither the Buyer nor the Seller can cancel the Transaction.

8.4 Tracking

We update the order as the courier scans the parcel, and email the Buyer when it’s on its way, ready to collect and delivered. A Seller can tell us they’ve dropped a parcel off, but only a courier scan counts as proof of posting. If the courier never scans a parcel within 14 days, the Transaction goes to Retale to decide, and the Seller isn’t paid in the meantime. How long delivery takes depends on the courier and isn’t guaranteed.

8.5 Local collection

For a collection, the Buyer and Seller agree a date through Retale’s messages. The Buyer pays when the date is agreed, and gets a 4-digit collection code. At the handover, the Buyer gives the Seller the code and the Seller enters it, which completes the Transaction. The Seller must not hand the Book over without the code. If the code isn’t entered within 48 hours of the agreed date, the Buyer is refunded automatically. A collection that isn’t arranged within 72 hours, or a proposed date that isn’t answered within 12 hours, is cancelled without charge.

8.6 Meeting in person

If you arrange a collection, meet somewhere public and well lit, tell someone where you’re going, and don’t share more personal information than you need to. Retale isn’t present at collections and isn’t responsible for how users behave when they meet, except where the law makes us responsible. See our safety tips.

8.7 Courier delays, loss or damage

Couriers are independent companies; Retale doesn’t run the courier network. Where something goes wrong in the post, we deal with the courier for the Buyer and Seller where we can. We’re not responsible for delay, loss or damage caused only by a courier where we haven’t caused or contributed to it, but this never limits rights the law doesn’t let us limit. If we recover compensation from a courier for a lost or damaged Book, we apply it under the Buyer Protection Policy.

9. Buyer Protection

Buyer Protection is how we sort out problems with Transactions: a Book that doesn’t arrive, the wrong Book, or a Book that’s significantly not as described. Sellers agree to it in the Seller Policy, and any refund of the Book price under it is the Seller’s refund, made by Retale on the Seller’s behalf. When we uphold a claim that a Book was lost in the post, was the wrong Book, or was seriously misdescribed, the Buyer gets back everything they paid, including delivery and the Retale Fee. Otherwise the refund is the Book price or part of it. The Buyer Protection Policy sets out the details.

9.1 Time limits

These time limits apply to Buyer Protection, which is our own service. They don’t limit or remove your legal rights, which last much longer (see section 10).

9.2 Our decision

If the Buyer and Seller can’t agree, either can ask Retale to decide. We decide using the evidence reasonably available to us. Our decision is final for Buyer Protection, but doesn’t stop anyone using their legal rights or going to court.

10. Your legal rights, returns and cancellation

10.1 Buying from a Private Seller

A Private Seller doesn’t have to accept a return because you’ve changed your mind, unless they agree to. The Book must still be as described, and you can use Buyer Protection, and your legal rights, if it isn’t.

10.2 Buying from a Business or Charity Seller

Business Sellers must give you all your rights under consumer law. Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, you can cancel without giving a reason at any time from paying until the end of the 14th day after the day you receive the Book, using “Cancel this purchase” on your order page:

The Seller Policy has the details. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, a Book bought from a Business Seller must also be as described and of satisfactory quality, and you have rights to a remedy if it isn’t.

10.3 Refunds

Refunds go back to the card you paid with. Where a refund is due from the Seller, Retale makes it on the Seller’s behalf, as the Seller’s agent. Refunds usually show on your statement within 5 to 10 working days of being made, depending on your card provider.

11. Seller obligations

All Sellers must follow the Seller Policy. In particular, Sellers must:

12. Business Sellers

12.1 Business status

You must register as a Business Seller if you sell in the course of a trade, business, craft or profession. We may decide, on reasonable grounds, that a Seller appears to be selling as a business, for example because of how many Books they sell.

12.2 Reclassification

If we reasonably believe a Private Seller is selling as a business, we may ask them to give Business Seller information and complete Business Seller set-up, and may restrict their selling while we check. We’ll act reasonably and proportionately.

12.3 Information Business Sellers must give

Business Sellers must give us the information we ask for, which may include their legal name, company or charity number, registered or principal address, country of tax residence and VAT number. Sole traders may also be asked for their date of birth and National Insurance number. We show a Business or Charity Seller’s legal name, registered address and the authorised person’s email to Buyers, because consumer law requires Buyers to know who they’re dealing with.

13. HMRC and tax reporting

UK law requires online marketplaces to report some Sellers to HMRC. Once a Seller makes 30 or more sales, or receives about £1,700 (€2,000) or more, in a calendar year, we must collect and check their tax details (such as their name, address, date of birth and National Insurance number) and report them, with the number and value of their sales, to HMRC by 31 January of the next year. We send the Seller a copy of what we report. Until a Seller who has crossed a threshold gives us these details, we can’t send them their earnings. The reporting thresholds don’t decide whether you’re a business or owe tax: you’re responsible for your own tax.

14. What you must not do

You must not use Retale to:

15. Keeping Retale safe: illegal content, reports and complaints

Retale lets users share Content with each other, so it is covered by the Online Safety Act 2023. This section explains how we protect people from illegal Content.

15.1 How we protect you

15.2 How to report Content

Anyone, whether or not they have an Account, can report Content they think is illegal or breaks these Terms. Use the “Report” link on the listing, profile, review or message, or email admin@retalebooks.co.uk with a link to the Content (or a screenshot) and what’s wrong with it. We email you to acknowledge your report, review it promptly, and email you again with what we decided. If you’re in danger, contact the police first.

15.3 Complaints and appeals

If we remove your Content, restrict your Account or suspend you, we’ll tell you why where we can. If you think we got it wrong, or you’re unhappy with how we handled a report, email admin@retalebooks.co.uk with “Appeal” in the subject. Someone who wasn’t involved in the original decision will look at it, and we aim to reply within 14 days. If we find we were wrong, we’ll put things right, for example by restoring your Content or Account.

16. Reviews

17. Your Content and our intellectual property

17.1 Your Content

You’re responsible for the Content you post. It must be lawful and accurate, and must not infringe anyone else’s rights. Your photos must be your own photos of the Book you’re selling. You keep ownership of your Content, and give Retale a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, copy, display and store it to run, improve and promote Retale. The licence lasts only as long as we reasonably need it for those purposes. We may remove Content that we reasonably believe breaks these Terms, the law or someone else’s rights.

17.2 Our intellectual property

Retale and its licensors own the Retale website, software, branding and design, apart from Content supplied by users and others (book details and covers may come from Open Library or Google Books). You may use Retale only as intended, and must not copy, modify, distribute, reverse engineer or commercially exploit it except as the law allows or with our written permission.

17.3 If you think your rights are being infringed

If you own rights in something posted on Retale and think it’s being used without permission, email admin@retalebooks.co.uk with details of the Content and your rights, and we’ll look into it.

18. Our service to you

We provide Retale with reasonable care and skill. We can’t promise it will always be available or error-free, that every Listing will be accurate, that every Seller or Buyer will do what they should, or that couriers won’t have problems, but we take reasonable steps to keep Retale secure and working.

When you pay for a Book, you ask us to start our service straight away, including holding your payment and Buyer Protection. Our service for that Transaction is complete when the Transaction completes. If the Transaction is cancelled before then, under these Terms or the law, we refund the Retale Fee.

19. Suspension, restriction and termination

We may restrict, suspend or close an Account where we reasonably need to:

A Seller who cancels two paid orders within 30 days is suspended automatically while we look into it (a basket counts once), and is warned before the second cancellation. Suspending an Account takes its Books off sale. Where we can, we explain why we’ve acted and what you can do about it; we may act without notice where waiting would risk fraud, security, unlawful activity or harm to someone. You can appeal (section 15.3). Closing an Account doesn’t affect rights and obligations that already exist. Money due to a Seller isn’t withheld just because their Account is closed, though we may delay it while a dispute, chargeback, fraud check or legal requirement is resolved.

20. Our responsibility to you

20.1 If you’re a consumer

If we break these Terms or fail to use reasonable care and skill, we’re responsible for loss you suffer that is a foreseeable result of that. Loss is foreseeable if it’s obvious it will happen, or if we both knew it might happen when you agreed to these Terms. We’re not responsible for loss we didn’t cause, or for business losses: Retale is for private use if you’re a consumer.

20.2 If you use Retale for business

If you use Retale as a Business Seller or Charity Seller, we’re not liable for loss of profit, revenue, business, goodwill or anticipated savings, or for indirect or consequential loss. Our total liability to you for each Transaction is limited to the higher of £100 and what was paid to Retale for that Transaction.

20.3 What we never exclude

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, for breach of your legal rights as a consumer, or for anything else the law doesn’t let us limit or exclude.

20.4 What Sellers and couriers do

We’re not responsible for loss caused only by what a Seller, Buyer or courier does or fails to do, unless we caused or contributed to it or are otherwise legally responsible.

21. Seller indemnity

If you’re a Seller, you agree to repay Retale reasonable losses, costs and expenses it suffers because of:

This doesn’t apply to the extent the loss was caused by our own breach, negligence or unlawful conduct.

22. Changes to these Terms

We may change these Terms to reflect changes in the law, in our services or features, or to improve clarity, security or protection against fraud and misuse. If a change is significant, we’ll email you at least 30 days before it takes effect, unless the law or an urgent security or fraud problem means it has to happen sooner. Once a new version takes effect, we’ll ask you to agree to it before you list, buy, or make or accept an offer. Until you do, you can still finish orders already under way, use your legal rights and close your Account. A change never affects a Transaction already made. If you don’t agree to a change, you can close your Account.

23. Privacy

We process personal data as our Privacy Policy explains, to run Accounts, arrange Transactions and delivery, process payments, provide Buyer Protection and meet our legal obligations.

24. Complaints

If you’re unhappy with Retale, email admin@retalebooks.co.uk with your order ID or Account details and what’s wrong. We’ll acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and aim to give you a full reply within 14 days. If we can’t resolve it, we’ll tell you in writing. We’re not currently signed up to an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme. You can get free advice from Citizens Advice, and you can always go to court. Complaints about how we use personal data are covered in our Privacy Policy, and complaints about Content and our decisions on it in section 15.3.

25. Governing law and courts

These Terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you’re a consumer, you can bring proceedings in the courts of England and Wales; if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can also bring them there, and you keep the protection of the law where you live.

26. General

27. Contact us

Retale Marketplace Limited
Company number: 17415308
47 Peplins Way
Kings Norton
Birmingham
B30 3NJ
United Kingdom
Email: admin@retalebooks.co.uk