Preloved Books Service

These are the terms on which you use our website (www.asbookshelf.co.uk) and sell us your books (“books” or “ items ”) through our Preloved Books Service (the “Preloved Books Service” or “ Service”). These terms tell you how we process your order (including what items we accept and reject, and what happens if we reject them), how you and we may change or end the contract, what to do if there is a problem and other important information, such as how we limit our liability to you.

Please read these terms & conditions (“ terms ”) carefully before you agree to sell us your items as by using our prepaid postage parcel to send us your items, you signify that you have read and agreed to be bound by these terms.

The terms stated on this page are only for our Preloved Books Service. Any other services we provide to you or any other services you use to buy from us are bound by the Terms and conditions set out in our Terms and conditions page on www.asbookshelf.co.uk, which you can read on this link Terms and conditions

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1. This contract and your promises
Order process and contract: Our website will guide you through the steps you need to take to place an order. This process allows you to check and amend any errors before submitting your order. Please make sure you check your order at each stage of the order process.
When a contract is formed: The contract between you and us is formed when we accept by way of email that we will receive one, some, or all or the books you have requested to sell us. If you do not receive the email, please check your junk and spam folders before contacting us. It is your responsibility to check you have entered the correct email address at the time of your order.

 

(a) By placing an order you promise that:

 

• you are a UK resident (accessing the Preloved Books Service in the UK) and are at least 18 years old (or if you are under 18, that you have obtained your parent's or guardian's consent to sell your items to us).

 

• you are the legal owner of the items, you have the right to sell them to us, and they meet all the acceptance criteria (see section 2 below).

 

• you are a consumer. These terms apply to your use of the Preloved Books Services as a consumer. You confirm that you are not acting as a business (which includes placing orders in the course of your trade or profession). Any unauthorised use by a business may result in us disposing of your items (and we will only return your items if you pay our administration charge within 5 days of our notice). You indemnify and hold us harmless against any loss, damage and liability howsoever arising in respect of any items you send, and orders you place, as a business. If you would like to use the Preloved Books Services or make any trades as a business, please contact us on contact@asbookshelf.co.uk 

Changes to these terms: we reserve the right to change these terms from time to time and you should look through them as often as possible. Where we have changed these terms in a material way, we will inform you either by posting a notice on our website or our app, or by emailing you. The earlier terms will continue to apply to any outstanding orders.

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2. Acceptance criteria for items
All items must meet the following criteria to be accepted and for payment to be made. Acceptance will only happen once the items pass our quality assessment (which uses the criteria below and in section 3.1). We may reject items that do not meet all of these criteria, and cancel or amend your order (see section 3 below).

 

• the items must only be books. No other types of items will be accepted.

• the items must be original items and not counterfeit, fake, imitation, pirated, ripped, digital copied, or other non-original items (“false copies”).

• the items must not be (or contain any) illegal, stolen, pornographic, obscene, defamatory, libellous, inflammatory, dangerous, or toxic material, or any material which would cause harm or offence to a reasonable person or incite any person to hatred or crime (“offensive items”).

• you must ensure that the original barcode and ISBN numbers on the items exactly match those in your order, and that the barcode is not missing or defaced.

• the items must be identical to the items you specify when you submit your order, and they must match any indicated covers, sleeves, and other notes and instructions. We will reject, and may charge you a reasonable administration fee for any differing items or items included by mistake.

• each individual item should be different from the other items in the same order and your prior orders (and we may reject orders that contain multiple copies of the same item(s) and/or repeat orders that contain the same item(s)) unless specifically agreed by us by way of email upon acceptance of your order.

• all items must be free of any and all security tags or any other extraneous addition that may prevent the item from being sold on.

• all items must be in good condition, intact, and free from damage (including being free from mould, water damage, other liquid damage, and any, annotation, writing, stamps, answers, hand written inscriptions, or third-party markings, and each item must contain all original inclusions and supplements such covers, dust jackets and gifts, which must also be in good condition).

• (all items also have no missing or discoloured pages, be free from age-related spots, tears, creasing and browning, and contain a clear, undamaged ISBN number (which is a 9, 10 or 13 digit number unique to each book that usually appears underneath the barcode) that matches the book and edition you indicated when placing your order.

3. Rejection of items and cancellation of order
Reasons for rejection: we reserve the right to, at our sole discretion, reject items and/or cancel or amend your order where:
(a) the items do not fully meet any of the criteria set out in section 2.
(b) any of your promises in section 1(a) above are untrue.
(d) we do not receive the item within 30 days of your order (and/or the items are incorrectly sent to us (see section 5.1 below)).
(e) one or more of the items was listed at an incorrect price due to a typographical error (or an error in the pricing information stated by us).
Our discretion: We will make reasonable efforts to act reasonably when assessing your items. However, you acknowledge that our decision is final on whether an item meets the acceptance criteria and/or falls within one of the categories in section 2 above. We will not enter into any discussions with you about our reasons around rejection, except where we have breached this contract or any laws.
Consequences of rejection or cancellation: If your order is cancelled before you send the items, neither you or we will have any further liability or obligations. If we reject your items and/or cancel or amend your order we will notify you by email. If the cancellation is due to our fault, or our courier’s fault, we will either send the items back to you free of charge or alternatively pay you the valuation price we quoted for the items at the time of order. If the cancellation is due to your fault or error (including without limitation, where the items do not fully meet any of the criteria set out in section 2, or any of your promises in section 1.i are untrue), the items will be disposed of and you will not be paid for them, and they cannot under any circumstances be returned. We will not be liable for any claims or losses arising from such disposal, and we may charge you reasonable compensation for the net costs we will incur as a result of your errors.
Your right to cancel: You may cancel your order any time up until the point where you post the items to us by using the postage parcel we have sent to you. You cannot cancel an order once you post the items to us (e.g. if you have handed over the items to the courier or a Royal Mail Post Office or CPS point).

4. Valuation and pricing of your items
Price and valuations: The prices we offer for your items (“valuation”) in our confirmation email are subject to change once we have received your books if we deem them to be in a less saleable condition than what was visible from your pictures and description. The payment we make is based on the amount offered in our email to you confirming that we have inspected your items and we specifically agree to pay for one, any or all of the books you wish to sell to us. All prices include VAT at the current rate.
Accuracy of information and price: When you place your order, the information that you provide to us about your items may affect the valuation for the items so please make sure that all information you provide to us is accurate.

5. Postage and delivery
Sending your items: once you are happy your items meet all of the acceptance criteria and we have agreed to receive one, any, or all, of the books you wish to sell to us for inspection, you will need to provide us with your delivery details in order for us to send you a pre paid postage parcel. When sending your items, you must do the following, or we may cancel the order:

• You must use the postage parcel we provide you with at the time of acceptance of your order. 

• Should your order exceed a total wight of 10kg we will provide you with a special postage box and a courier. We or our courier will contact you following the acceptance of your order to confirm the estimated time and date to pick the items up from you at your nominated address. You must use the postage box we have provided when using the courier service as this contains the relevant order information for us to track it. If the order results in needing several boxes then all boxes must be sent at the same time (and if you request a further pick-up we reserve the right to deduct any additional and unnecessary postal charges from our payment to you). Where collections fail, the courier will make two further attempts to collect a parcel. After 3 failed attempts, we may cancel your order without payment to you.

• You must ensure that all items are appropriately packaged and secured properly, with no openings. Please read our packaging guidelines provided with your postage box and make sure your package complies with them. Ensure the items inside are secure and will not move in transit. We cannot be held accountable for items damaged in transit due to substandard packaging and will not pay for these items.

• You must ensure that all parts of one order are sent at the same time. Should we receive only part of your order, we will cancel items that have not been received, and process the items we have received. We will not be accountable for incomplete orders.

• You must not put items that we have not accepted into the postage box. We reserve the right to reject any items that we have not specifically accepted if they have been packed into the same box.

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Delivery charges: We will not pay for any postage costs if you do not use our specified delivery methods as set out in section 5.

Liability for items transit: Transit will start when a parcel is handed to the Royal Mail Post Office, Royal Mail CPS, or courier. Items lost whilst in the care of the courier or Royal Mail are their responsibility. If you wish to make a claim that your parcel is lost or damaged, you must notify us within 14 days of collection or posting (as applicable) of your items, to give us enough time to raise any claim with the courier or Royal Mail on your behalf. If you do not notify us within this time, you may not be able to claim for your lost or damaged items. We will investigate the validity of any claim, and where valid, we will raise a claim with the courier or Royal Mail. We will notify you in writing of the outcome of our investigation or claim (as applicable). If your claim is successful, we will pay you an amount equal to the valuation of the missing items. Please note that we cannot otherwise accept liability for loss or damage to the items until they have been received by us (unless caused by our default).

6. Receipt, ownership, risk and processing of the items
Ownership and risk: Once we have received your items ownership of the items passes immediately and irrevocably to us. You promise that you have the necessary ownership rights or authority for ownership to pass to us on receipt. Risk of damage passes to us when we receive the items.

Our processing of the items:
(a) We will send you communications via email regarding the process of each order, including whether the items have been accepted or rejected. 
(b) Although we will use reasonable endeavours to process items quickly, we cannot guarantee that we will process your items and complete the transaction within a certain timescale. Once we receive your items, we will check and process them within 7 days (although during busy periods this may take a little longer).

7. Payment terms
Payment will only be made for items that we have received, processed and accepted in accordance with the acceptance criteria in section 2 and have not been rejected under section 3) (“acceptance of the items”). All payments are made by PayPal or via BACS, the method which we would have agreed with you at the point of accepting your order.
Timing of payments. All payments may take up to 5 banking days to clear our and your accounts. We will make PayPal, bank credit transfer (BACS) payments within 3 days of our email confirmation agreeing to pay for one, any, or all, of your items.

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Payment processing errors:
(a) Please ensure that you have provided us with correct details at the time you confirm your preferrable payment method to us. We will not be responsible for delays or failures caused by your incorrect details. If a bank (or PayPal) refuses to clear a payment because of an error in the name, banking, or address details you have provided to us, we reserve the right to charge an administration fee in a form of deduction from the valuation. Payment reissues will then only be made by bank credit transfer (BACS) and you will be required to provide us with your bank account details. If you provide incorrect details for any reissued payment we may apply an additional administration charge by way of a further deduction from the valuation.
(b) You agree that some of the payment methods depend on third parties (who we cannot and do not control) to process these payment including, but not limited to, payments by bank transfer (BACS). Payments may be subject to validation and security checks.
(c) If you change your mind on how you want to receive the payment you must tell us before we have emailed you the confirmation of which items we agree to pay for. We will not make any changes to payment method past this point and we will not accept any liability for the money reaching the incorrect account if you do not tell us before receiving the order confirmation email from us.

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8. Limitation of Liability
We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so: This includes liability for: (i) death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors; (ii) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or (iii) breach of your legal rights as a consumer.
We are not liable for business losses: we only provide the Preloved Books Services for domestic and private use. If you use the Preloved Books Services for any commercial, business or re-sale purpose we will have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.
We are responsible to you for foreseeable loss and damage caused by us: If we fail to comply with these terms, we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking the contract or our failing to use reasonable care and skill, but we are not responsible for any loss or damage that is not foreseeable. Loss or damage is foreseeable if either it is obvious that it will happen or if, at the time the contract was made, both we and you knew it might happen, for example, if you discussed it with us during the order process. However, subject to section 8, our liability in respect of your items will in no circumstances exceed the price offered for the items in the particular order under which the loss arises.

13. General
Events outside our control: We and you will not be liable for any failure or delay in performing our or your obligations under these terms to the extent that such failure or delay is caused by an event outside of our or your reasonable control which includes (but is not limited to) breakdown of plant or machinery, collapse of building structures, fires, floods, terrorist acts, riots, strikes, epidemics, natural disasters, storms, earthquakes, or failure of telecoms or transport networks. If an event outside our control takes place that affects your order, we will inform you by emailing you.

Our intellectual property: Nothing in the contract shall have the effect of transferring ownership to you of any of our copyrights, trade marks or other intellectual property rights. You must not copy, modify, publish, transmit, transfer or sell, reproduce, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit any of the content on our website or app, in whole or in part.

Assignment and transfer: We may transfer or subcontract our rights and obligations under these terms to another organisation. You may only transfer your rights or your obligations under these terms to another person if we agree to this in writing.

Third party rights: A person who is not a party to these terms shall not have any rights under or in connection with it.

Our notices: All notices from us to you will be displayed on our website or be eamiled to you.

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These Terms ('Preloved Books Service Terms and Conditions') are only binding on this service. Any other services we offer are bound by our Terms and Conditions as set out on this link; Terms and condititions

If a court finds part of the terms illegal, the rest will continue in force: Each of the sections in these terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining sections will remain in full force and effect.

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