Terms & Conditions (& How to Order)

Needle Sports is a United Kingdom of Great Britain (UK) retailer based in the Lake District in Northern England. If you need to reach us, please email us on info@needlesports.com (we always aim to reply to emails within 24 hours. If you haven't heard from us by then it is probable that the email hasn't got through. In that case, please ring us rather than email again), alternatively, you can call on 017687 72227 (International +44 17687 72227) or fax us on 017687 75593, or write to us at Needle Sports, 56 Main St., Keswick, Cumbria, CA12 5JS, UK.

For more information about us please click the About Needle Sports tab above.

All our prices are in UK pounds sterling (£ - this symbol may not show up on your computer or may show up as a question mark (?)). An approximate price is also given in Euros (€) and US Dollars ($). To check a more up to date approximate exchange rate click here http://www.xe.com. For orders made from the UK or the European Union (EEC), 20% VAT (Value Added Tax - approximately 16.67% of the total tax inclusive cost shown) is included in the price of most items. Books and maps are currently exempt. If ordering from outside the EU, once you have registered your address, each time you log in, the prices will be shown without VAT.

Registering: You will need to register the first time that you order. This is a simple process and saves you having to retype your details each time you order. Your main address or "Invoice Address" must be the address that your payment card is registered to. If it is not then we will not be able to process the order.

Your details will never be revealed to another party except for the purpose of processing your order. Please note that our website may place "cookies" on your computer to help create your order. If you do not wish this to happen please do not tick the "Remember Me" option.

Delivery Address: You can create as many different delivery addresses as you wish. Please include the name of the recipient within the delivery address if that person is not you.

If you are sending someone a gift and do not wish the invoice to be included in the parcel, you can request us "Please don't include the invoice with the goods - please email it instead." in the special instructions box as you check out.

Making a purchase is very easy. Imagine you a browsing around our shop with a shopping basket. You can put anything you like in the basket but you do not make a final decision on what you are going to buy until you reach the counter. This site works in the same way.

Simply choose the quantity required and click the "Add to Basket " button next to any item you wish to purchase.

Each item you pick will be added to your imaginary basket which can be viewed at any time by clicking the word "Basket" in the green line towards the top of the page.

By highlighting any item in the basket at any time, you can alter the number selected or delete the item.

A running total of the cost of your purchases is kept.

When you are ready to buy, click the "Checkout" button and have your credit or debit card ready.

NB Please keep an eye on your emails in the days following your purchase, as we may email you regarding your order.

Back Orders: Our website is set to allow orders for items we don't have in stock - this is because there are many items such as guidebooks that we only keep one in stock of and such things are usually obtainable fairly readily. We will contact you if your order is likely to take longer than 14 days to get to you. If you order something that is shown as in stock and we can't actually find it, we will contact you straight away. If you order Priority we will contact you by phone, otherwise we will email.

NB Solo payments will not be accepted after 31st March 2011.

Payment: We accept most credit and debit cards (not American Express - sorry). Goods are charged at the rate that applies at the moment our bank processes the order, not at the moment you place it. Your credit card information is sent over the internet via a secure encryptment service which is run by SagePay one of the most respected on-line card payment facilitators available. We do not hold your credit card details at any stage and they are not held in clear text on any web site. If back ordered items are likely to be out of stock for a significant time but you still require them, we can refund the cost of those items and then contact you for payment when they come into stock.

We regret that we cannot accept cheques for mail order items. This is because they involve considerable more work and cost to process than credit or debit cards. Also that you have to wait a week for them to clear, and that there is the problem of having to write a cheque and post a refund if part of the order cannot be fulfilled. All of this is time-consuming and completely needless in an age of Debit Cards.

Our Contract with You: We consider our contract to you to be at the point that we ship the goods and we reserve the right to cancel any order placed and refund the money to your card account. We are most unlikely to do this unless the item is no longer available, the item is mispriced, or we suspect that you may be engaged in some sort of fraud or other illegal activity.

Errors on Website: While every effort is made to maintain the information on this website as accurately as possible, mistakes can and do occasionally happen.

If you are aware of any error on the website we would be grateful if you could email us at info@needlesports.com with a link to the page that it occurs on as well as a short note as to the nature of the error.

If we have mispriced a product we will inform you and give you the option to cancel the order.

If information about a product is substantially incorrect we will refund the product if you return it to us and also the cost of returning it to us, but we cannot accept liability for any further costs that may be associated with that misinformation.

Overseas Orders : We are happy to ship goods overseas, however we would like to point out some of the problems that may occur. Please also read our Returns section as your purchase may be more expensive than you think if you have to send it back (we are unable to refund postage on returns from overseas).

Non-EU, EU & VAT: For shipping to countries within the European Union (EU) the prices are as shown, plus you will have to pay postage. Current (as of 2010) member countries of the EU are:

EU Member Countries
Austria	Germany	Netherlands
Belgium	Greece	Poland
Bulgaria	Hungary	Portugal
Cyprus	Ireland	Romania
Czech Republic	Italy	Slovakia (Slovak Republic)
Denmark	Latvia	Slovenia
Estonia	Lithuania	Spain
Finland	Luxembourg	Sweden
France	Malta	United Kingdom (except Channel Isles)

For all non-EU Countries, (ie any not on the list above): if you are a non-EU citizen, you will not have to pay UK Value Added Tax (VAT). This tax is included in the price shown and is currently 20%. It applies to all items except children's clothing, books and maps. Often this will more or less equal the cost of shipping.

Be aware however that you may have to pay import duty &/or VAT when importing goods into your own country. Also your credit card company may charge you a fee for foreign currency transactions. Needle Sports cannot be held responsible for any such charges.

To combat fraud, we check all overseas orders with our bank to make sure that customer credit card details and addresses match up.

The Channel Islands: The Bailwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are not part of the EU (or indeed of the UK) and do not have to pay VAT.

BFPO: British Forces Post Office may not have to pay VAT if they are stationed outside the EEC. We have contacted the tax authorities (again, 2009) and their latest explanation of the rules (it's always different!) is as follows:
Revenue & Customs Reference: BPT26261, Public Notice 725, Section 14.4
1. We (the retailer) must receive a "certificate of entitlement" (or copy thereof - so a scan would be OK). This basically appears to be a letter from your commanding officer or their nominee. You can download a typical sample letter here in Word Format or as a PDF.
2. The order must be for embassy staff or forces.
3. The order must be sent to a BFPO address.
4. We (the retailer) must keep proof of posting to prove the order has gone overseas.

So, if you are in the armed forces posted overseas, or serving in the British diplomatic service abroad, please place your order and email us at the same time a scan of your "Certificate of Entitlement" and we will do the rest.

NB When ordering, if your parcel should go to a BFPO address in the UK, do not then select your country as Afghanistan, Iraq etc or your goods will be posted to those countries and take ages to reach you (if ever), plus you will get charged for postage overseas! We apologise for this rigmarole, which seems ridiculous to us, but it is not of our making.