Terms, Conditions & How to Order

Needle Sports is a United Kingdom of Great Britain (UK) independent 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 you can write to us at:

Needle Sports,
56 Main Street,
Keswick, Cumbria,
CA12 5JS,
UK.

For more information about us please click here.

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 (?)).

For orders made from the UK or the European Union (EU), 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.

Although you can buy most items off our website as a Guest with no need to register, Registering has many advantages.

• You can store addresses for repeat orders.
• Your order history is stored
• We can contact you if there is a product recall.
• Gift vouchers and pdf guidebook downloads will only work if you register.

When registering, 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.

Rest assured that 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.

You can create as many different Delivery Addresses as you wish. Each delivery address can be given a 'Nickname' which only you will see.

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.

Stock Levels: Stock Levels are indicated for almost all items. Whilst every effort is made to keep these as accurate as possible they will not be entirely so for several reasons. These are: a) The computer may be lying. b) Some-one else may have ordered the same item just prior to yourself. c) Some naughty person may have stolen it.

However, most items, especially books and maps etc, are obtainable very quickly. Clothing though may be a bit hit and miss as virtually all outdoor clothing is seasonal. This means that it has to be ordered up to a year in advance and there is usually limited (or even no) further stock available thereafter.

If an item is showing 0 or 1 in stock, don't let that stop you ordering, but if you need the item fairly quickly it would be best to ring us first to make sure that we have it or can get it.

Back Orders: If your item is not in stock and it is not possible to obtain it within 14 days, we will contact you to see whether you wish us to back order for you or not. If we cannot contact you for any reason then we will assume that you do not wish it back ordered.

Our website is set to allow 'Back 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 other such things are usually obtainable fairly readily. The exception to this rule is clothing which is nearly all seasonal. If you back order any item, 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 in the shop, nor get a replacement, we will contact you straight away. For many items such as clothing where we do not allow back ordering, you have the option to receive an email alert when that item is back in stock.

• If you order in the UK by a paid for shipping service we will contact you by phone in the first instance, otherwise we will email.
• Overseas customers will be contacted by email.

Boots: All our boot sizes are in UK (7, 7.5, 8 etc) or European Sizes (41, 42, 43 etc). These are different from USA sizes. Boot sizes vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and even between different models from the same manufacturer.

Clothing: Clothing sizes where given are often in inches (eg 24"). One inch = approximately 2.5cm. There are links to size charts for all our clothing manufacturers at the end of the description for each item. The clothing sizes S, M, L etc vary enormously in actual size from one manufacturer to another and even vary between items from the same manufacturer. The best rule is if in doubt do not order! Increasingly UK manufacturers are using the sizes 8, 10, 12 etc for women's clothing. These are different from the American women's clothing sizes. To distinguish them we write them as UK8, UK10, UK12 etc and US8, US10, US12 etc.

Sorry - we do not take orders over the telephone. This is because of the high incidence of fraud attempts using stolen credit card details that we have experienced with telephone orders.

The only Vouchers and Voucher Codes we accept are our own Gift Vouchers which can only be bought from our website or in our shop. Websites claiming to offer Needle Sports discount code vouchers have no agreement with us, are probably fraudulent and are definitely not to be trusted.

We accept most Credit and Debit Cards (not American Express - sorry). We also accept PayPal.

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 encrypted 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.

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.

Please see our page on Returns for full information and where you can download a Returns Form. Please note that we do not refund postage for returns (either outgoing or incoming) unless the item is in our opinion obviously faulty and you have contacted us first about it.

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.

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 of goods are as shown on the website, plus you will have to pay postage costs.

EU Member Countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia (Slovak Republic), Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, 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 in the UK and is currently 20%. It applies to all items except children's clothing, books and maps. Once you have registered, the prices you see will be those without VAT.

Be aware however that you may have to pay import duty and/or a customs handling fee 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. This may require you to email us a photo of your passport, driving licence or a utility bill. Rest assure that the UK is not a police state and your details are safe with us!

If you are ordering as a VAT registered EU business from outside the UK then we can refund the VAT on your order. To do this we need your VAT number including your country code.

The Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are not part of the EU (or indeed of the UK) and do not have to pay VAT. Our website should deduct the VAT at checkout. If by any chance this has not happened it is probably because you have selected the United Kingdom as your country instead of the Channel Islands. If correcting this does solve the problem then please contact us and we will refund the VAT on your order.

Over the Counter: Personal callers at our shop who are members of the British Mountaineering Council, the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, Mountaineering Ireland, or of an affiliated club, and can show us a valid membership card, are eligible for a 10% discount on all purchases except for books, maps, DVDs, CDs, special offers, sale items and certain low margin goods - the latter include most electrical items but also some climbing gear and clothing - please enquire about any item you are interested in and we'll let you whether it is discountable or not. We do not give discounts to other clubs or organisations.

Mail Order: Discounts are not available on mail order, as with free UK postage, and many of our items already heavily discounted, we do not give discounts except on substantial orders. Please email us if you are considering placing an order over £1000 in value.

British Forces Post Office may not have to pay VAT if they are stationed outside the EU. Either way you will need to select your country as UK and enter the relevant BFPO number as the postcode.

For non EU BFPO addresses:

1. Complete your order online. Selecting the country as UK and entering your BFPO number as the postcode.
2. Email us after making your order to confirm that you are a non EU BFPO address and ask for a VAT refund.
3. We will refund the VAT when processing your order.

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!