Delivery information – answers to your FAQs

Fast dispatch from our stock

• Once you have made your order, we package it really well and pull out all the stops to get it into the mail bag ASAP. A poor fraud risk score, which is rare, may delay dispatch while we investigate.
• We advise that you make your order before 2pm UK time to get into that working day's post (Monday to Friday) but even if you order up to 4.00pm we try our very best to get it sent out. If it is important to you that your order is NOT dispatched the same day, because you want it to arrive on a specific day, then please indicate this in the order comments so that we can hold your order back.
• Please note that we do not have a postal collection on Saturday or Sunday, so any orders placed at the weekend will not be dispatched until Monday.

Delivery cost & time estimates based on Royal Mail guidance

Low price worldwide delivery: Airmail is based on weight and shipping from the UK is very reasonably priced when compared with the US for example, even state to state.

*Costs vary from country to country. To see exact cost add desired items to bag and on shopping bag page select destination country and click 'Get cost'.

Problems getting an international shipping cost? International orders are limited to 2kg of products (several heavy belts/buckles or over a dozen small ones) so if you are having problems checking out, try removing one or two from your shopping bag.

**Note some parcels and to some countries ends up taking much longer dependent on their national mail service – other than UK next day and Saturday services (to 99% of the UK***), these delivery timescales are estimates and are not guaranteed. More detailed information for specific destinations can be found below.

***The Royal Mail has restricted its service to exclude 1% of the UK from the by 1pm next working day or Saturday guaranteed deliveries. Please see Royal Mail page for which UK islands and parts of rural Scotland can expect a longer delivery time even on next day or Saturday guaranteed services.

DETAILED FAQS

'Quick links':

• - Quick overview of the other key important bits
• - How is the order packaged / labelled?
• - Postage & packing charges. Where we ship to
• - What if I'm out / where can my parcel be left
• - Delivery time & fraudulent transaction checks
• - Non receipt of items
• - Failure to receive an item as a result of non-collection
• - Availability
• - Gifts

Quick overview of the other key important bits

• The postage and packing charge is per order and not per item.
• Many of our belts are too bulky when packed to go through your letterbox as they will be boxed to protect them - single obi belts, tie belts and other soft leather belts often will fit.
• UK orders are sent 1st class with Royal Mail unless a special guaranteed delivery service was purchased. In our experience most UK 'first class' mail gets there the next day or within 3 days even in the backlog after adverse weather conditions. However the odd one goes astray for over a week, especially if going to London, so if you definitely need goods for a particular date, do go for the special delivery option which will guarantee the day and require a signature.
• International customers -  you can choose airmail or airmail with international signed for service which is marked 'priority handling'. USA orders for example often get there within 6 to 10 working days and Australian orders after a week but this can obviously vary as we have no control over shipment times once they have left us or security incidents causing customs screening delays. Shipping times can be longer at busy postal times such as Christmas or when bad weather causes problems. International Airmail takes longer and you should allow up to 42 days before we consider an item lost.
• Tracking: If you have purchased international signed for or UK special delivery, you will be emailed a tracking number which can be input into Royal Mail's Service.

How is the order packaged / labelled?

We are mad about recycling and reuse loads of materials that come through our door to lovingly protect your goodies during transit, while not using more of the earth's valuable resources than we have to. No logo is on the address label in case it is a gift (we don't use recycled packaging on those) or to be more discrete when delivered to a work address, but it does have our return address minus full company name (just says OUAB Returns). As mentioned above most belts are boxed to protect them but soft belts are often sent in jiffy bags.

Postage & packing charges. Where we ship to:

UK & BFPO

• Any order value - £3.49 charge for 1st class Royal Mail.
• Next day guaranteed (to 99% of the UK***) has price based on weight which is calculated in the shopping bag. Next working day delivery if order placed Monday to Friday before 2pm.
• Next day Saturday guaranteed (to 99% of the UK***) costs extra and is meant for purchases made on a Friday. If you order on any other day than Friday, your order will be held and dispatched on the next Friday for guaranteed delivery on the Saturday.
• Collection/Free pre-arranged collection from our Bournemouth public office Monday to Friday 9.30am to 5.30pm.
  Please do not come to collect unless you have arranged the collection with us over the telephone. Our stock is not held at our office address, so we will need to make arrangements before you can collect.
  
  This option may also be used if we have agreed that your order may be sent to you free of charge for any reason. If you select this option without our prior agreement or by accident, your order may be cancelled or you will be invited to pay the postage amount due.

***The Royal Mail has restricted its service to exclude 1% of the UK from the by 1pm next working day or Saturday guaranteed deliveries. Please see Royal Mail page for which UK islands and parts of rural Scotland can expect a longer delivery time even on next day or Saturday guaranteed services.

Worldwide choice of airmail 'signed for' with priority handling OR cheaper standard airmail

• We have a great deal of customers based in Europe, the USA, Australia etc who order from us. Price is based on weight and is available in the shopping bag page – just select your country to get the postage cost. Worldwide shipping costs from the UK we find are extremely reasonable and it can be cheaper/faster than getting items shipped from a US website to a different US state. Also if buying as a non EU resident you won't pay UK sales tax making our product prices very attractive. You may be charged sales tax and import duty by your own country's customs authorities.
• Please note that on the airmail international signed for service the tracking number only advises you when the parcel was passed to your country and when it was received. therefore the main benefit is that it is marked for priority handling and may get to you faster. Both airmail options use local postal services and not one courier.
• International orders are limited to 2kg of products (several heavy belts/buckles or over a dozen small ones) so if you are having problems checking out, try removing one or two from your shopping bag. If you wish to place an order that is heavier than this limit, you will need to split your order into several smaller orders.

What if I am out?

For the UK we use Royal Mail so that if that you are not in to sign for a special delivery package or it is too large for your letterbox, a card will be left notifying you that you can collect it at your convenience from the nearest Royal Mail premises where it will be kept safely for you. Customers find this more convenient than couriers who may hold the item for collection in a location some miles away after the second failed delivery attempt.

Can it be left with a neighbour?

Yes but only if you specifically write that in the comments field when checking out and it helps the postman greatly if you suggest house numbers where someone is likely to be in during the weekday day time e.g. you'd write in comments something like "If out leave at 22, 24, 27 or other". The neighbour will be asked to sign for the parcel if it is a signed-for service such as 'Special delivery' or 'International Signed-for' .

Can it be left over the gate or in the bin/shed/greenhouse?

No - a person must take receipt of the parcel. See details above about leaving with a neighbour. If you ask for a parcel to be 'left' somewhere insecure, you do so at your own risk and we are not responsible for reimbursement of such parcels if they go missing.

Delivery time & fraudulent transaction checks

Our orders, once accepted by us and having successful passed various fraud risk assessments, are sent out on the next working day (sometimes same day) via Royal Mail, the regular UK national postal service (not a courier). Working days are Monday to Friday, exclude bank holidays and company holidays. If the company is closed for holidays there will be a clear notice in the website header and on key pages.

For the UK, 1st class usually take 1-3 days to arrive because it can take longer if not on the mainland or during/after adverse weather conditions. This is not guaranteed and occasionally parcels can get delayed en route, particularly in London, so if you need an item for a particular date we strongly recommend using special delivery.

Overseas orders have no guarantees on delivery timescales and depend on that country's postal service but when the INTERNATIONAL PRIORITY HANDLING is chosen then 6-10 working days to most places, however to Cyprus, Italy, Malta or the US it can take weeks – to the US it can take longer if there has been a security scare and they decide to search every package coming in to the country. Our Australian customers often report that it takes about a week. You should however allow for several weeks as occasionally international orders take a very long time to get there.

You will be emailed when your order is dispatched and with a tracking number, if you specifically paid extra for an applicable service (standard £3.49 UK postage and international airmail do not provide tracking numbers), you can use at the Royal Mail Track and Trace page. This tool will show when it has left the UK for international orders and for all orders when they have been successfully signed for. For UK customers it is useful to check if it has been returned to the sorting office collection because no one was in (and you have not seen a card through your letter box advising of this) or to look at the signature to help track down who signed for it in a place where a number of people may have signed for it.

Non receipt of items

First please check if the correct address including postcode was given. Replacements and refunds will not be given if you have given us the wrong postal address to send your order to. In the UK if the address is right but the postcode incorrect, those parcels are usually eventually returned to us but this takes a few weeks. Some wrongly addressed international orders also make their way back to us. We will then contact you to let you know what has happened and go through your options with you for redelivery or a refund. If you realise you gave us the wrong address it may be better to make another order as it can take a while for wrongly addressed parcels to be returned to us if they are returned at all and you will forfeit the postage paid on them.

Please check the estimated delivery time and then for the UK add three days in case of delays in transit. Once this delivery time has passed you should contact your local Royal Mail depot giving your house number and postcode as cards are not always left. After you have followed these steps and the Royal Mail have confirmed they do not have your order, you must contact us within 14 days in writing/email stating order number and date of order. Note that Royal Mail does not deem a 1st class UK parcel to be lost until 18 working days have passed from the dispatch date which is their 15 working days plus their 1 to 3 day expected delivery time. Overseas orders can take up to 42 days to arrive so please wait until this time has elapsed before contacting us - if you selected the international signed for service which also means the parcel is then earmarked for priority handling, you can enter the tracking number at the Royal Mail tracking page which will advise when the parcel was passed to your country's national postal service for delivery to you and later when it was signed for as received.

Failure to receive an item as a result of non-collection

If you fail to collect or arrange collection of an item when notified by the Royal Mail that they were unable to deliver to you, it will usually result in the item being returned to us as non-deliverable after approximately ten days of non-contact from you. When this happens, we will notify you immediately for your instructions. In these circumstances you will be responsible for any additional cost incurred by us to re-send the item to you.

Availability

If in the unlikely event an ordered item is found to be out of stock we will contact you for your instructions immediately and may offer you an alternative which you do not have to accept.

Gifts

Our packaging does not have any indication of the company name or contents on the package or label. The label does contain a return address for non-deliverable parcels, but this does not include our full company name - just says 'OUAB Returns'. You can request that no invoice be included. The items will be wrapped in tissue paper as all goods are, whether gifts or not, with security tags if appropriate to the type of belt/buckle, plus there will be instructions for refunds/exchanges that include the order number but not the price paid. We do not offer a gift wrapping service but if we know it is a gift we are extra neat and loving.

You can also specify a gift message during the checkout process, which will be printed on a greeting card and enclosed with the purchase.