Refund policy

This policy sits alongside your legal rights. Nothing in it removes or limits any right you have under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 or the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

Consumer buyers: your 14-day right to cancel

Books are sold by enquiry. No order is placed on this website; a contract is formed when we send you a written confirmation by email, as set out in Section 3 of our terms of service. Because that contract is normally concluded by correspondence rather than in person, it is a distance contract, and if you are buying as a consumer you have the statutory right to cancel it within 14 days without giving a reason.

So that this is never in doubt, and whatever the circumstances in which a particular contract happens to be concluded, we grant the same 14-day cancellation right as a term of every sale we make to a consumer buyer. If for any reason the sale were not a distance contract in law, you would still have these 14 days from us as a matter of contract.

The cancellation period ends 14 days after the day on which you take physical possession of the book at collection.

To cancel, tell us in a clear statement. An email to towersmacro@gmail.com is enough. You may use the model cancellation form we send with our written confirmation, but you do not have to.

If you cancel, you must return the book to us within 14 days of telling us. Because books are handed over in person, returns are also made in person by arrangement, at a mutually convenient time and place. Please do not send a book back by post.

We will refund all payments received from you within 14 days of the day we get the book back, or of the day you supply evidence of having returned it, whichever is earlier. We refund by the same means you used to pay, which for a bank transfer means to the account the payment came from, unless you agree otherwise. We do not charge a fee for making a refund.

We may reduce the refund to reflect any diminished value caused by handling beyond what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the book, that is, beyond the handling you would reasonably be allowed in a shop. Given the age and fragility of what we sell, please handle any book you intend to return as you would in a reading room.

Condition, description and photographs

Every book is described individually and as accurately as we are able. We would rather describe a book too severely than too kindly. The photographs form part of the description and show the book exactly as it is.

Wear, defects, repair and restoration that are disclosed in a description or visible in the accompanying photographs are characteristics of the book as sold. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 they are not faults, because they were specifically drawn to your attention before you bought.

If a book is materially not as described, for example if a leaf is lacking that the description did not disclose, that is an entirely different matter. We will take it back and refund you in full, including any reasonable costs you incur in returning it. This undertaking applies to every buyer, whether you are a consumer, an institution or a member of the trade.

Enquiries before purchase

We would far rather answer questions than process a return. We are glad to answer questions of any level of detail, to supply additional photographs of specific leaves at any magnification, and to discuss a book by correspondence before you commit to buying. Please ask.

Inspection at collection

Payment clears before collection is arranged, so at the handover we hold the money and you have not yet received the book. You may take as much time as you need to examine it before the collection is completed. If it is not what you expected, say so then, and we will refund you there and then and the sale is at an end. Title and risk pass to you only once you have satisfied yourself and completed the collection.

Trade and institutional buyers

Where you are buying in the course of a business, including libraries, institutions and members of the trade, the statutory cancellation right does not apply and we do not grant it contractually. Books are sold as described and as photographed. Our undertaking that a book is as described, and the right to inspect at the handover before completing the collection, stand in every case.

Exchanges

Every book we sell is a unique copy, so we cannot offer exchanges. If you would prefer a different book, please cancel or return the first, and write to us about the other.

Contact

Towers Rare Books — towersmacro@gmail.com — +44 7721 149216

Our full contact details, including our geographic address, are set out in the legal notice.