Frequently Asked Questions

How can I contact you?

You can find contact information for our shops here. For customer services enquiries, contact our Customer Services team on [email protected]

Where is my order?

As soon as your order is ready to be shipped, you will receive a confirmation email carrying a Track Your Parcel link. Clicking on this will take you through to Royal Mail’s Track and Trace service, where you can follow your order’s progress. At every step, we are working as quickly and safely as we can to fulfil our orders, but please contact our Customer Support team if you feel your delivery is unduly delayed. Our latest delivery estimates are here.

Can I change or amend an order?

Once an order has been placed, we cannot make changes to the delivery address, delivery method or order quantities. If you would like to amend your order, we recommend cancelling that order (see the FAQ ‘How can I cancel my order’ below) in order to place it again after making the required changes.

How can I cancel my order?

To cancel, please sign into your online Foyles.co.uk account and navigate to your ‘Orders’ page from your Account Dashboard. If your order is yet to be despatched, you will find the option to cancel from your Orders page. If you have ordered by using our Guest Checkout, and you do not have an account with Foyles, there may still be the option to cancel your order by referring to the Order Confirmation email posted to your inbox. Please click the ‘Track your order’ link in the email – if your order has not yet been despatched, there will be an option to request a cancellation at the bottom of the order summary. If you require any assistance, please contact our Customer Support team. It helps us enormously if you have your 8-digit order number to hand, and with that number we can locate your order more efficiently.

You have taken my payment and I have received an email telling me it is dispatched. Where is my order?

As soon as you receive your dispatch email, this means your order is in the hands of Royal Mail and on its way from our warehouse. You can track your order using the ‘Track Your Parcel’ button you can find on your dispatch email.

I have cancelled my order but payment has still been taken: can you help?

Usually, we are able to cancel your order before any payment has been taken, as we only request payment for an order at the point of dispatch. You will receive an email to confirm this has happened. Very occasionally, this can mean that when we are asked to cancel an order, the process of receiving payment from your card issuer is already in progress. Unfortunately, in this instance, cancellation will not be possible. If you have attempted to cancel an order and have not received an email confirming that cancellation, please contact our Customer Support team on [email protected]. It helps us if you enter your eight-digit Customer Order number to the Customer Order Number field on the enquiry form. Very occasionally, this can mean that when we are asked to cancel an order, the process of receiving payment from your card issuer is already in progress. Unfortunately, in this instance, cancellation will not be possible. If you have attempted to cancel an order and have not received an email confirming that cancellation, please contact our Customer Support team.

I’m having problems with my payment card at checkout. Can you help?

Our payment form is not compatible on older web browsers (significantly Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which has now been superseded by Microsoft Edge). In the event of payment issues at checkout, we recommend trying an alternative browser (i.e. Edge, Chrome or Firefox), or ensuring your current browser is kept up to date by completing the following:

• Chrome: click on , then 'Settings', then 'About Chrome'
• Safari: click on , then 'App Store', then 'Updates'
• Firefox: Click on , then 'Help, then 'About Firefox' Internet Explorer can upgrade to Edge by visiting www.microsoft.com/edge.

Can I return my item for refund or exchange?

Guidance toward returning items purchased online can be found on our Refunds and Returns page.

What are your international delivery charges?

Please find our latest delivery charges here.

I live in the EU and I regularly shop online with Foyles. Regarding recent changes to international ordering, will I be subject now to additional customs charges?

Within the EU additional customs charges and VAT are possible, but these will vary by country and by item. Depending on these criteria, it is also possible some orders may attract no additional charges at all. If you wish to cancel your order, please refer to the FAQ ‘How can I cancel my order’ above. Please note that the responsibility to settle any excess charges will be with the recipient. We have worked hard to supply comprehensive delivery documentation, allowing customs departments to validate that shipment.

I live outside the UK but I cannot see my country listed in your delivery destinations. Is it still possible to place an order?

If your intended location falls outside our list of destinations, unfortunately this means our delivery partners will be unable to fulfil that order.

I live in the EU and understand that current and future orders will be subject to additional custom charges. Can I cancel my order?

Although it is indeed possible current and future orders may be subject to additional customs charges, it is worth understanding that some orders – depending on the item and its destination – may attract no additional charges at all. If you wish to cancel your order, please refer to the FAQ ‘How can I cancel my order’ above.

Can I call you to place an order over the telephone?

You can usually place telephone orders at any one of our bookshops. You can find contact information for all our shops here.

Can I use my Foyles gift card online?

We happily accept Foyles Gift Cards for online payment, in addition to pre-paid gift cards provided by VISA and MasterCard, for example. We do not accept flexecash cards online (for example Love2shop). For a list of accepted payment methods on Foyles.co.uk, please see our Payment & Pricing page.

I have purchased an e-Gift card for someone else, but they have not received it. Can you help?

Sometimes, E-Gift Cards are delivered as spam mail to their intended recipient. If an E-Gift Card sent to someone else has gone astray, please ask them to check their spam or junk folders, as the email carrying their E-Gift Card may be found there. Alternatively, you can also download the E-Gift Card directly to your own email account and forward from there, in the likelihood your email address will be recognised and not seem as spam. Use your login details and password you used to place the order, and once inside your account, navigate to the ‘Orders’ section of your Account Dashboard and you will find your E-Gift Card order there. Download the E-Gift Card to your own email account and forward this email to your recipient. Please note we work alongside our service partner Encompass Print Services to supply and process our E-gift cards. Unfortunately, this does mean we are unable to deal with any E-gift card queries directly, and customers requiring any further assistance with their E-gift card purchase are advised to call the Encompass help line on 0115 907 1899, between the hours of 9am - 5.30pm (Monday to Friday). You can also email Encompass on their dedicated Waterstones helpline at [email protected].

Can I use my National Book Tokens online?

We do accept National Book Tokens on Foyles.co.uk. For more information, and for a list of accepted payment methods on our website, please see our Payment & Pricing page.

I’ve signed up to Foyalty, but haven’t received my activation email. What should I do?

If you do not have a Foyalty account, you can sign up for it online here to receive a digital card, or alternatively pop into your local Foyles and ask a bookseller for details. More information about Foyalty can be found in our Foyalty FAQs

How do I manage or update my Foyalty account details?

You can manage your Foyalty card via Foyles.co.uk. Simply sign in using your account details and click on the ‘Foyalty’ icon at the top of the screen to access your account homepage: selecting ‘My Account’ will take you to your Account Dashboard.

Does the cost of postage contribute to my Foyalty Balance, or is it individual items alone?

Foyalty balance is earned solely on purchases made, rather than on any additional extras such as postage.

Do you accept One4All gift cards or paper vouchers online?

Unfortunately, at this time we cannot accept One4all gift cards as online payment at Foyles.co.uk

How do I post a book review?

We welcome book reviews to Foyles.co.uk. Not only are these incredibly useful for other customers, but they are valuable to us too, providing a real insight toward how readers are responding to the books we sell.To post a review:

1. Sign in to Foyles.co.uk If you are yet to create an account, you can do so here.
2. Search for the page of the book you would like to review. If it's one you've already purchased, visit your Orders page, where you'll be able to click on the book’s jacket and through to its product description page.
3. Under the product description, you will see the link ‘Write your review’. You will then be presented with fields to add your review title, the review itself and a star rating (out of five). You can also recommend up to ten other books. Click on ‘Post Review’ and you are done!

If you have completed your view in another format (i.e. Microsoft Word), it is often best to initially copy and paste your review to Notepad (or TextEdit on a Mac) and then copy and paste to our site – this removes any formatting and helps prevent characters from corrupting. For further information on posting reviews, please visit our review guidelines. Please be aware that reviews will not always appear immediately on our site and can take up to 24 hours to go live: this can extend to 48 hours over weekends.

How do I get published?

We'll try to dispel a few myths and offer some helpful hints and encouragement to writers hoping to take that great leap forward to getting published. We can't guarantee our advice will turn manuscripts into bestsellers, but hopefully it will make those first steps a little easier.

Before you leap straight in and contact every publisher that you have ever heard of, you should first consider whether you might be better served by the representation of a literary agent. A literary agent represents the interests of the authors that he or she acts for. A good agent will advise you on your work and on the publishing market in general, help you find the right home for your work, sell you and your work to the appropriate publisher, negotiate the best deal for you and, crucially, provide much needed advice and support throughout the process. The agent, or agency, makes its income entirely as a result of commission on sales of their clients' work and charge approximately 15% commission on UK sales, and 20% on sales to the US.

If you do choose to go it alone or have been unsuccessful in finding an agent your next option is to contact a publisher directly. To improve your chances, it is essential that you start by researching the market. Publishing is a commercial business and a publisher will need to be convinced that there is a potential market for any book that they decide to publish. Find the right publisher. First of all, think about who would be a good fit for you and your book. Have a look at the titles in your local Foyles, and see who publishes books that yours might sit well next to - if you've written a crime novel, find out which publishers have a crime list, or even specialise in the genre. If you've written a historical biography, browse the history section to see who the relevant publishers are in this field. Don't ignore the independents - publishers such as Canongate, Quercus and Tindall Street have all published books that have become bestsellers and won literary awards. When you've decided which would be the best publisher for you, find out if they accept submissions, who and where to send them to, and in what format. Ring or email first to find out who is the best person to receive your work.

Should I self-publish?

Computers and the Internet have made self-publishing easier than ever, and if the traditional publishing route is denied to you, it may be worth considering. Self-publishing can be a huge undertaking but many authors have published their own work successfully in the past. However, if you do go down this route, you will have to learn to be more than "just" a writer.

A self-publisher will be in charge of:

• Copy-editing. Are you sure there are no spelling mistakes or other errors?
• Design. What font and font size? What weight paper? What does the cover look like?
• Pricing. How much should your book cost?
• Securing an ISBN for your book. International Standard Book Numbers are essential if you want to get your book stocked in bookshops and libraries.
• Printing. How many copies should you print?
• Running the supply chain. How and where will you store your books? How will you receive orders? How will you deliver them?
• Sales. Who will sell your book for you? Have you got the flair to succeed in sales?
• Invoicing and accounting. Do you need to set up a company? How will you accept payment? What about tax implications?
• Promotion. How will your book be advertised? Who will review it? Will there be interviews and features in the newspapers?
• Funding. How can you pay for all the above?

The line between vanity publishing and self-publishing can be a grey one, but generally if you are paying someone else to publish your work, then you are dealing with a vanity publisher. Mainstream publishers invest in the promotion of a book and make their profit from its sales. Vanity publishers on the other hand, make money from upfront charges. The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook strongly advises authors against paying for the publication of their work. Whatever decision you make it is essential that you investigate your options thoroughly before you part with any money. The website www.vanitypublishing.info offers straightforward advice on vanity publishing and self-publishing.

Why is my book not listed for sale on your website or your shop stock system?

All the information on the stock management system and Foyles.co.uk is fed from Nielsen BookData. Therefore, we cannot consider any titles that do not have at least a basic record on Nielsen. Your publisher, or you as publisher, will need to do this and this can take up to six weeks to complete. The Nielsen BookData Publisher Help Desk can be contacted at [email protected], and new records and updates can be supplied via the Nielsen Title Editor. To register for this free service please visit www.nielsentitleeditor.com. Your Publisher, or you as publisher, will then have to set up a supply chain with a distributor or wholesaler. As soon as this has been done, your titles will be available to order through any Foyles store and online at Foyles.co.uk.

Why is my book listed for sale on your website? I have not sent you any information.

Your publisher, or you as publisher, have listed the book on Nielsen BookData, which means that the title information feeds automatically through to our website.

Why is my book showing as unavailable on your website?

The most likely reason why the book is showing as unavailable is that the publisher has no formal trading relationship with Foyles.