Frequently Asked Questions

WHEN WILL MY PARCEL BE POSTED?
We send our parcels out 3 times a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. As we are only a two-person team, very occasionally we might not manage to do this. Your parcel will then be sent out at the first available opportunity. We will send you an email as soon as your item has been posted, and this email will contain a tracking link for your parcel.

WHAT IF MY PARCEL IS HELD UP IN THE POST?
In our experience, Royal Mail almost always deliver within their stated delivery aim, but occasionally a parcel is delayed. If this happens, we follow Royal Mail's procedure, which means waiting for the time Royal Mail allow before a parcel is treated as lost:

• UK: Royal Mail aim to deliver Tracked 24 the next working day and Tracked 48 within 2–3 working days. A parcel is treated as lost once it is 7 working days past its due date.
• Europe: Royal Mail aim to deliver within 3–5 working days. A parcel is treated as lost once it is 20 working days past its due date.
• Rest of the world: Royal Mail aim to deliver within 5–7 working days (very remote locations can take longer). A parcel is treated as lost once it is 25 working days past its due date.

Delays at customs: if your tracking shows your parcel is being held at customs, the times above don't apply. Customs checks are outside Royal Mail's control, so Royal Mail don't treat a parcel held at customs as lost, however long it takes. Please check whether you've had a message from customs or your local postal service, as they sometimes need a payment or paperwork from you before they'll release a parcel. If it stays stuck, contact us and we'll look at your order and decide the best way forward with you.

Working days are Monday to Friday. We realise you are looking forward to your new clothes and accessories, but please allow this time for your items to be delivered. By buying from us you also agree to Royal Mail's delivery terms.

If an item is indeed lost, we will make it right by sending a replacement or, if we no longer have the item you bought in stock, by offering an alternative or making a full refund.

THE TRACKING SAYS IT HAS BEEN DELIVERED BUT I HAVE NOT RECEIVED IT. WHAT CAN I DO?
We use Royal Mail, a third party, as our delivery provider, and they are completely independent from us. If you have not received your item but the tracking says it has been delivered, we are always willing to open an enquiry or claim with Royal Mail. In principle, though, a delivery confirmation means that the parcel has been delivered.

HOW MUCH WILL I PAY FOR POSTAGE?
Our UK postage prices are:
Royal Mail Tracked 48: Free
Royal Mail Tracked 24: £2.50

We use Royal Mail tracked services. If you add your mobile number to your order, Royal Mail can send you delivery updates by text message as well as by email, so we recommend that you do. Your number is passed on to Royal Mail through their Click & Drop system for this purpose only. Royal Mail will take a photo at the moment of delivery.

For postage prices to other countries, you can go through checkout to see a quote before you pay. Our prices differ per country depending on our agreement with Royal Mail, and postage is based on weight.

WHAT IF MY ITEM IS DIFFERENT TO THE PHOTO?
We try to give as much information as we can in our listing descriptions, and our photos are as true to life as we can possibly get them. Please bear in mind, though, that many of the items we sell are made in small batches, and when we receive a new batch the colours or small details can sometimes differ slightly.

Every screen also displays colours slightly differently, so colours may look a little lighter or darker depending on your screen. If you are unhappy with what you receive, please contact us.

I AM FROM THE EU, DO I PAY IMPORT DUTIES?
We are registered for the EU Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) through our intermediary. EU VAT and any import duties are calculated and charged at checkout, and we send your order duties paid, so it should clear customs without delay and there is nothing more to pay on delivery. Please contact us if you have any questions.

I AM IN THE US, DO I PAY IMPORT DUTIES?
Since 29 August 2025 the US has charged tariffs on imports from the UK. We calculate these at checkout and include them in what you pay, and your order is shipped Duties Paid, so there is nothing more to pay on delivery (US state sales tax may still apply). You can read more on our US tariffs page.

WHAT IF MY SALE IS DECLINED?
We take great care to keep the website accurate at all times. However, in the unfortunate event that we make a mistake — for example in the price of an item — we reserve the right to decline the sale.

HOW DO I RETURN AN ITEM?
We really hope that you are happy with your purchase. We understand that buying clothing online is a tricky business, so if you have received your goods and you don't like them for whatever reason, you can let us know that you would like to return them within 30 days of receiving your parcel. Please send us an email to let us know. You don't have to tell us why you want to return them, but we would be grateful if you did, as it helps us improve our service.
Once you have let us know, you have 14 days to send the goods back to us. We will send you our return address in our reply to your email.

DO I HAVE TO PAY TO RETURN MY GOODS?
The cost of returning an item is yours. We will refund your original purchase price and the standard delivery cost (the cheapest option offered at checkout), so postage upgrades in the UK are not refunded.

Items should be returned in the same (resaleable) condition as you received them. This means we expect the clothes not to have been worn, other than to try them on. If there are tags on the clothes, please don't remove them until you are sure you would like to keep them. We would also appreciate it if you tried on your new clothing without wearing perfume, deodorant or anything else that might transfer onto it. We reserve the right to make a charge if an item is clearly not in the condition we sent it out in (for example, if it has clearly been worn). We will always be fair, as we very much appreciate your custom, and we hope you will be the same with us.

WHAT IF SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE ITEM I PURCHASED?
If anything goes wrong with your item within 30 days of receiving it, you have the right to redress. This could be a repair, a partial refund, a replacement, or you rejecting the item and telling us that you no longer want it. If you choose a partial refund or a rejection, the sale is concluded. If you choose a replacement or a repair, you have the right to one more redress if something is still wrong, before the sale is concluded. This is in line with the UK Consumer Rights Act 2015. We will generally ask you to send us some photos of the problem so that we can decide on the best course of action. The cost of the redress will never be greater than the amount you originally paid. If an item is returned because something was wrong with it, we will either supply a return label or refund the return postage for the service we ask you to use.

WILL MY INFORMATION BE SAFE WITH THIS WEBSITE?
Using a platform like Shopify has implications for the data we receive, and we do not have as much control over it as we would like. You can read more about data consent and your choices on this page.

For the parts we do control, the following information is correct, but please keep in mind that Shopify may still use some data from your visit even if you have the Global Privacy Control opt-out signal enabled.

To use our site, and especially to buy a product from us, we need to know a little about you.

If you're just looking, we don't need any of your personal information to browse our shop. We do measure how visitors use our site with Google Analytics, so that we can understand how people move around the shop and improve it; this does not tell us who you are. We also use advertising cookies, for example from Google, to measure how our adverts perform and to show you relevant adverts on other websites. You can opt out of your data being used for targeted advertising on our Your Privacy Choices page.

Click here for an overview of privacy at Google. To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics on all websites, visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Cookies are small text files that help the site run smoothly, for example by remembering what is in your basket. Some are needed for the site to work; others are used for analytics and advertising. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal, then depending on where you are, we treat it as a request to opt out of your data being used for targeted advertising.

If you buy something from us, the information above applies to you as well. In addition:

To handle your purchase we need your name, address and email address, plus a separate delivery address if you want your order sent somewhere other than your home, and — if you choose to give it — your mobile number for delivery updates. This is all the information we ask for at checkout. You can pay through Shopify's own payment system or with PayPal (www.paypal.com). Either way, we never handle your payment details directly, so your card details are never known to us. It also means that any refund is always made back to the same payment method you used.

We will keep you up to date about your purchase by email. You will generally receive three emails from us per order: the first to confirm your order, the second to confirm that your item has been sent and is on its way to you, and a third, sent once after your order should have arrived, kindly asking if you would leave a review of your purchase. We would be incredibly grateful if you did, but there is no obligation. Unless there are any problems with your order, this is all you will receive from us. Once you have made a purchase, you can change your details in your account section.

If you contact us via WhatsApp, please keep in mind that WhatsApp is owned by Meta, so your phone number and the content of your messages pass through their systems as well as ours. We only use WhatsApp to reply to your enquiries directly — we will never use your WhatsApp details to advertise to you, and we will never sell or share them.

On an important note, we will never sell your details, but we will need to use your details to arrange sending out your parcel. This is, of course, the only reason we need your information in the first place, along with letting you know that your parcel is on its way. We use Royal Mail's Click & Drop, and your delivery details and parcel contents will be entered into their system. For orders to the EU and the UK, we also share the order, shipping and customs details that VAT rules require with EAS Project OÜ and its appointed IOSS intermediary, Neman OÜ (both based in Estonia), who handle the EU Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) VAT scheme on our behalf. They only use this information for these legal obligations and for official audits.

HOW DO I CLOSE MY ACCOUNT?
Please send us a quick email to let us know that you would like to close your account. If we are still processing your order, we will wait 30 days after the sale before closing your account, so that we can deal with anything that might come up regarding your order. We will let you know when we have deleted your account. Some information, such as the purchases you have made, will stay on record, but it will no longer be linked to you — your account will be made anonymous.

WHAT HAPPENS WITH NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTION?
When you sign up for our newsletter, we send it using Shopify's own built-in email marketing tool rather than a separate third-party service. You will never receive more than one email a week, and most likely far fewer. We will never sell or share your email address with anyone else, and you can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time.

ANY MORE QUESTIONS?
If you have any further questions, please contact us by email at info@altshop.co.uk, through our contact form, or message us on WhatsApp — whichever suits you best.