Questions / FAQ

To use this site you need to sell on to the public in some way. Here are some scenarios that are acceptable:

• You are a shop
• You run a website
• You sell on ebay
• You are a therapist who sells to clients
• You are just starting out with a new retail business
• You do party plan
• You are a company who needs a large number of items for a promotional event

To apply for an account, go to the home page and click 'Apply for An Account / Login', then fill in all required fields and click 'Sign Up Now'.

Once we receive your application, we'll aim to respond within 1-2 weekdays to confirm if you have been approved.

Please note, if you are a new business and do not yet have a website, business name or business premises, please try to include as much information about your future business to avoid any delays with your application being approved.

We aim to dispatch orders within 2 working days of receipt (Monday – Friday). Please note, we don’t ship on Weekends or UK public holidays. Our dispatch time might be slightly longer during peak times such as around Christmas. 

UK DELIVERY

• UK Delivery by FedEx, 1-2 working days after dispatch - £8.80 + VAT (Free for orders over £300 + VAT)
• UK Delivery by DPD, 1-2 working days after dispatch - £8.80 + VAT (£1.99 + VAT for orders over £300 + VAT)

INTERNATIONAL DELIVERY

Please note, the price of shipping for countries outside of the United Kingdom will be dependent upon the weight of the shipment and on the country we are shipping to. This will be quoted at check out before payment.

Shipments to Europe

• DHL Express to Europe. Transit time after dispatch, 1-2 working days. From £27.01 + VAT

Shipments Outside of Europe

• DHL Express to Outside Europe. Transit time after dispatch, 1-4 working days. From £27.68 + VAT

Text
We currently ask that you do not copy descriptive text from Holistictrader.co.uk unless this text is text from the blurb on the back of a book or something transcribed from the product itself.

Photographs
We prefer that you use your own photos on your own website. The photos you take are part of the character of your website.

A Word on Duplicate Content & Toxic Links
Since 2012, after the Panda update, Google has started to penalize websites with duplicate content. Similarly, with the Penguin update they started penalizing unnatural linking strategies. We have written some information on this below and hope it helps.

Google have started to penalize websites that use the same text as another website. This is duplicate content, they see it as 'not original' and you may get penalized. This is why it is always best to write your own text. It is also possible on Google to look for duplicate photos. Although there is no evidence of them penalizing for duplicate photos it is not inconceivable they may do this more in the future, as they do have the means to track it.

So in using content from another website, even though this is quickest, it may not always be in your website's best interest. Apart from the obvious copyright issues this is part of the reason we don't allow our customers to use our photos and text on their websites.

Some years ago we all tried to get others to link to us and we linked back in exchange. Google monitors the rate of new links going to your site. And they monitor for a natural and gradual increase. You may get penalized now if someone who links to you engages in dubious linking techniques! I.e. You don't even need to be the dubious one now! So the advice here is to try to link naturally and don't pay for getting listed on a directory. Bad links to your site can actually suppress your listing. As can links from your site going to sites that are unrelated to your field or linking to sites that are using unnatural linking strategies.

We unfortunately cannot process orders that are less than the minimum order amount. 

We have a set minimum order because we are selling at low prices and to sell below this is not viable. A minimum order is common to most wholesalers, although the order value will vary from company to company depending on the products they sell and how they are set up.

If your delivery address is outside of the UK, you may be required to pay import duties and taxes when your order reaches your country. Each country is responsible for its own borders, we have no control over these charges and cannot predict their amount. Please contact your local customs office for further information before placing your order if you have any queries.

Charges that may occur include:

1) Disbursement Charges – these fees are made/decided in the country the goods arrive in, for example, so-called ‘admin charges’ may occur.

2) VAT / Tax – each country is responsible for its own borders. For orders outside the UK, prior to Brexit you would pay the VAT with us, but this is no longer the case and the charges for this would be added upon the parcel entering your country.

3) Duty Charges – This is usually based upon the commodity being purchased, customs will use the commodity code / tariff attached to each item. Some items may not incur a charge, whilst others will - it is usually around 1-3%, but some items can be substantially more. It is up to each country on the charge that is added.

Please be aware that many carriers such as DHL may charge via 'multi-line' clearance in some countries. That is to say that a set number of items on an invoice will have no charge (e.g. the first 3-5) and all lines after this will have a set charge.

Can you tell me what I will have to pay before you send it?

Unfortunately we cannot tell you the fees that there will be as it can vary from country to country. You will be contacted by your customs. They will set all the fees. None of these fees are set by us and none of this money comes to us.

VAT in the UK is calculated at 20%. Books are exempt from VAT.

For most of our products that are not books VAT is calculated at 20%. For books there is no VAT charge.

We do however sell a number of products that are "mixed" VAT. For example this may be a tarot set that includes a pack of cards and a book. Manufacturers of these products often at point of production specify what percentage of this product is standard VAT and what percentage is a book. These figures do vary quite a lot, but a typical example would be the "Beginners Guide to Tarot - card and Book set" which says that 46.3% of this set is a book and 53.7% of it is cards. This does have implications for retailers and calculating their prices and VAT. If you would like any figures for mixed VAT products please do ask us and we can give you these figures.

Drop shipping is a system where you make a sale, say from your website, and then you give us the details of your customer and we send the goods direct to them. It is a sytem that means you do not need to hold any stock.

It is not something we are doing at the moment but we will keep this under review.

A white-label product is a product or service produced by one company that other companies rebrand to make it appear as if they had made it. Unfortunately this is not a service that we currently offer.

Currently we do not offer a back order service. This is when you cannot order a product now and wish for it to follow on later when it is back in stock. Any items that are currently out of stock will have a 'remind me when back in stock button' which you can sign up for an email reminder, and we will notify you when an item becomes available again. 

If you want to return any items for any reason, please contact us first within 14 working days of receiving the order. We will need to know what you are returning, and the reason. We will then advise you on what to do next. Please do not return any goods without contacting us first; we cannot guarantee that you will be refunded or credited until a return has been approved.

Please note, if you wish to return an item as it is no longer needed, if the return is approved the goods will need to be safely and securely packed for the journey. We can only accept returns if they are unused, and in unopened packaging. We do not currently cover postage costs, this will be at the expense of the buyer. 

Please see our separate information regarding damaged items.

Although we do our best to make sure items are well wrapped for the journey, sometimes damages can occur. In the unfortunate event that an item has arrived damaged or faulty, you must contact us within 14 working days of receiving the order, as we may be unable to process your claim after this period. You can contact us at admin@holistictrader.co.uk

To aid us in quickly locate your order and accessing your claim, please provide the following details:

• Your Order Number
• The name, or SKU of the item
• The quantity affected if more than one
• Provide a clear photo of the item(s)

To assess the damage, we ask you to provide clear photos of the item and packaging. We will advise you on the process to follow, please do not return any goods to Holistic Trader without agreed authorisation.

We will either put a credit on your account, or we may request that the damages are returned to us. If any items need to be returned, we will give you details of how we would like them returned. Please do not return any items without contacting us first, as we can't guarantee that you will be refunded or credited until a return has been approved.

We operate from a market town in Norfolk called Wymondham and have an office space and warehouse, but not a showroom as such, and don't promote ourselves in this way. 

Due to health and safety we unfortunately cannot allow customers into our warehouse, but if you would like to collect your order from us that's absolutely fine. Please let us know by ringing in or leaving a note in your extra instructions upon placing your order that you would like to collect your parcel, plus the approximate time/date you will be arriving so we can have this ready for you.

Apologies but we do not currently publish a paper catalogue. Our website is our catalogue and we keep it up to date with all the latest products and prices. We have considered publishing in paper but with new products being added all the time we feel we would rather keep our costs down and concentrate on offering the best prices we can.

We are committed to protecting your privacy. We will only use the information that we collect about you lawfully (in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998).

We collect information about you for 2 reasons: firstly, to process your order and second, to provide you with the best possible service. We will not e-mail you in the future unless you have given us your consent. We do not pass you details onto any other companies or third parties.

The type of information we will collect about you includes:

• your name
• address
• phone number
• email address
• credit / debit card details

We will never collect sensitive information about you without your explicit consent. The information we hold will be accurate and up to date. You can check the information that we hold about you by emailing us. If you find any inaccuracies we will delete or correct them promptly. The personal information which we hold will be held securely in accordance with our internal security policy. If we intend to transfer your information outside the EEA (European Economic Area) we will always obtain your consent first.

We may use technology to track the patterns of behaviour of visitors to our site. This can include using a "cookie" which would be stored on your browser. You can usually modify your browser to prevent this happening. The information collected in this way cannot be used to identify you unless you modify your browser settings. If you have any questions/comments about privacy, you should email us at admin@holistictrader.co.uk.

We will be closed on:

Wednesday 25th December 2024
Thursday 26th December 2024
Friday 27th December 2024
Wednesday 1st January 2025

Any orders, or customer service inquiries during this period will be answered asap on our return during this time. We recommend placing orders as early as possible to avoid delays.