Help!
This website is for use by professional customers: teachers and educational administrators, as well as students and all other private customers. Booksellers, wholesalers and other resellers should use our trade website where they will find everything that we can supply on trade terms.
The following notes may help you to get the most out of your searches and this website generally:
- About the online catalogue
- Browsing
- Ordering
- Payment
- Privacy Policy
- Inspection Copies
- On Approval Supply
- Returns
- Shopping Basket
- Rating System
- Subscriptions (Periodicals)
- Stock and delivery
- Title search
The European Bookshop's Online Catalogue
The catalogue includes all those books and other materials from continental European, British and other publishers which we have chosen and categorised according to their suitability for specific purposes, age-groups and ability levels. Many titles or series may be suitable for other purposes: the descriptions will normally make that clear.
We add new books and materials to our catalogue every day, and the information in the online catalogue is updated every night. Estimated delivery times are based on our stock and ordering positions as at the previous day's close of business. They are based on small order quantities. It is always advisable to check when larger quantities are required. An e-mail inquiry facility is provided for this purpose.
Browsing
The drop-down menu on the left of every page allows you to select one language, one topic, one type of product, one ability level and one age group. You can also specify publication date ranges to limit your search, for example to show you only what we have added since you last visited us.
In advanced search you can select more than one option at a time, e.g., you can look for titles suitable for all children from 5 to 14 by clicking on the appropriate age-ranges while holding down the Control key. And the same principle applies to the other category selections.
Title Search
If you are looking for specific authors, titles or series, or have an ISBN, try the search field at the top of every page. The search here is first by ISBN or ESB code if entered, otherwise by keywords. For example, enter 'Calvino' and 'Marcovaldo' and you will get a list of all the editions of Calvino's 'Marcovaldo' which we offer.
Many products are better known by their series names, especially courses with several levels and parts. When you enter the series name in 'search', you will get a list of all titles that include that name, as well as of all parts of the series you want. If you need more details, clicking on the series will usually produce a description of the series, and clicking on the title will give you bibliographical, price and stock details.
Be cautious when searching by series alone; some paperback series contains 1000s of titles, and searching and compiling the list can take time, and probably won't be helpful. On the other hand, if you are look for a specific edition, entering the series name plus another keyword - author' surname, or part of the title you want - usually works well.
If you can't find what you want this way, use advanced search and follow the instructions there.
Ordering
To order single copies from a displayed list, select the title(s) by ticking the box on the right of the title, then go to the foot of the page, add your order reference if required, and click 'add selections to basket'. You can delete any item, or change the quantity or order reference, at any time in the basket. Or you can click on any title in the list to go to the title page, enter the quantity and, if needed, your order reference, and put it straight into your basket.
Most educational and commercial organisations will only recognise and pay for goods ordered and supplied with an official order reference. We therefore regret that we can only deliver orders on account, i.e, without prepayment, if they include an official order reference.
Stock and delivery
Stock reports on our websites combine stock in both our premises. If you intend to make a special journey to buy a particular book in London please phone or email first to check that your book is there. We regret that we cannot receive visitors to our warehouse in Cheltenham.
The delivery delay quoted in title information is based on the stock we had in hand at the close of business last night or, if that was not sufficient to meet your order, on the estimated delay before we get new supplies. If you need something urgently and it's not showing 'in stock' please email direct@esb.co.uk and we'll tell you what's possible.
The quoted delivery delays relate to deliveries from our warehouse to customers on the UK mainland. Customers elsewhere in the world are asked to make due allowance. The delays are also based on our standard delivery service (in the UK now usually 2-3 days) and our very modest standard delivery charges. We can at any time arrange faster delivery at a higher cost.
Deliveries within the UK mainland are charged at 10% of goods value, with a minimum of £1.50 and a maximum of £5, and ESB retains full responsibility for the condition of the goods until delivery at the Customer's premises. The quoted charge is based on our normal delivery service. We can at any time arrange faster delivery at a higher cost.
Deliveries beyond the UK mainland depend on a complex table of charges, but the cost is always shown in your basket before you submit your order and is guaranteed when you do so.
Payment
When you pay by credit or debit card, none of your card details are recorded or seen by us. Your payment is processed on our behalf by Sage Pay or PayPal, depending on which you choose. Sage Pay and PayPal verify your card details and then make it possible for us to collect the money when we have dispatched your order. All your legal rights are preserved. Should any refund be due to you, for example if we are unable to supply some part of your order, it will be credited back to the same credit or debit card that you used to make the payment.
Inspection copies
Books which are suitable for class adoption can be supplied for inspection. They are indicated in the title information panel where a special 'Inspection' button appears. Clicking on this button puts an inspection copy request straight into your shopping basket .
The inspection copy service is available only to recognised teachers in recognised educational establishments in Britain and Northern Ireland. Inspection copies cannot be sent to private addresses or booksellers, or to other countries.
Inspection copies are supplied for a maximum period of 60 days from the date of the accompanying invoice. They may be retained free of charge if 12 copies or more of the same title are ordered directly from The European Bookshop. Otherwise they must be returned to the bookshop, or paid for in full at the prices shown on the invoice.
Extensions to the 60-day inspection copy period can always be arranged when needed, but ESB must be informed in good time.
On approval supplies
Books and materials which are not available for inspection may often be available 'on approval'. The essential difference is that they can never be retained free of charge. They must either be paid for in full, or returned to ESB at the customer's expense and, most importantly, properly packed and in completely clean, resaleable condition.
Rating System
Our rating system is not a judgment of quality, but is designed to help booksellers, librarians and teachers to identify popular titles.
For the first six months that a title is in our catalogue, the rating is our assessment of likely demand, based on European bestseller lists, reviews and other information.Rating is from 1 to 5 stars.
After six months our computer rates each title according to its sales relative to the category of title. For example, sales of the most popular textbook or novel will be much greater than of the most popular teacher's book, but both will be graded five stars. Other titles in the same category are rated in proportion to sales.
Returns
You have a statutory right to return any goods for any reason up to 7 (seven) days after receiving them. They must reach us in resaleable condition at your own expense. Thereafter our standard conditions apply, and returns can normally only be accepted if the goods are defective, or not as ordered.
However, we do make special arrangements for textbooks supplied direct to educational establishments in classroom quantities, to allow for last-minute changes in class numbers. Subject to prior notice, we will supply such textbooks on sale-or-return, on the same conditions as for shopping On Approval supply.
Booksellers should please refer to our trade website www.eurobooks.co.uk for details.
Shopping
The best way to learn our very straightforward web purchasing procedure is to try it. You can cancel a prepared order at any time right up to the very last 'submit' step.
Before you can place an order, you must show that you have read and accepted our Terms and Conditions of supply by ticking the appropriate box on the Order Form.
All information you submit via our Shopping procedure is encrypted on our secure website before being downloaded, so shopping this way is far safer than by telephone, fax or post.
However, if you do not want to order this way, you can still use most of the ordering procedure to prepare your order. At the final stage, instead of submitting it across the internet, you can print it on your own printer and phone, fax or post it to us as you prefer.
Subscriptions (Periodicals)
The European Bookshop offers a subscription agency service for a wide range of European newspapers, magazines and journals. These titles can be found in the on-line catalogue in the normal way via Title Search.
The figure in brackets after the title indicates the frequency of publication, or number of issues per year, and the price quoted is for a year's subscription. Most periodicals are available on 6-month subscriptions at a proportionate price.
If the title you are looking for is not there, please use the e-mail facility to enquire further. We are always on the lookout for new titles suitable to add to our catalogue. If you find an interesting-looking magazine you have not seen before, we can usually arrange to send you a specimen copy.
Privacy Policy
At European Schoolbooks Ltd and in our bookshops we store customers' personal (i.e. contact) data for two purposes only: to enable us to fulfil your orders and - if you have subscribed to them - to send you our email newsletters. The data which we store has been actively supplied to us by you, and we do not store more data than is reasonably necessary for these two purposes.
Whenever notified by you, we update the data that we hold about you, to keep the data accurate and up-to-date.
We do not sell customers' data to third parties. We share some of our customers' contact data, but only for the purpose of fulfilling your book orders. For example, we share some of our customers' address data with our couriers, so that they are able to deliver your orders to your chosen delivery address.
We do not store customers' credit card or debit card details. We are rigorous in keeping secure any data that we do store.
All our members of staff are aware of the need to uphold these high standards in the way that we record and store any personal information that you entrust to us.
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