UK Brands Worldwide

Will my shipment be covered against loss and or damage in transit?

All the prices we quote include full insurance cover up to the value you declare and this applies whether you use UPS or Royal Mail. Other UK forwarding companies only include minimal insurance as standard and do not make this clear when quoting their shipping costs. Our prices include full insurance should your package be mis-placed or damaged during transit by the courier.

Are there any items that I cannot send via your services?

Yes. There are retracted items with are listed below. This is not an exhaustive list however. If you are in doubt, please contact us to confirm.

Explosive Material

• Fireworks
• Ammunition (cartridges for weapons)/Gunpowder
• Helium
• Weapons/Detonators/Weapon Parts
• Fire Extinguishers
• Safety Matches/Torch or Cigarette Lighters
• Airbags for Cars
• Life Jackets & Self-Inflating Rafts
• Seat-belts & seat-belt pretensioners
• Camping Stoves and Fuel containers
• Complete firearms and firearm parts, ammunition, explosives, weapons

Flammable Items

• Fuel (Cooking fuel or any other flammable liquids)
• Paint/Turpentine
• Compressed Air/Gas Cylinders
• Gasoline
• Aerosols/Perfumes
• Mercurial Barometer or Thermometer
• Alcoholic Beverages
• Champagne
• Hair Curlers containing Hydrocarbon Gas

Toxic Chemicals

• Cleaners and Solvents
• Liquid Bleach/Chlorine
• Insecticides
• Wet-Cell/Lithium Batteries
• Radioactive Material
• Infectious Substances
• Adhesives
• Pepper Spray

Narcotics

• All illegal drugs including Khat. If illegal drugs are found, the police and/or HM Customs will be informed immediately.
• Prescription drugs and pharmaceutical products
• If Khat is found in your shipment, you will be fined £100
• Tobacco and Tobacco Products

Other Items

• Articles of exceptional value (e.g. works of art, antiques, precious stones, gold and silver)
• Bullion
• Candles
• Christmas Crackers
• Cash (including cheques or any other vouchers with a face value)
• Champagne
• Credit and/or Debit bank cards
• Designer clothing, apparel, accessories over £250 in value
• White goods
• Animal Fur/Skin
• Living or Dead Animals (including fish, insects, larvae, pupae etc)
• Animal products (including but not limited to ivory, fur and garments trimmed with fur)
• Perishable food or items that require a temperature controlled environment
• Body parts, human remains or ashes
• Medical samples (including but not limited to bodily fluids and tissue samples)
• Electronic Items - In total no more than 2 electronic items per package i.e. desktop computers, MP3 players or any other electronic components.
The package must not contain any lithium batteries and The package must not exceed £1,000 in total value
• Flowers and plant products
• Illegal goods (these are goods which are considered illegal in the origin, the transit points and/or the destination countries and would include but not be limited to pirated goods, counterfeit goods and narcotics)
• Imitation (replica) firearms, toy guns, weapons, explosive devices or ammunition
• Mobile Telephones - No more than 2 mobile phones with accessories. The entire package may not contain more than 2 lithium batteries which must be contained within the mobile telephones. The package must not exceed £500 in total value
• Nail Vanish/ Nail Varnish Remover
• Non-flatpack Furniture
• Precious Metals or Precious Stones
• Jewellery (low value costume jewellery can be accepted - worth no more than £50)
• Perfumes/Aftershaves
• Personal Data – Packages containing unencrypted personal data in electronic format
• Personal effects to certain countries
• Pressurised canisters (i.e. hairspray, deodorant, etc)
• Pornography
• Stamps of unusual value
• LCD TV's (UPS services only)
• Knives/Swords
• Semen/Blood/Lab Samples
• Tax stickers / banderols
• Magnets
• Printer Ink & Toner Cartridges
• Watches with an individual value over £250
• Dangerous / hazardous goods including but not limited to perfumes, aftershaves, aerosols, flammable substances, loose lithium batteries, dry ice, biological substances, UN classified dangerous goods and any goods specified as such under International Air Transport Association regulations ("IATA"), the Agreement on Dangerous Goods by Road ("ADR") or International Maritime Dangerous Goods ("IMDG") regulations.

Will you inspect my package on receipt?

Yes. We reserve the right to inspect all items we receive before forwarding them on, to ensure we comply with customs regulations.

How can I return an item if it is unsuitable when I receive it?

If you purchased the item yourself and used our forwarding service only, you will need to contact the retailer yourself to arrange the return directly with them. If there is anything we can do to assist you in this process, please let us know. If the item you want to return was purchased using our Shop and Ship service, you must contact us so we can arrange the return with the retailer. Please note, all returns are subject to the retailers returns policy and ukbrandsworldwide cannot be held responsible if the retailer will not accept the return. If a return is accepted by the retailer, you will need to return the item to us and we will process the return for you for a fee which we will advise at the time. The cost of returning the item to us must be met by yourself. Please also note that if any customs duty is payable when receiving your items back into the UK, this fee will be passed on to you and must be paid before the return can be processed.

How long will my order take to reach me?

We aim to turn all shipments around within 2 working days of receipt at our offices, unless you ask us to hold you shipment while we await the arrival of additional items for consolidation. The transit time from our offices to the final delivery address differs from country to country. When you log in to your account to check the status of your order, if the status shows 'Shipped', an estimated delivery date will also be displayed. If you are in doubt or have any queried, please contact us.

What payment methods are available?

Our current payment system is Paypal but please do not worry if you do not have a Payal account, as Paypal also accept payments from all major credit and debit cards.

The UK retailer will not accept my international credit card. What should I do?

Some retailers will not accept international credit cards and this is where we can help you. Use our Shop and Ship service and we will order the item for you and pay for it on your behalf when forward it on to you. You can select this service my logging in to your account and selecting 'new Shop and Ship order'. If you have already ordered our forwarding service only to realise that the retailer will to accept your card at checkout, please contact us and we can arrange for the order to be changed to Shop and Ship and the appropriate additional payment made by you.

Why have you invoiced me for additional shipping charges before you will release my item.

The initial estimate/payment is based on the weight and dimensions entered by you at the time. If when we receive your item, it is bigger and/or heavier, we will calculate the actual weight and invoice you for the additional shipping charges before releasing the goods.

What is volumetric weight?

Volumetric weight is used by courier companies to calculate the cost of shipping to take into account not only an items actual weight, but also the amount of space it takes up. For example, your item may be extremely light, but very large. In this case, it would not be fair to calculate the cost based purely on the weight. The volumetric weight is therefore calculated to take into account the item's size and this is done using the dimensions of the item. This is why we ask you to enter package dimensions into our system when calculating the shipping price.

What impact does volumetric weight have on the shipping cost?

If you opt to use Royal Mail, volumetric weight will not have an impact as all Royal Mail shipments are calculated on weight alone. If you use UPS, the volumetric weight will be used to calculate the shipping costs. Rest assured though, we have extremely competitive rates with UPS that are some of the cheapest available

Will you pay my customs charges?

Unfortunately not. We complete customs paperwork on your behalf when we despatch your items but Customs duty is calculated by the destination country on receipt. If additional duty is payable, customs will notify you of this and hold your package until payment is received. It is your responsibility to settle your customs charges on receipt of any notification from your local customs office.

Can you declare a lower value for my items when completing the customs paperwork?

Absolutely not. This is illegal and would result in significant fines.

Can i use my ukbrandsworldwide address to open credit accounts with UK retailers and/or banks?

Under no circumstances should any credit agreements be entered into using our address.