Delivery, returns and the right to change your mind

This page says what happens after you order a printed book: when it arrives, what it costs, and what you can do if you want to send it back. The last part but one covers the edition you read online instead.

Who you are buying from

The seller is Symbiotic Design, Deflectiespoelstraat 6, 5651 HP Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Chamber of Commerce number 96731222. VAT number NL005228606B35.

You can write to us at any time through the contact page, and we answer by email, usually within a few working days.

The book is printed after you order it

There is no warehouse and no stock. Your copy is made once your order is paid, by our printer, and sent from there straight to the address you gave. That is why the book leaves no pile of unsold copies behind.

It also means the first days after your order are printing days, not travelling days. A faster delivery speed shortens the journey, never the printing.

When it arrives

Before you pay, the site asks the printer what it can do for your own address and shows you every speed it offers, with the price of each one and how long it takes in working days, printing included. Those figures come from the printer at that moment, for your country, not from a table written here.

As a guide, at the time of writing a copy to the Netherlands takes between about six and thirteen working days depending on the speed chosen. Other countries differ, and the page will tell you.

Whatever the estimate, the law gives you a firm outer limit and so do we: your book is delivered within thirty days of your order at the very latest. If that ever looks impossible, we will write to you, and you may ask for your money back.

Some speeds can be followed and some cannot. The page says which before you choose, and when there is a tracking link we send it to you as soon as the printer gives it to us.

Where we can send it

We send to every country our printer serves, which is most of the world. If it does not serve yours, the site will say so while you are giving your address, before any money is involved, and you can write to us to see whether there is another way.

Outside the European Union, a parcel may meet import duties, taxes or a customs handling fee on arrival. Those are set by the country you are in, they are not part of what you pay here, and they are yours to pay.

What you pay

You pay the price of the book plus the delivery you choose. Both are shown, separately and added up, before you order, and the price you see includes VAT. There is nothing to add at the end.

Payment is by card, handled by Stripe. We never see or keep your card details.

Changing your mind: fourteen days

You may change your mind within fourteen days of receiving the book, and you do not have to give a reason. The fourteen days run from the day the book reaches you or someone you named.

Printing to order does not take this right away. The book is a standard edition offered to everyone, not something made to your own specification, so the exception in the law for personalised goods does not apply here.

Tell us within those fourteen days, through the contact page or by email. You can use the form at the foot of this page, and you can also simply say it in your own words. We confirm in writing that we have received it.

After telling us, send the book back within fourteen days, to Symbiotic Design, Deflectiespoelstraat 6, 5651 HP Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The postage for sending it back is yours to pay.

We give you your money back within fourteen days of hearing from you, by the same means you paid with. That includes what you paid for delivery, at the rate of our cheapest standard delivery. If you chose a faster delivery, the extra you paid for the speed stays with us, which is what the law allows.

We may wait to pay you until the book is back with us, or until you show us it has been sent, whichever comes first.

You may open the parcel and look at the book as you would in a bookshop. If it comes back damaged or used beyond that, we may reduce what we give back by the value it has lost.

If the book is damaged or wrong

This is a different thing from changing your mind, and it costs you nothing. The law says the book must be what was promised, and that right lasts far longer than fourteen days.

If your copy arrives damaged, misprinted, incomplete or simply not the book you ordered, write to us with a photograph if you can. We replace it or give you your money back, and we pay the postage.

If something goes wrong between us

Write to us first, through the contact page. We answer every complaint, and we would rather settle it ourselves than have anyone go further.

Dutch law applies to what you buy here, and that never takes away the protection the law of your own country gives you as a consumer.

The edition you read online

The Digital Book, which used to be called the Web Experience, is not posted, so none of the delivery above applies to it. It opens the moment your payment goes through.

Because it opens at once, the buying page asks you for two things before you pay: that you want it opened straight away, and that you understand this ends your right to change your mind within fourteen days. Both are yours to tick or leave, and we confirm both back to you by email. That is what Dutch law asks of us, and it is why we can open it immediately rather than making you wait a fortnight.

If anything there does not work as it should, that is a different matter and it is ours to fix. Write to us.