FAQs

Yes, absolutely! Books can be ordered for collection from our bookshop in Portobello, Edinburgh, Scotland. When ordering via our website, just select the option ‘Order for collection’ in the ‘Delivery Location’ section at checkout.

You can also order books for collection by visiting our shop in person or by contacting us over the phone or by via our contact form.

When you place an order for collection, we will send you an order confirmation email first, and then you will receive another email when your order is ready for pickup. Collection is available from our shop every day between 10am and 6pm, in line with our opening hours.

You can collect your book up to 6 months after it has been made available. After 6 months, we will unfortunately have to cancel your order and return the book to stock. We will always notify you if you have any items that have been uncollected for 6 months. Please note that refunds apply only to non-personalised stock; any uncollected personalised items (i.e. signed and dedicated books) cannot be refunded.

If you are unable to collect your book yourself and would like to send someone on your behalf, just make sure your designated person has the name and number associated with your order.

To have your book(s) sent via post, select ‘Postal Delivery’ in the ‘Delivery Location’ section at checkout, then input your delivery address.

We can also arrange delivery for orders placed in the shop

We send all our UK parcels using Royal Mail tracked services:Tracked 48hr – aim to be delivered within 2-3 working daysTracked 24hr – aim to be delivered within 1-2 working days

Please be aware that Royal Mail aims to deliver within these timeframes, but these are not guaranteed. Public holidays and busy periods may affect these timings.

We have also been advised by Royal Mail that particular post-code areas are excluded from these delivery speeds and may take a little longer to arrive. These include:

AB36–38, AB54–56, FK18–21, KA27–28, KW1–17, PA20–38, PA41–80, PH19–44, PH49–50, TR21–25, BT, GY, HS, IV, IM, JE, ZE [last updated January 2026]

During busy periods (e.g. Christmas), Royal Mail are under a great deal of pressure and delays are more likely. If you are worried about your order arriving for a specific date, please always order well in advance. Getting your books to you in a timely manner is our main priority; we will always aim to let you know if there is going to be a delay with your order. During Christmas we will also specify recommended last order dates.

If you have any concerns regarding the whereabouts of your parcel, please do not hesitate to contact us.

When your order has been posted, you will receive an email from us containing a Royal Mail tracking number, which you can refer to if you would like to know the status of your parcel.

We will always notify you when your book has been posted, so please let us know if you have not received your tracking number. If we experience any unforeseen delays or issues with your order, we will email you as soon as possible.

We regret that we are unable to hold orders to be posted on a specific date. For example, any order notes that state ‘please do not post until December 21st’ cannot be acknowledged. Unfortunately, we do not have the space to keep multiple parcels for any length of time. Please only order once you are happy for your book to be posted.

For information about Preorders, see our Preorders section of the FAQs.

We currently ship to more than 50 countries worldwide – including the USA, Canada and Australia – using Royal Mail international tracked services. You can find the list of available countries in our ‘country’ dropdown menu when entering your delivery address at checkout. If your country is not listed, please get in touch with us.

Our website automatically calculates the international shipping cost based on the delivery country and the weight of the parcel. You can view the postage cost once the delivery section has been completed at checkout (prior to final payment).

If your order contains multiple items with different publication dates, your order will be dispatched in one shipment, once all the products in the order have become available. This is to save on shipping costs, as we understand that posting internationally can be expensive! If you would like part(s) of your order to be posted upon publication / separately from the rest of your order, we recommend that you order the desired product(s) separately.

This depends on the destination country, but we find that this is usually between 5-14 working days. Please refer to your tracking information and local couriers for more information on delivery schedules. If you have any concerns regarding the whereabouts of your parcel, please do not hesitate to contact us.

When your order has been posted, you will receive an email from us containing a Royal Mail tracking number, which you can refer to if you would like to know the status of your parcel. Royal Mail works with local shipping companies in different countries to deliver your parcel. If there is limited information on Royal Mail’s tracking website, we recommend using your tracking number on your local courier’s website (e.g. USPS, PostNL, etc.) as they may have more up-to-date information. If you have any concerns regarding the whereabouts of your parcel, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We will always notify you when your book has been posted, so please let us know if you have not received your tracking number. If we experience any unforeseen delays or issues with your order, we will email you as soon as possible.

We regret that we are unable to hold orders to be posted on a specific date. For example, any order notes that state ‘please do not post until December 21st’ cannot be acknowledged. Unfortunately, we do not have the space to keep multiple parcels for any length of time. Please only order once you are happy for your book to be posted.

Please note that EU orders over €150 (roughly £128) will not have taxes prepaid. These taxes will be due upon your parcel’s entry into the destination country, and payable to the local courier service. Please check for any notifications from your local courier regarding this.

If you are worried about tariffs implemented and the removal of the de minimis threshold from 2025, please note that books are exempt from these. However, tariffs still apply to non-book items such as tote bags, games, and stationery, as manufacturing origin must be specified and this information is difficult to ascertain. With the exception of our Portobello Bookshop exclusive tote bags, we have unfortunately had to suspend posting non-book items to the USA.

Tariffs are currently subject to rapid changes, and we will do our best to update customers as and when we have more information should this potentially impact their order.

If you would like to cancel your order, please contact us as soon as possible, quoting your order number.

Orders for standard editions are normally dispatched from our supplier within a day (if it is in stock), so the cancellation request must be received before it has been dispatched. After this point, we can help to arrange a return once the parcel has arrived at its destination, but we are unable to cancel the shipment.

If you have purchased a personalised item (such as a book with a dedication), the cancellation request must be made before the date of the signing, otherwise we are unable to offer a refund.

Returns are accepted within 30 days of the date of purchase. Please bring your item back to the shop with a receipt. To be eligible for a refund or an exchange, your item must be unused and in new condition. We offer exchanges with items of equivalent value or above.

If you would like to return an item that you have purchased from our website, please always contact us before returning your item. This means we can arrange with you the best way to return your book and look out for it in our incoming post.

If you choose to return a book which does not have any faults or damages, we are not responsible for the additional postage costs related to the return of the item. Please always keep your proof of postage until we have completed your return/refund/exchange, in case your item is lost on its way back to us.

Personalised items (such as books with dedications) are non-refundable/-exchangeable.

Damaged or missing orders should be reported to us within 30 days after the date of purchase. In the case of preorders (where the purchase date is before the publication date), damaged or missing orders should be reported to us within 10 days of the order’s delivery date.

We review any instances of damage or non-arrival on a case-by-case basis. Although we make every effort to make sure your book arrives in pristine condition and would never knowingly send a damaged book, we understand that damage can occur in transit. Rest assured that we will always package books to a high standard for both domestic and international posting.

If a customer has chosen an untracked service for the delivery of an international order, we regret that we are unable to financially reimburse customers for goods lost in transit.

In the rare scenario that your parcel does not arrive after 10 days (30 days for international orders) and this can be verified by the tracking information, we can offer a refund or, if possible, a replacement.

We are very lucky to receive an exciting range of signed stock and we love giving customers the opportunity to buy signed books from their favourite authors. We also have special exclusive and independent bookshop editions available to order. You can find our range of signed and special editions here.

For some signed titles, we make the decision to restrict the amount of copies available per customer. We do this in instances where signed copies are very limited and in high demand. This is to ensure that as many customers as possible get the chance to buy a signed copy for the intended RRP. We reserve the right to cancel and fully refund customers who place several separate orders for books for which we have set a purchase limit.

We will always list signed/special/independent bookshop editions separately from standard editions on our website. Please ensure you have chosen your preferred edition before completing your purchase.

If it is a signed/special edition, the product page will have a blue banner at the top (the standard edition will have no banner), which will signify the type of edition (signed, signed bookplated, independent bookshop, exclusive, etc.). It will also be specified whether you have ordered a special edition in your order confirmation.

For signed books and preorders, depending on the date of the order, these are not typically available for immediate dispatch or collection. In these cases, we provide an estimated dispatch date on the product page and on the order confirmation email.

Please note that we sometimes organise author signings after the publication date; please refer to the estimated dispatch date given on the product page and the confirmation email, rather than the publication date. Sometimes signed-and-dedicated books are organised around events, in which case the book is usually dispatched after the event has occurred.

For very large signings, dispatching these orders can sometimes take a little longer. We are a small team and will work hard to post your order as quickly as we can. If we experience any unforeseen delays or issues with your order, we will contact you as soon as possible.

Sometimes we are lucky enough to receive signed first editions of new titles from publishers. However, signed first editions and collectors’ items are not our speciality, and we are unable to determine in advance if the stock we will receive will be a first printing. On our website, we will specify in the product listing if a book is a first edition, and you can order these for collection or delivery as normal. Unfortunately, we are unable to search our stock for first editions, or hold first editions for customers.

We meticulously check books when they arrive in the shop for any damage. Any minor details which are not suitable on the basis of lowering collector value are not the responsibility of The Portobello Bookshop.

We are delighted to be able to offer signed and dedicated copies of certain books, which means you can add a name or a short message (up to 12 characters) for a personal touch! You can find our list of signed books that are available for dedications here.

If you wish to make any changes to your order (e.g. amending the dedication), please contact us prior to the date of the signing. This date can be found on the product listing, e.g. “Only available to order until 12th January at 10:00am…”

Once a book has been personalised, it is non-refundable.

Although we will try our best to honour specific dedication requests, it is ultimately the choice of the author what they write when coming to sign and dedicate books. We cannot be held responsible if the dedication is different from your original request, or if the author chooses not to write a particular dedication.

Our Portobello Bookshop Gift Cards have no expiration date!

They are valid for books, magazines, stationery, games, and any other physical product in store and on our website. However, they cannot be used to purchase more gift cards, or tickets to our events (any type of ticket option, for events held in store and external).

Gift card purchases are non-refundable, and we regret that we are unable to reimburse customers for lost cards. We recommend making a note or taking a picture of the code on the back of the card / in the digital gift card email. Please note that the gift card is separate from its backing, and we must have the gift card barcode or associated email address to redeem the card in store.

All event tickets are digital and will be emailed to you as a QR code. Please note that all tickets are sent in emails separately from your order confirmation, e.g. if you buy two tickets, you will get an order confirmation and then two further emails with a QR code for each ticket.

Each ticket has its own unique number, usually beginning with #T, followed by six numbers. This is different from your order number when purchasing tickets, which has no T in the number.

At an event, our staff will scan the QR code at the door to the venue. Please have the email with the QR code ready, either on your phone or printed out. If you lose access to your QR code(s), we can search for your ticket(s) using your full name or order number at the event.

If you can no longer attend an event, please get in touch with us as soon as possible via our contact form. Event tickets do not fall under our refund policy and it is at our discretion if we are able to offer a refund. Even if we are unable to, we can make your space available to someone else who’s hoping to attend.

If you can no longer attend the event, but would like to transfer your ticket to someone else, you can do so by forwarding the email with the QR code to them. Please note that each QR code admits one person entry to the event, and cannot be shared between more than one individual.

Many of our events include an author signing, so you can get your book signed and personalised on the night. But this is not always the case! We will always mention if the author will be signing in the event description page on our website.

Yes, we do livestream most of our events using Crowdcast. When you sign up for a ticket that includes access to the livestream, you will receive a link to access. You will be asked to create a free Crowdcast account.

We have past recordings of events available on our website here, under “Replay”

Accessibility is very important to us and we only work with venues that meet our high standards. Some examples of things we can do include reserving seats for wheelchair access, seats near the front for audio/visual requirements, setting up a hearing loop, providing a BSL interpreter, and providing companion tickets.

For any specific requirements or concerns, please get in touch via our contact form and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

We will always specify if we have guaranteed signed copies for an event. Unfortunately, we don’t always know exactly how many signed copies we will have for an event, so if the event page doesn’t specify, it means we cannot guarantee if everyone will be able to get a signed copy.

If the event coincides, or is close enough to publication date, then usually we have the books available at the venue for collection. However, if the book is published long before the event, we usually make the book available for collection from the shop, or, if delivery has been selected at the time of purchase, we post it out straight away.

However, if you have ordered a signed-and-dedicated book as part of your ticket, and the signing coincides with the event, your book will only be available after the event has occurred.

We will always advertise any current vacancies in the jobs section of our website, which is only visible when there is a vacancy. We will also shout about any openings on our social media and our newsletter and often list on websites such as Creative Scotland.

We do not accept or consider speculative applications at any other time.

We’re very open to hearing from authors and publishers; you are welcome to get in touch with us via the contact form supplying all the relevant information. We do not accept titles that are only available on Amazon.

Please note that as we are a small team and our shelf space is limited, we have to be very selective about taking on titles. We will reply to submissions if we wish to discuss further about stocking your book but regret that due to being a small team, we are unable to reply to every enquiry.