FAQ Group: 4. Shipping

We deliver to over 200 countries Worldwide from the UK. Use the Shipping Calculator at checkout to confirm if we deliver to your chosen Country. There are a few countries that we do not ship to where the chances of successful delivery are low (e.g. countries in war zones, under international sanctions, that have no secure delivery infrastructure, etc) – these countries will not appear on the dropdown menu in the Shipping Calculator. Our couriers cannot deliver to PO Box addresses due to a signature being required. We offer a number of postal and courier shipping options dependent on parcel weight and volume to suit all budgets and service requirements.

Please note, whilst we will accept orders for shipment to all the countries listed, shipping a Gift Box to some countries can be more problematic than others! The common destinations that most of our customers send Gift Boxes to (like USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and most of western Europe) have well-developed customs procedures for goods coming into their countries and good local distribution networks to ensure your shipment is normally delivered fairly quickly and efficiently to your recipient. However, there are still many countries that have less developed logistics infrastructure and practices (e.g. overly strict customs procedures, poor transport links/local distribution networks/security, etc) which can interrupt, slow or even lose parcels during the shipment process. We have already excluded the worst known ones but many countries on the list in parts of Latin/South America, Africa, Asia and even parts of Eastern and Southern Europe fall into this category. Should you wish to send a Gift Box to one of these countries, you should be aware of the risks, a greater potential for issues to arise during the shipment process and build in additional time if appropriate to allow your Box to be delivered for when you want.

The majority of our Gift Boxes are ordered by people as a gift to friends or family abroad so are invariably delivered to a different address to the customer’s billing address. Obviously, we also have British expats who may want to order a Box for themselves so they will be able to ship to the same address. In either case, you will be asked at checkout to fill in your shipping address in the first instance before you complete the billing address (which you can copy from the shipping address if it’s going to be the same).

For subscriptions, two ways – you can log into your account on our website, go to My Account, under Shipping Address you can edit or add a new Address, follow prompts to complete change; OR you can email us and we’ll take care of it for you. Most account changes take effect on your next renewal.

For individual orders, if you realised that you need to change the shipping address after you have already completed the checkout process, we can only do that if the order has not already been dispatched and passed to the carrier! Please email us as soon as possible if that is the case and we will do what we can.

No, prices are not inclusive of shipping fee. Please see the answer to the shipping charges question below for how shipping charges work.

Shipping parcels overseas can be expensive but we have endeavoured to get the best possible service and rates for our customers by partnering with both Royal Mail and a multi-carrier logistics company to offer you a range of options. Please see our International Shipping page for details of all the shipping services provided in the first instance. Every Gift Box page then has a shipping tab which shows the shipping services available for that Box and the relevant shipping charges to the most popular countries our customers send to. However, the most accurate way to see the shipping options and charges for your specific order is to use the Shipping Calculator in the shopping basket / checkout page, once you have chosen the items that you wish to buy. You can select the option you want to go for once the full shipping address details have been completed.

We aim to dispatch your gift box within 2 working days after your order is processed and payment is received and 2 working days of the anniversary date for Subscription Boxes, and sooner than that if we can. This is because we hold minimum stock and curate food items for our gift boxes to order to ensure they arrive in the best condition with maximum shelf life possible, especially if your gift box contains items like cakes which have a shorter shelf life. You will receive an email to let you know when your order has been dispatched.

Following dispatch when your box is passed to Royal Mail or the courier for shipping, the time it takes to be delivered to the recipient will depend on the destination and the shipping service chosen. Please see our International Shipping page for expected delivery timescales for the different shipping services and destinations, although we would always recommend allowing a few extra days in case of unforeseen delays in transit.

When your Gift Box first lands in the destination country, the Customs authorities there may assess the shipment for liability to any local Customs duty and taxes in that country. Many popular destination countries like the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore have sensible import thresholds of a few hundred pounds below which no import duty or taxes will be charged, so there is nothing extra to pay by you or your recipient.

However, some countries do have ungenerously low or even no thresholds to exempt imports from local duty and taxes, which may mean that your shipment may be faced with a Customs charge before it can be cleared for final delivery. As every country has its own Customs regulations and they change all the time, it is highly recommended that you check the local Customs restrictions before placing your order, just to ensure that none of the products in our Boxes are prohibited for import into that country and that you are aware of any potential extra charges which may be incurred. Where any duty or tax is assessed as being due by Customs, the parcel recipient will be responsible for paying it. British Gift Box has no control over these charges and cannot predict their amount, and as such, is not responsible for paying any such charges. This is one of the reasons why we no longer ship to EU countries post Brexit as their lack of reasonable thresholds to exempt the modest value of our Gift Boxes means that EU-based recipients are generally faced with a tax charge accompanying their gift, which isn’t a great experience!

We have a section in our International Shipping page that covers the basics of what you need to know about Customs Duty & Tax Charges and highlights some country-specific issues that you may find useful before placing an order.

The Royal Mail services we offer are not insured to keep the prices of these postal options affordable for some of our customers. No compensation is available for loss or damage of parcels and contents as a result. All courier services are insured and we have a dedicated team to make sure that every delivery gets to its destination on time. Any breakages or damage using a courier service will be refunded, but we do require photographic evidence of all breakages for a refund to be given.

Once your order is completed, you will receive a Dispatch Confirmation from us to notify you that it has been dispatched to Royal Mail or the couriers for shipping.

No tracking is available if you chose the Economy Post shipping option from Royal Mail. For all other shipping services, the shipping address recipient (whether that is you or the person you are buying for) will receive a separate email from the carrier containing a tracking number for the parcel. They will then be able to track the parcel every step of the way to delivery. Whilst the requirement with international shipping is for the carrier to send the tracking email to the recipient to facilitate communications with them and the customs authorities, we will also send you any tracking number ourselves to keep you in the loop if you are buying as a gift to send to someone else.