A: 

UK Customers: UK VAT is charged on all orders

Customers outside of the UK and EU: All customers outside the UK and EU should expect to have to pay local VAT and Duty charges on all shipments.

US Customers: The US government is now charging a 10% tariff on most UK goods shipped into the USA. Our understanding is that there is an exception for 'informational media’, which includes CDs, vinyl, DVDs, BluRays and posters. However, as the new process has only just come into effect, we cannot guarantee that your order won’t be assessed by US Customs as being eligible for tariffs. In the event that any orders are deemed eligible for tariffs, we will not be able to pay or reimburse this charge.

If you are not prepared to possibly be charged tariffs then we ask that you order from a local retailer in the US instead.

Customers within the EU:

Orders with a value of LESS than €150 - We are signed up to the EU IOSS scheme, which allows us to collect local VAT for EU customers at the point of sale for orders where the total is less than €150. Applicable VAT is included in the purchase price and shown at checkout.

IOSS information is included with all shipments. However, In some cases local customs don't realise this and request a customs payment. If this happens then you should be able to have the charges removed by presenting your invoice, which will show you have already paid VAT. We can provide a detailed copy of your invoice if required, as well as our IOSS number. Please contact store@realworld.co.uk for assistance with this.

Please do not pay any customs charges without contacting us first, as we will not be able to reimburse you.

Orders with a value of MORE than €150 - The IOSS scheme does not cover your order and we have not collected tax from you. As such, you should expect to have to pay local VAT and Duty charges on all shipments.

A: Order Receipt. At this stage we have received your pre-order and accepted payment. You will receive an email order confirmation. At this stage we have NOT shipped your order.

We aim to ship all pre-orders at the start of the week, so before the Friday release date. The aim is to have all pre-orders delivered on release date, or as close to as possible with international orders.  Orders are shipped from the UK. Please see below for estimated transit times.

UK & IE: 1-5 Days
Within EU: 3-8 Days
Outside EU: 6-14 Days

Orders containing both pre-order and currently available items will be shipped once the pre-order is available.

This is because there is only one shipping charge that is calculated on all the items in the order.

If you would like currently available items to be sent before the pre-order, then these items should be ordered separately from the pre-order.

All shipping services and rates are provided by our fulfilment partner. To ensure every order can be tracked through to delivery, we only use fully tracked shipping services.

The cost of fully tracked shipping from the UK to some countries — particularly Canada and Australia — can be quite high. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about this, as we always use the lowest-priced fully tracked service available to each country.

For international orders weighing up to 2kg (approximately 2–3 vinyl records), we offer a Tracked Mail service, which is the most cost-effective option. Orders weighing more than 2kg must be sent via courier services. While individual item weights are not shown to customers, if you are only seeing courier shipping options at checkout, this means the total order weight of your order exceeds 2kg.

Orders for CDs and vinyl received before 11am are usually shipped the same business day. During busy periods, our fulfilment partner may ship orders on the following business day.

Most clothing items are manufactured on demand by Printful and are typically shipped within 2–3 business days.

The transit times shown below are estimates only and are subject to customs clearance processes in the destination country.

UK Tracked Mail: 2-3 Business days

EU Tracked Mail: 4-8 Business days

EU Standard Courier: 3-7 Business days

EU Premium Courier: 2-5 Business days

Non-EU Tracked Mail: 6-10 Business days

Non-EU Standard Courier: 5-10 Business days

Non-EU Premium Courier: 2-5 Business days