Terms and Conditions

Website product orders – terms.

Cambridge University Press is a syndicate of the University of Cambridge and our principal place of business is at the Edinburgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge, CB2 8RU, England. We are a not-for-profit organisation and our VAT number is 823847609.

You may contact us by email or by post to the above address. Cambridge University Press is referred to in these terms and conditions, interchangeably, as ‘us’, ‘we’ and ‘our’.

This page (together with the documents referred to on it) are the legal terms and conditions (Terms) on which we supply any of the products (Products) listed on www.cambridge.org (our site) to you.

Please read these Terms carefully before ordering any Products from our site. By ordering our Products, you agree to be bound by these Terms and you will need to accept them, before completing your order, by clicking on the button marked 'I accept' at the end of the order process. If you refuse to accept these Terms, you will not be able to order any Products from our site.

You may print or save a copy of these Terms for future reference, by downloading the PDF in the ‘Extras’ menu.

We may amend these Terms from time to time as set out in clause 17, below. Every time you wish to order Products, please check these Terms to ensure you understand the terms which will apply at that time.

These Terms were most recently updated on 31 January 2013.

1. Our products

The images of the Products on our site are for illustrative purposes only. Although we have made every effort to display the colours accurately, we cannot guarantee that your computer's display of the colours accurately reflect the colour of the Products.

Your Products may also vary slightly from any images and/or descriptions of the Products. All sizes, weights, capacities, dimensions and measurements indicated on our site may vary by up to a five per cent tolerance.

The packaging of the Products may vary from that shown on images on our site.

2. Placing an order on our site

By placing an order through our site, you agree that you are legally capable of entering into binding contracts and are at least 18 years old.

All orders are subject to acceptance by us. After placing an order for our Products, you will receive an email from us acknowledging that we have received your order. This does not mean that your order has been accepted by us. We will confirm acceptance to you by sending you an email that confirms that the Product has been dispatched (the Dispatch Confirmation). The contract between us (Contract) will only be formed when we send you the Dispatch Confirmation.

The Contract will only relate to those Products whose dispatch we have confirmed in the Dispatch Confirmation. If you have ordered additional Products that are not listed in the Dispatch Confirmation (for example because they are currently out of stock / unavailable), these Products will not form part of the Contract until dispatch of such Products has been confirmed in a separate Dispatch Confirmation.

3. Availability and delivery

We will aim to fulfill your order by the delivery date set out in the Dispatch Confirmation or, if no delivery date is specified, then within 30 days of the date of the Dispatch Confirmation, unless there are exceptional circumstances. 

All Products shown on our site are subject to availability. If we have insufficient stock of a Product, you will be notified of this as soon as possible after your order has been received. You will be given the opportunity to wait until the Product is back in stock or cancel your order and secure a refund in accordance with these Terms.

4. Risk and title

The Products will be at your risk from the time they are delivered to you. Ownership of the Products will only pass to you when we receive full payment of all sums due in respect of the Products, including delivery charges.

5. Price and payment

We will make every effort to ensure that the prices on our site are accurate.

Nevertheless, as our site contains a large number of Products it is always possible that, despite our best efforts, some of the Products listed on our site may be incorrectly priced. We are under no obligation to provide any Product to you at an incorrect lower price quoted on our site, even after we have sent you a Dispatch Confirmation, if the pricing error is obvious and unmistakable and could have reasonably been recognised by you as a mis-pricing.

All prices exclude VAT (which is shown to you at a later stage, but before completing your order) and delivery costs (which will be added to the total amount due as set out in our information on delivery).

Payment for all Products must be by credit or debit card. We accept payment with Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Visa Debit, Solo and Maestro. Your card is pre-authorised at the time of making your order, with the payment being taken from your card at the end of the working day on which you make your order. However where, at the point of order, there is insufficient stock of a particular product, payment will only be taken for that particular product when stock is available in our warehouse to be dispatched. 

You will need to check with your card provider for any additional handling fees that they may charge.

6. Consumer rights and our refund policy

Products returned during the seven-day cooling off period

If you wish to return a Product, you may cancel the Contract at any time within seven working days after receiving the Product for any reason and your statutory rights will remain unaffected. To cancel a Contract, you must inform us in writing at directcustserve@cambridge.org and return the Product to the following address:

Cambridge University Press
c/o DHL, 2 Spire Road
Rushden
Northamptonshire
NN10 0FN
United Kingdom

We will refund the price of the Product to you in full (including the delivery cost, paid by you, for sending the Product to you) as soon as possible and, in any case, within 30 days of the day you have given notice of your cancellation. However, you will be responsible for returning the Product(s) to us immediately, in the same condition in which you received it, at your own cost and risk. You have a legal responsibility to take reasonable care of any Product(s) whilst they are in your possession. If you do not return them in accordance with these Terms on making a cancellation, we may have a right of action against you for compensation.

Products returned outside the seven-day cooling off period

If you wish to return a Product outside the seven day cooling off period you can return the Product to us within thirty days of initial receipt of the Product, provided that it is returned to us in the same condition in which you received it. We will refund the price of the Product to you in full as soon as possible and, in any case, within 30 days of the day we receive the returned Product from you. However, we will not refund the original delivery cost, paid by you, for sending the Product to you and you will be responsible for returning the Product(s) to us immediately, at your own cost and risk. To cancel a Contract, you must inform us in writing and return the Product to the address detailed above.

Products returned because they are defective

Where you return a Product to us because it is defective, we will examine the returned Product and will notify you of your refund via email within a reasonable period of time. We will usually process the refund due to you as soon as possible and, in any case, within 30 days of the day we confirmed to you via email that you were entitled to a refund for the defective Product. Products returned by you because of a defect will be refunded in full, including a refund of the delivery cost, paid by you, for sending the Product to you and the cost incurred by you in returning the Product to us. To cancel a Contract, you must inform us in writing and return the Product to the address detailed above.

We will usually refund any money received from you using the same method originally used by you to pay for your purchase.

You will not have any right to cancel a Contract for the supply of any of the following Products where the Product has been unsealed:

• CD-ROMs
• DVDs
• Any other audio or video products

7. Warranty and limitation of liability

We warrant to you that any Product purchased through our site is of satisfactory quality and reasonably fit for all the purposes for which products of that kind are commonly supplied.

All other express or implied terms, conditions, warranties or representations with regard to the Products, our site or any information or service provided by us through our site are excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Our liability for losses you suffer as a result of buying the Product(s) is strictly limited to the purchase price of the Product you purchased. 

This provision does not in any way exclude or limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or for fraudulent misrepresentation or for any other matter for which it would be illegal for us to exclude or limit, or attempt to exclude or limit, our liability.

We accept no liability for any failure to deliver, or for any delay in delivering, the Product, nor for any defect or damage to the Product that is caused by circumstances beyond our reasonable control.

As you are a consumer, you have legal rights in relation to Products that are faulty or not as described. Advice about your legal rights is available from your local Citizens' Advice Bureau or Trading Standards office. Nothing in these Terms will affect these legal rights.

8. Import duty

If you order Products from our site for delivery outside the UK, they may be subject to import duties and taxes which are levied when the delivery reaches the specified destination. You will be responsible for payment of any such import duties and taxes and we have no control over these charges and cannot predict their amount. Please contact your local customs office for further information before placing your order.

You must comply with all applicable laws and regulations of the country for which the Products are destined. We will not be liable for any breach by you of any such laws.

9. Written communications

Applicable laws require that some of the information or communications we send to you should be in writing. When using our site, you accept that communication with us will be mainly electronic. We will contact you by e-mail or provide you with information by posting notices on our site. For contractual purposes, you agree to this electronic means of communication and you acknowledge that all contracts, notices, information and other communications that we provide to you electronically comply with any legal requirement that such communications be in writing. This condition does not affect your statutory rights.

10. Notices

All notices given by you to us must be given to Cambridge University Press at directcustserve@cambridge.org (for all non-legal notices) or legalservices@cambridge.org (for all legal notices). We may give notice to you at either the email or postal address you provide to us when placing an order. Notice will be deemed received and properly served immediately when posted on our site, 24 hours after an email is sent, or three days after the date of posting of any letter. 

11. Transfer of rights and obligations

The contract between you and us is binding on you and us and on our respective successors and assigns. You may not transfer, assign, charge or otherwise dispose of a Contract, or any of your rights or obligations arising under it, without our prior written consent. We may transfer, assign, charge, sub-contract or otherwise dispose of a Contract, or any of our rights or obligations arising under it, at any time during the term of the Contract.

12. Third parties

This contract is between you and us. No other person shall have any rights to enforce any of its terms, whether under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties Act) 1999 or otherwise. However, as you are a consumer, the recipient of your gift of a Product will have the benefit of our warranty at clause 7, but we and you will not need their consent to cancel or make any changes to these Terms.

13. Force majeure

We will not be liable or responsible for any failure to perform, or delay in performance of, any of our obligations under a Contract that is caused by events outside our reasonable control, including but not restricted to, strikes, lock-outs, riot, terrorist attack, war, fire, explosion, natural disaster, impossibility of the use of public or private transport or public or private telecommunications networks or the acts, decrees, legislation, regulations or restrictions of any government.

Our performance under any Contract is deemed to be suspended for the period that the force majeure event continues, and we will have an extension of time for performance for the duration of that period. We will use our reasonable endeavours to bring the force majeure event to a close or to find a solution by which our obligations under the Contract may be performed despite the force majeure event.

14. Waiver

If we fail, at any time during the term of a Contract, to insist upon strict performance of any of your obligations under the Contract or any of these Terms, or if we fail to exercise any of the rights or remedies to which we are entitled under the Contract, this shall not constitute a waiver of such rights or remedies and shall not relieve you from compliance with such obligations. A waiver by us of any default shall not constitute a waiver of any subsequent default.

15. Severability

If any of these Terms or any provisions of a Contract are determined by any competent authority to be invalid, unlawful or unenforceable to any extent, such term, condition or provision will to that extent be severed from the remaining terms, conditions and provisions which will continue to be valid to the fullest extent permitted by law.

16. Entire agreement

These Terms and any document expressly referred to in them represent the entire agreement between us in relation to the subject matter of any Contract and supersede any prior agreement, understanding or arrangement between us, whether oral or in writing.

We each acknowledge that, in entering into a Contract, neither of us has relied on any representation, undertaking or promise given by the other or be implied from anything said or written in negotiations between us prior to such Contract except as expressly stated in these Terms.

Neither of us shall have any remedy in respect of any untrue statement made by the other, whether orally or in writing, prior to the date of any Contract (unless such untrue statement was made fraudulently) and the other party’s only remedy shall be for breach of contract as provided in these Terms.

17. Our right to vary these Terms

We may amend these Terms at any time and any revised version will be effective immediately that it is displayed on our site. You will be subject to the policies and Terms in force at the time that you order Products from us, unless any change to those policies or these Terms is required to be made by law or governmental authority (in which case it will apply to orders previously placed by you), or if we notify you of the change to those policies or these Terms before we send you the Dispatch Confirmation (in which case we have the right to assume that you have accepted the change to the Terms, unless you notify us to the contrary within seven working days of receipt by you of the Products).

18. Language

These Terms and any Contracts are drafted in the English language. If these Terms or any Contracts are translated into any other language, the English language text shall prevail.

19. Law and jurisdiction

Contracts for the purchase of Products through our site will be governed by English law. Any dispute arising from, or related to, such Contracts shall be subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.