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Frequently asked questions

Buying Books

Selling Books

Managing Your Account

Buying Books

Is there a minimum order?

There is no minimum order and there is no minimum commitment. You’re free to come and go and use our site as often or as little as you wish. We like to think our low pricing and great customer support retains our customers, not contracts!

How do I buy a book?

In order to make a purchase, you must first register and open an account. Click the 'Log on' button to Register. It’s quick easy and costs nothing. You can then simply browse our book categories in the normal way or if you’re after something specific, use our Search facility. Once you’ve found a book, simply ‘Add to Basket’ and ‘Proceed to Checkout’. You’ll then be asked to credit funds to your account (if there’s not sufficient funds already in your account) and to select a delivery address. Once your order is placed you’ll receive a Confirmation e-mail giving details of your order and your book should arrive within 7 to 10 days. You can also follow the status of your order on-line from your MyAccount homepage.

How much do books cost?

We are a company dedicated to encouraging our members to recycle their books, therefore whether it’s a latest release or last year’s bestseller, all paperbacks, hardbacks and audio books all cost just £3.75 to buy (and include free delivery on all standard sized paperbacks). Plus we donate 5p from the sale of each book to the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity the Woodland Trust, to support Woodland Creation.

How much is delivery?

We continue to offer FREE delivery on all standard sized paperbacks, which are all cleared labeled with our ‘Free Delivery’ stamp on our summary page. However heavier books such as hardbacks or large format paperbacks may incur a small delivery charge, in order to help cover the extra postage costs. Delivery charges are tailored to individual books but usual range from 50p to £4.50 depending upon the books size and weight. Books which have a delivery charge do not display our ‘Free Delivery’ stamp and clearly show the delivery costs on the ‘More Info’ book page.

Can I select a different delivery address?

Yes. There’s no limit to the number of delivery addresses you can have, plus you can ‘name’ each address so that when you’re placing your order you can simply select your stored ‘Home’ address or ‘Work’ address without the need to enter it each time.

Do you deliver overseas and the Channel Islands?

At present we do not offer overseas delivery. This is simply due to the fact that all our books currently sell for £3.75 and are priced to include UK delivery. Currently we do not offer the facility to change the pricing of our books or to increase postage charges to allow for overseas delivery. We do however deliver to the Channel Islands, as this is part of the UK and therefore standard Royal Mail postage rates apply.

Can I order a book which isn’t in stock?

When a book isn’t in stock, you may add it to your Wish List. Then when a member lists the book for sale, you’ll automatically receive an e-mail notifying you that the book’s back in stock. This way you’ll no longer need to keep checking the site for your book, or worry that you’ll miss it. Instead we’ll simply e-mail you as soon as it comes into stock.

How do I check on the status of an order?

At any time you can logon to your Delivery Status page to check the status of a current Order including the dispatch date. From here you can also mark books as received.

How long does delivery take?

All our books are posted using standard Royal Mail 2nd class post, therefore we recommend allowing 7 to 10 days for delivery, although books are often received well before this time.

How do I return a book?

All our books come with our Buyer Promise therefore if you’re not completely satisfied with your book, simply return it to us at Customer Support and we’ll either source you a replacement or issue a full refund.

If a book has been ordered in error, then again the book may be returned for a refund, we do deduct a £1.00 administration charge to help cover our costs. Also if the book had a postage payment charge, then this cannot be refunded, as this cost has already been incurred by the seller, in sending the book.

What if my book doesn’t arrive?

Unlike auction sites, when buying books from GreenMetropolis.com your transaction is always with us and not with the selling member, therefore if your book doesn’t arrive you can rely on our Buyer Promise to either source you a replacement or issue a full refund.

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Selling Books

How do I list books for sale?

In order to list books for sale, you must first register and open an account. Click the 'Log on' button to Register. It’s quick easy and costs nothing. Then to list your books, simply select the ‘Sell a Book’ option. For each book you wish to sell you’ll need to enter the ISBN (that’s the book’s number on the back, next to the barcode), the condition of the book (Excellent/Good/Acceptable) and if it’s a heavier book, select a Postage Payment. The ISBN enables us to retrieve the details of the book from our database including an image of the book cover, reviews it's received, details of the author, listing category, the price you would pay if you were to buy it new and the format of the book. The whole process takes just a few seconds and then it's immediately entered into our bookstore for sale.

Does it cost anything to list and sell books?

There are no charges or fees for listing books for sale. We simply pay you £3.00 for every book sold (plus any postage payment if it’s a heavier book). All our books cost just £3.75 to buy, of which we pay £3.00 to the seller and 5p to the Woodland Trust.

How do I rate the condition of a book?

As a company dedicated to encouraging members to recycle their books, we recognise how important it is that books are accurately described, for both our buyers and sellers. There's no incentive to overrate a book, as our system works by listing and selling books in the order in which they were listed for sale (first-in, first-out). All books must meet our minimum condition rating of 'Acceptable'. All books must be listed as either 'Acceptable', 'Good', 'Excellent or 'As New' condition.

What if my book doesn’t have an ISBN number (or is a book club edition)?

When listing a book for sale, the ISBN (the books number) must be on our database for it to be accepted, but you may find some older books, special editions or books specifically printed for a book club may not be listed or sometimes may not actually have an ISBN number.

If your books have a CN number (instead of an ISBN number) on the back, then try listing them in the normal way, using this code number (including the CN followed by the number without spacing ie, enter CN1234).

If the number entered is not recognized, then select our Smart Match facility. Our Smart Match system will then automatically ask you for the title and author of each book and match the details to the normal version already in our database.

If you cannot find an ISBN or CN number on your book, then simply follow the link to "add a book without an ISBN" from the Sell a Book page to use our Smart Match facility.

I’ve listed books for sale, but they don’t appear to be displaying?

Our system is designed to encourage members to recycle their books therefore our system works by listing and selling books in the order in which they were listed for sale. This means for a particular book, the first copy to be listed, will be the first to be displayed for sale and the first sold, then the second copy listed etc. This is to ensure when members are browsing books for sale, they're not simply shown 3 or 4 copies of the same book for sale. We hope you agree it is also the fairest system to ensure all books are equally recycled. Occasionally you may see a number of copies of what appears to be the same book, but in all cases, this will be a result of different versions of the book and therefore different isbn's. We hope you agree this is the fairest system to ensure all books are equally recycled.

What happens when I sell a book?

When a book is sold you’ll automatically receive our Sales Confirmation e-mail giving you details of the book sold and where to send it. You then simply dispatch the book to the buyer and update your account details by marking the book as sent. Your account is also credited with our standard £3.00 book payment (plus a postage payment if one was added). You can also check your sales online by logging on to your account and selecting the ‘Delivery Status’ page.

I’ve sold a book, but can’t find the book to send?

If you’re unable to dispatch or complete an order, simply e-mail the details of the order to Customer Support making sure you include the order number and title of the book sold so that we can then cancel the order and make alterative arrangements to source the book for the buyer.

Who pays for postage and when are Postage Payments available?

The seller pays for postage for all books sent. However when listing heavier books, our system will recognise the book and allow a Postage Payment to be added to help cover the costs of sending heavier books. As most standard sized paperbacks weigh between 200g and 500g, the cost of sending using second class post is between 66p and £1.63, therefore the £3.00 we pay for every book sold is usually more than enough to cover postage costs and still provides a contribution to the original purchase costs.

However when adding a hardback or large format paperback for sale, our system automatically recognises the book and enables the seller to select a postage payment, based on the information we have on our database, regarding the books size, weight and recommended retail price. This postage payment is paid in addition to the £3.00 book payment in order to cover the extra postage charges to posting a heavier book. Most postage payments range from 50p to £4.50 depending on the particular book. As a general rule the book payment (£3.00) and the postage payment combined must not be more than 50% of the books recommended retails price.

Postage Rates

'Pricing in Proportion' was introduced by the Royal Mail, changing the way all mail is priced by introducing a combination of weight and size to determine the costs of postage. A size guide is available from The Royal Mail to help work out which format your mail falls into. There are 3 sizes – Letter, Large Letter & Packet. Most books are categorised as either 'Large Letter' or 'Packet', depending upon the thickness of the book once packaged.

For example:
A typical paperback book weighing 350g-500g will cost either 90p if it can be sent as a ‘Large Letter’ or £1.63 if it’s a ‘Packet’. While a typical large hardback book weighing up to 750g will cost only £2.08 to send.

To ensure the best rates are obtained when posting books, we recommend all thinner books (up to 25mm thick) are posted in strong ‘Manilla’ type envelopes and sealed with tape, and not sent using padded envelopes. This will prevent extra thickness being added to the book, and will enable the book to be posted as a ‘Large Letter’ instead of a ‘Packet’ and hence will be cheaper to send.


Type of Book Send as Weight Postage
Paperbacks (thin)
(up to 350 pages)
up to 25mm thick		 Large Letter
(2nd class)		 101g to 250g 66p
251g to 500g 90p
Paperbacks (thick)
(over 350 pages)
over 25mm thick		 Packet
(2nd class)		 101g to 250g £1.24
251g to 500g £1.63
Hardbacks
& heavy paperbacks
over 25mm thick		 Packet
(2nd class)		 501g to 750g £2.08
751g to 1kg £2.49
A4 Hardbacks
Cookbooks,
academic books		 Standard Parcels up to 2kg £4.20
up to 4kg £6.85

For more information, visit the Royal Mail website.

When the postage payment is not sufficient, or where no postage payment is made, the cost or shortfall should be covered from the £3.00 book payment, as per all standard size paperbacks. If you think one of your books should have received a postage payment but hasn’t or should have received a high payment, then let us know the ISBN of the book you’re adding and we’ll check our records, it may be that the data we hold for your book is incorrect or perhaps the recommended retail price is out of date.

What if my book is sent but not received?

We’re pleased to say only a very small number of books are sent but not received, and provided a free Certificate or Proof of Posting was obtained at the time of dispatch, full compensation will be paid to the seller. If we’re notified of a lost or damaged book, then simply complete a P58 form entitled ‘Damaged, delayed or lost UK mail’ from your local Post Office and return completed with your certificate or proof of posting. Upon receipt the Royal Mail will investigate and (usually with 14 days) issue a compensation payment consisting of the approximate value of the item (based on the book’s rrp) plus the original costs of postage.

How long will it take to sell my books?

Our system works by listing and selling books in the order in which they were listed for sale. This means for a particular book, the first copy to be listed, will be the first to be displayed for sale and the first sold, followed by the second copy listed etc. We hope you agree it is also the fairest system to ensure all books are equally recycled. This also ensures when members are browsing books for sale, they're not simply shown 3 or 4 copies of the same book for sale. As a result, you may find a book sells just a few days after it was listed for sale, if it’s a current bestseller where we only have one or two copies in stock, or you may find it takes a number of weeks, if it’s not so recent and we have a number of other copies already in stock. But either way, we’ll find a buyer.

How do I cash in on the money I’ve made?

Funds from book sales to 7 days to clear from the day the book is marked as sent. After this time, cleared funds can then either be used to make new purchases (which we hope you’ll do), or you can simply withdrawal funds from your account and cash in on the books you’ve sold. Withdrawals are transferred to your nominated bank account via automated bank transfer (BACS via Barclays Bank) and usually take between 5 and 10 days to reach your account.

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Managing Your Account

I’ve forgotten my password?

If you’ve forgotten your logon password then simply click the ‘Log On’ button on our homepage and the select the ‘Password Reminder’ option. Then enter your registered e-mail address and our system will automatically send you your password details via e-mail.

How do I change my contact details?

You can update your contact account details at any time by logging on to your ‘MyAccount’ homepage and selecting the ‘Change Details’ option. From here you can add or change your delivery address, change your contact details, enter a new e-mail address or password and amend your bank account details.

How do I check my account balance?

When you become a member, we automatically open an online bank account where all your sales and purchases are made. From this account you can also add or withdraw money from your account at any time. You can check your account balance at any time by logging on to your ‘MyAccount’ homepage and selecting the ‘View Statement’ option.

For every book you sell, we credit your account with £3.00 (plus postage payments if applicable). Funds from book sales take 7 days to clear from the day the book is marked as sent. Cleared funds on your account can then either be used to make new purchases (which we hope you’ll do), or you can simply withdraw funds from your account and cash in on the books you’ve sold. Withdrawals are transferred to your nominated bank account via automated bank transfer (BACS via Barclays Bank) and usually take between 5 and 10 days to reach your account.

How do I change the font size on the web page?

If you have trouble reading the print on our web pages, you can easily change the size of the font to fit your needs. Changing font sizes in your web browser is easy, however instructions will vary slightly from browser to browser.

If you’re using Internet Explorer (v.5 or above) select from the menu bar at the top the ‘View’ pull down menu. Next select the ‘Text size’ option and then select one from the 5 options ranging from smallest to largest.

If you get really stuck, go to your browser's help menu (usually the button furthest right in any program). From there you should be able to get help on any problem you have.

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