The HMRS Trading Process

This page describes some important aspects of the HMRS trading processes which buyers should note when purchasing items from the society.

International Deliveries

If you live in one of the countries of the world where we have previously shipped our products, you should find that you can receive goods shipped (generally up to 2 kg weight) from the UK by the British Royal Mail. If you find that your country is not given as an option at the checkout stage then please save your basket and contact us at webmaster@hmrs.org.uk stating where you live and we will add that country to the shipping list.

Membership Discounts

Members of the society are entitled to discounts on many products available on this site. To obtain this discount when buying, a member must register on the site for their own account and should fill in the optional field on the registration form with their membership number and name. They must then email the HMRS forum administrator (electronics.help@hmrs.org.uk) to alert them to the registration which will then be checked against our membership list and, if in order, the registration will be enabled for members discount. If you have previously registered, then please also email the HMRS forum administrator to obtain the discount. If you already have registered as a non-member and then join the society, you can update your registration details to add your number and name by going to your personal account details dashboard, choosing 'edit' in the account information field, making the changes, saving the changes and then emailing as above. Members receive a 20% discount on the base price (pre-VAT) for photographs, drawings, transfers and ‘other products’. There is no discount on membership fees, back issues of the Journal and any postage & packing items including any tube added for a drawing print or transfer. Book discounts vary as newer books will have a specific member purchase price and others that are already at a clearance price, will have none. If you have logged on as a member to purchase something, the discount may be shown and applied when you add an item to the cart but if you delay logging on until checking out, the discount will be applied at checkout time. Items with multiple choice for size may not show the discount immediately. All costs, discounts and the VAT element will be shown at checkout.

Drawings (Prints and Digital Files)

If there is a thumbnail image of the item you require visible, then that drawing has already been scanned and you can purchase either a printed copy by choosing the size required at the drop-down box and 'Add to Cart' or you can click the 'Add Digital Image' button immediately below it and the cost will be added to your cart but no postage will be charged for it at checkout. Any purchased digital image files will be emailed to the address given at checkout once the order has been processed. We regret that we cannot hold all our digital images for drawings and photgraphs on the site as it would take up too much space. A cardboard tube will be added to your basket as soon as you select the first drawing paper copy (not for a digital image) and it will be deleted from your basket if you remove all drawing copies. The tube is to protect any drawing in the post. Please note our T&C’s trading terms and conditions as we are volunteers and your prints will be prepared to order and so it may be 2-3 weeks or potentially longer before you receive the goods. We will contact you about any undue delay.

If there is no drawing image, then whilst the drawing exists and has been catalogued, the drawing has not been scanned and the appropriate sizes possible need to be investigated. The drawing details page lets you request a quotation from us. We will contact you offline about this but be aware that this may take some weeks for our drawing officers to prepare the scan. Once it is available, you will be contacted and be able to purchase it directly from our Officers. The drawing thumbnail will eventually be added to the catalogue at the next general catalogue update.

Photographs (Prints and Digital Files)

We have a continual programme of scanning and adding images to our catalogue and we are scanning new collections continually and they will be added to the catalogue at intervals. If a photograph is listed here, you can purchase either a printed copy by choosing the size required at the drop-down box and 'Add to Cart' or you can click the 'Add Digital Image' button immediately below it and the cost will be added to your cart but no postage will be charged for it at checkout. Any purchased digital image files will be emailed to the address given at checkout once the order has been processed. We regret that we cannot hold all our digital images for drawings and photgraphs on the site as it would take up too much space. If the image is listed here then a scan already exists or if there is no thumbnail visible, then we will scan as part of the fulfilment of your order. In either case we do not hold stocks of photographs but print when requested. Please note our T&C’s  trading terms and conditions as we are volunteers and your prints will be prepared to order and so it may be 2 weeks before you receive the goods. Please also note that some digital scans we hold were done many years ago when equipment did not have the resolution of today’s scanners and a few of our older negatives are less than perfect. If we deem the scan we already hold needs updating we will re-scan but that may add to the delay. We will contact you about any undue wait you may have.

Transfers

Because we only supply methfix and pressfix transfers, the production process depends on using special paper. We have procured a stock of this paper which we supply to our printers. The printing process is for small batches which have to fit in with the commercial schedules of our printers which means that some sheets can be out of stock for a while and we have no effective control over the supply. Unfortunately the printing process is slower than for modern digitised artwork and there are very few printers who will do the work. We do our best to manage and anticipate any shortfalls and we will continue to accept orders for an item temporarily out of stock and will inform you of any delay and why. But if the delay is unacceptable to you then we will refund if required. Please see our trading T&Cs trading terms and conditions.

Stock Management

As described here our photographic and drawing sales are prepared to order and we do not hold actual stocks of these. We manage the website trading for these items as though we always hold an adequate stock level and so if listed, they can be obtained. Stock control of transfers is specialised as described but if a new supply is on order and we have been promised a delivery, we will continue to offer it for sale even if our actual stock level is temporarily zero (of course we will inform you of the situation on receipt of any order). Our books, journals and other items are specialist titles and once out of stock we do not reprint or obtain automatically but only if the trustees of the society recognise a genuine market. If we are out of stock, books can sometimes be found on the second-hand book market. If a book is listed as out of print then it is very unlikely to be re-printed.

Digital Files of scanned drawings and photographs

See the above notes regarding digital files for drawings and photographs. You will not be charged postag for any item added to the cart from the 'Add Digital Image' button. If the relevant drawing or photograph has already been scanned and suitable then you are likely to receive these files much quicker than any print sent by surface mail although we do not guarantee this as it still involves volunteer effort. Digital files are of course are still be subject to the trading T&Cs and are for private use only and not for re-use on any public website or publication without prior agreement from the society and we ask that they not be passed on to others without agreement from the society.

Dated 28 September 2021