FAQ

For orders being sent within Australia, Readings charges a $9 flat rate on all online orders under $100, and free standard shipping for orders over $100. Please note gift wrapping costs do not count toward the free shipping threshold.

We do ship internationally, with Australia Post. To find our costing for international delivery options, please click here.

We do ship internationally, with Australia Post. To find our costing for international delivery options, please click here.

At the moment, in-stock items are being dispatched in 3-4 business days. Delivery times will then vary depending on the location the package is being sent to.

If one of the items in your order is out of stock and needs to be ordered from the supplier, your order may take longer to be dispatched or be split into two shipments.

You can find more information about shopping online at Readings here.

No, you don't need to be home – all Australia Post parcels are sent with Authority to Leave, meaning that if the recipient is not home, the delivery driver will leave the parcel, provided there’s a safe place on the property to do so. If you don't want a parcel left unattended, let us know in the Notes field at checkout, and we'll send it with signature required.

Yes, we offer Express Post. Rates are calculated at checkout.

We are committed to limiting our carbon footprint. Where possible we use recyclable shredded paper and/or biodegradable cornstarch pellets for packing items to mail to our customers.

We accept VISA and MasterCard. Unfortunately we don’t accept American Express (AMEX) or Diners Club online, although American Express cards are now accepted in our shops.

Your credit card will be charged at the time of order. If there are any price changes we will contact you. If an item is unavailable we will refund the credit card used for the transaction.

No, for international orders GST is deducted from the total cost of your order upon shipping.

Please check in your spam or junk folder, because the tax invoice email may have landed there. If you still can’t find it, please email us.

You can read our Returns & Exchanges policy here, to find out if you're elligble to return your order and get a refund.

If you have been approved to receive a refund, the credit card used for the transaction will be refunded. We cannot return funds to a card other than the one used to make payment.

You can recover your password here. If you are still having problems, please email us. Please also note, you can also proceed through checkout as a guest, without signing in at all.

You have probably signed up previously, try recovering your password.

When you signed up as an online member you should have received an email from us with a verification link in it. You need to click this link in order to log into your online account. If you didn’t receive this email, check your spam or junk folders.

If you still have problems, please get in touch with us.

With an online member account you can collect and build wishlists for future purchases, gift ideas, recommendations or whatever you like!

To make a wishlist:

1. Sign up or log in to the Readings website
2. Click the heart icon on any product and select 'ADD' in the pop-up that appears. You can also create a new list for the item by filling out the 'Create a new list' field and pressing the '+' on the right.
3. Alternatively, you can create a new wishlist in the Member Centre – click on the 'member centre' link at the top of the page and then select 'Wishlists'. You can there view and edit existing wishlists and create a new one.
4. To share your wishlist with friends and family, or to make it private, select 'View/edit' on the list in the Member Centre and then 'Edit name/sharing'. You can then adjust the sharing mode as needed. All lists will default to being private when created.

When you purchase a Readings digital gift card through our website you can have it sent directly to your recipient on a specified date or send it to yourself to be forwarded or printed at your convenience. All Readings digital gift cards can be redeemed on our website, or in one of our shops, and are valid for three years from their date of issue.

Please note, we are currently experiencing issues sending digital gift cards to Microsoft Outlook email addresses. We are working on a resolution, but in the meantime, if possible, please use a different email address to order your digital gift card.

Follow these steps to order a digital gift card:

1. Select Create a digital gift card, or on one of the revolving images
2. Select Individual or Multiple followed by Continue
   NB: if choosing Multiple please ensure the number of gift cards has been entered in the box below, Specify number of gift cards, before proceeding. When ordering multiple gift cards, all digital gift cards will have the same selected amount, design and message. Orders using the Multiple gift card function will be delivered to the email address supplied at checkout.
3. Select a Card design
4. Select a Colour from the choices below, followed by Continue
5. Choose gift card amount from the set options in the drop-down menu
6. Add Message if required (or leave this blank!)
7. Select Send to recipient or Send to me
8. Fill out the form as required
9. Select Add to cart and finalise the transaction
   NB: If an order has a combination of gift cards and books the gift cards will be emailed separately, and the books shipped according to website timelines.

Our digital gift cards are sent as HTML email. You or your recipient will need to allow images to be downloaded on your/their email to view the card design. Additionally, if you are purchasing multiple digital gift cards, each one will be sent to you as a separate email.

If your digital gift card has not arrived in your inbox within 15 minutes of purchase, please check your junk, spam or promotional folders. Likewise, if you opted to have your digital gift card sent straight to the recipient, but they have not received it within 15 minutes of your purchase or after 9am on the date selected, ensure they've checked their junk, spam and promotional folders. If the digital gift card email still can't be found, please contact our web order team via weborders@readings.com.au or call 03 9341 7729 between 9am and 4pm.

Please note, we are currently experiencing issues sending digital gift cards to Microsoft Outlook email addresses.

If you ordered with a Microsoft Outlook email and haven't received your gift card via email, please check your spam folder. If you still can't locate your digital gift card, contact our web order team via weborders@readings.com.au or call 03 9341 7729 and they will assist you as soon as possible during business hours. If you urgently need support over the weekend, you can contact one of our shops.

Our sincere apologies for the inconvenience.

When redeeming a Readings digital or physical gift card online, simply tick the Readings gift card box in the Payment Method field, enter the full card number (including RCA) and the four-digit PIN. Then click Apply. The amount available on the gift card will then be redeemed from the order. 

If there is an outstanding balance on this order, enter your credit or debit card details and it will be charged for the difference. If not, skip this step and your order will be placed.

Please note: you can’t use a gift card to purchase other gift cards.

Yes, you can use digital gift cards and physical gift cards from our shops when ordering online. At checkout, simply enter the gift card code (for physical gift cards this is the barcode on the back of your card) and the PIN.

If your order value exceeds the amount on your gift card, you can apply multiple vouchers to the order, or enter credit card details to be charged for the remaining balance.

Gift cards bought at Readings are valid for three years from their date of issue.

No, our online checkout requires a billing address for every order, but digital gift cards are always sent via email.

If your order included physical items as well a digital gift card, then the voucher will still be emailed and the other items shipped to the address provided.

Please check in your spam or junk folder, because the email containing the gift card may have landed there. If you still can’t find the voucher email, please email us.

If a refund is requested for an order where a gift card was used for, or as part of, the payment, once the return is approved the refunded amount will be credited to a new gift card. It cannot be returned to the original gift card.

If it’s not a recent release, the book you are looking for may no longer be available or may be out-of-print. To find out-of-print and second-hand books, we recommend using Biblio, a US-based company that offers a huge range of used, rare, and out-of-print books worldwide. Click here to search on Biblio.

If the book you are looking for is a new release, or if you believe it should be available to order online at Readings, please get in touch.

Of course! Give the shop that has it in stock a call, and one of our booksellers will arrange to have it transferred to your local shop, so you can go in and purchase it there.

Note, online orders cannot be collected from Readings shops.

Check in with your publisher or supplier. Most of the information on our product pages comes through data feeds, using data supplied by publishers. The best way to fix an error is to make sure the data being sent out to us is correct.

Our online shop has over 30 million entries which are automatically uploaded to the website via a number of local and international data feeds. These include some self-published and print-on-demand titles. Due to the sheer volume of products we are unable to vet each one individually, so please note that a book appearing on our website does not mean that Readings endorses any views or opinions expressed in the book or those involved in its production.

If you’ve seen something you believe shouldn’t be there you are welcome to let us know and we will assess the item. Products can take up to 48 hours to be removed from the website.

Readings Monthly is our free, independent monthly newsletter. Each issue features a range of new books, as well as reviews, interviews and feature articles.

You can subscribe to the Readings Monthly by subscribing to our e-news and you'll be emailed a digital copy of Readings Monthly every month.
You can unsubscribe from the e-news at any time through the link in the email footer.

If you prefer a hardcopy, you can pick up a free paper version in our shops.

Yes, we do. At Readings, we consider supporting small publishers and self-published authors to be an important responsibility, and we offer the opportunity for titles to be left on a consignment basis at our shops.

Selling titles on a consignment basis means that authors leave books with us for an agreed period and we put the stock on our shelves to sell on their behalf. At the end of the agreed period, we pay the authors for any copies that we sell, and we return any unsold stock to them.

Staff at each of our shops curate a selection of books kept under the above terms, with attention to the specific customer base in each location. We also take into account subject matter, author profile, market trends, planned publicity, and book design. Read more here.

During the consignment period (March – September) you can find instructions here for how to submit your book to Readings.

Please note that we do not accept titles after 30 September as we’re unable to give the program our full attention during the busy festive season.

Try refreshing the page, that can often fix any display issues. If the problem persists, please make sure your browser is up-to-date. We recommend using Safari, Google Chrome or Firefox (not Internet Explorer).

If you are still experiencing problems, please email us.

You can contact our programming and events manager, Christine Gordon, at events@readings.com.au with any questions about organising an event.

See our current program of events here.

Once you’ve setup an account with us for your institution, your discount will be automatically applied when shopping online. Simply log in with your account details and you’re ready to go. 

Readings is proud to offer institutions a generous 20% discount off eligible trade books.

All business accounts are setup with 30-day credit terms and order payment is processed via invoice.

Reach out through the details provided above, and we’ll be happy to answer your questions.

Please note our on the floor shop teams are not able to setup business accounts for institutions.