FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)
WHY BUY FROM THIS SITE?
People often ask why they should consider buying from trademarklondon.com.
The answer is simply there is no risk for the customer. We offer guaranteed satisfaction or a full refund.
When you buy compasses and other scientific instruments from sites such as ebay and various dealers in the Internet you can never be sure what you are buying, and sadly many dealers or ebayers do not offer a guarantee.
Many people buy compasses, such as MkIII liquid prismatic compasses, from auction sites and then send them to us for servicing, and very often we have to send the item back and explain to the customer that the instrument is unserviceable.
Over the decades many compasses have been "repaired" by well-intentioned amateurs who have used totally unsuitable materials to effect the repairs. Super glue and putty, for example, are often used to seal the capsule, and totally unsuitable fluids are used, and as a result the compass is rendered permanently unserviceable and worthless, even though cosmetically it seems in good condition.
It can be an unpleasant surprise for somebody who has just spent £100 or more on a compass to find that either it will cost £130 to make it work, or that it cannot be made to work. Often such buyers have no recourse as they have bought from an unreputable source that offers no guarantee.
OUR COMPASSES AND INSTRUMENTS ARE GUARANTEED TO BE EXACTLY AS DESCRIBED AND WE OFFER AN UNCONDITIONAL MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE as long as the compass is returned to us immediately in the condition we sent it.
If our compasses are described as fully serviced it means they are mechanically "as new", i.e. in excellent working condition and suitable for actual use.
You may pay a bit more buying your items from trademarklondon.com, but that is because WE take the risk, WE source the items, WE service them, WE guarantee them, and YOU enjoy the rewards of our hard work.
HOW TO BUY:
In the "Shop" page find the item you wish to purchase and enter the number "1" in the quantity box, assuming you only wish to purchase one of that item, then click on "Add To Cart". Then scroll to the top of the page and click on "View Basket" and then if your shopping basket contains what you intended to order just click on the "Email Order" button, fill in your name and address, etc. on the form and then send the order. This will cause an invoice to be raised and sent to you with instructions on how to pay for the item.
I accept various types of payment, but the easiest is:
INTERNATIONAL BANK TRANSFER - IN EUROS - once you have ordered an item I can supply you with my international IBAN code
CASH BY INSURED REGISTERED MAIL (you can insure the value, so there is no risk)
Obviously Paypal is the easiest. It can be paid over the Internet, but it is important that you pay using the "FRIENDS & FAMILY" option, ticking the box to pay the Paypal fees yourself.
If you have interesting Barker items that you would like to offer in PART EXCHANGE for any of the items I have for sale please email me first with a detailed description of what you have, including a few photographs, and also state what you would like to purchase from the shop and we can then negotiate.
Remember, postage is always included in the price - I do not charge extra for postage - and all items are extremely well packed and posted by Registered, Signed-For mail.
Remember that orders can come in from anywhere in the world at any time so in the event that two people order the same item within moments of each other the order bearing the earlier date and time will take priority. This may happen quickly and I may not have had time to mark the item as reserved or remove it from sale before other emails arrive, so if you want an item time could be important.
WHY WON'T WE SEND CERTAIN COMPASSES TO THE USA?
Unfortunately during the George "W" administration the U.S. government started installing radioactivity scanners at all ports of entry to the USA.
Even though U.S. Law clearly exempts vintage watches, compasses and instruments that contain Radium 226 markers on their dials, the employees at the scanning portals are wilfully ignorant of this exemption and in order to get their statistics higher they are blocking everything, and in certain cases have called in the US Military Haz-Mat team to dispose of the compasses, and then anecdotally sending the addressee an invoice for US$15,000 for removal and destruction of hazardous material.
In the very best cases, after reporting the U.S. postal authorities to the police, through a lawyer, for postal theft, the compasses have been released, but after a delay of up to six months and a lot of irrecoverable expense.
We all thought this paranoia would have ended with the dispatch of George "W", but it has actually got worse under the new administration.
Sadly, for that reason, I and many other dealers outside the USA will now no longer ship to the USA.
I will sell you the item, on condition that you pay for and organise collection of the item from here in Europe, AT YOUR OWN RISK. Once collected from here you would have no further recourse to me should things go wrong.
Sorry, but you voted for them, so you must live with their decisions… but yours is the ONLY country in the world that blocks import of antique compasses, erroneously quoting your Homeland Protection Laws.
