Home /
Ordering Information

Ordering Information

Looking for wholesale/trade terms? Click here!

Holiday Ordering Guidelines:
With the holiday shipping season upon us, we recommend placing any gift orders early to ensure delivery for the holiday season. Please refer to the info below to make sure your order is placed in time for us to ship in-stock items for delivery on or before December 24th.

For domestic customers:
USPS Priority Mail – Order by Friday, December 19 at 12 noon PST.
From Monday, Dec. 15 at 9am PST through Friday, Dec. 19 at noon PST, we are offering FREE shipping upgrades on all domestic orders. Select and pay for media mail, and you'll get priority mail (and in-stock items should arrive by December 24th).
UPS Ground – Delivery times vary by region. You can look up transit times on ups.com (orders ship from zip code 94612).
All orders for in-stock items are typically shipped within 1 business day of receipt. Once we ship your order, the delivery of your package is in the hands of the courier and we make no guarantees as to delivery date.

For international customers:
Order by Friday, December 12 at 9am PST.

If you don't get your order in by the deadline and still need something by the holiday, we hope you'll consider giving a gift certificate or a Friends of AK membership, no shipping necessary!

Ordering Instructions:
It is vital that you put your name and address on each order. We don’t care what name you use when you order, but it would make our lives easier if you either used the same name on each order, or noted previously used names. Most orders go out in 2–3 days, but occasional delays of up to a week are not uncommon. There are also occasions when delays occur due to titles being out of stock. Please allow 4–6 weeks for delivery. Your patience is appreciated.

You can order electronically (and securely) from our web site using a credit card, or print a copy of an order from the site and mail it with payment. Customers ordering by fax, email or phone may only pay with a credit card.

In the event of titles being unavailable, please include alternatives if you do not want to wait for your books (listed in the “Comments” field), or you will be issued a credit slip. If you prefer, temporarily out of stock items can be recorded (back-ordered), and sent immediately when we have them back in stock. Should you desire a credit slip, rest assured that your AK credit does not expire. It is good as long as we’re around.

All sales are final. No returns on mail ordered merchandise.

Payment

All orders by mail must be accompanied with the appropriate payment. Payments can be made by credit card, check, money order, or international money order and made out to “AK PRESS”. We take Visa or Mastercard by mail, fax, email, phone (510-208-1700 between 9 am and 6 pm Pacific time on weekdays ONLY), and via our web site. For those ordering by credit card, we require your Mastercard/Visa number, expiration date, billing address for the card, security code (the last three digit of the number in the signature area on the back of your card) and name as it appears on the card. We will also accept payment in cash, but this is sent at your own risk.

International Ordering

Overseas customers are advised to pay by International Money Order, travelers checks, checks in dollars, drawn on a US bank, or by credit card. For checks drawn in currencies other than dollars, or on non-US banks, there is an additional charge of $20.00 to cover our extortionate bank charges. Orders weighing over 4 pounds are subject to an additional postage charge.

Prisoners

Please be aware that prisons have different regulations about what you can order. You are responsible to know those regulations and order accordingly. If items you order are rejected by the prison and returned to us, we will issue a credit memo for your purchase. However, if the prison does not return the order, we cannot issue a credit. Unfortunately, you order at your own risk. While we cannot afford to send free books to prisoners, we do offer a 30% discount on all items shipped directly to prisoners. For free books, contact the Prisoners Literature Project c/o Bound Together, 1369 Haight Street, San Francisco CA 94117.

Postage & Handling

United States	Estimated Shipping Times	First Item/Each Additional Item
Bookpost (US Postal)	2–4 weeks	$4.50 / $1.00
Priority Mail	Generally 3 days	$7.00 / $1.50
UPS Ground (not available to PR, HI, AK) requires a street address (no P.O. Boxes)	1–2 weeks	$12.00 / $2.00

Canada	Estimated Shipping Times	First Item/Each Additional Item
Airmail	7–10 days	$20.00 / $4.00

Other	Estimated Shipping Times	First Item/Each Additional Item
Airmail	7–10 days	$24.00 / $4.00

Important Note on Shipping

The times listed above are estimates of the time a package will take to get to you after we ship it. Most orders are shipped out 1–2 days after they arrive at AK; therefore, for international or media mail orders, please allow 2–4 weeks for a package to reach you.

UPS is the most reliable shipping method. We strongly recommend you ship using UPS. Though USPS is trackable, their system can be unreliable. Use the Postal Service at your risk! No refunds will be given for lost postal shipments. Please call or email for prices on Next Day Air, Registered, and other forms of special delivery, as well as international UPS and other international shipping prices.