Help

Online shop FAQs

Answers to questions about ordering, shipping, returns, theme packs, promotional codes, technical problems and more.

Ordering

Searching for products

You can browse by product, region, or by simply typing in a word or place into the search box at the top of the page.

Adding items to your shopping cart

Placing an order on Lonely Planet's online shop is easy! The first step is to tell us what part of the world you're from. You'll see a 'Deliver to' option just below the Checkout button to the right of the product image. This will also convert currency, depending on which Lonely Planet warehouse is closest to you.

Once you have found something to buy, simply click on the add to cart button, and the item will be added to your shopping cart. If you haven't finished shopping, click on Continue Shopping.

When you've finished shopping, if you've got a special promotional code, make sure you enter it on this page. When you're happy with your selection(s) and ready to pay, click on Proceed to checkout.

How the checkout works

STEP 1: Your details
First, complete both the billing details and shipping details fields. The billing address is used to verify your credit card details with your bank or financial institution, and these are also the details we'll use to contact you about your order if we need to. Your shipping details is the address to which you want your order delivered. They may be the same or they may be different - either way, please review this information carefully to avoid problems or delays with your order.

Next, select your preferred shipping option: Goods can be sent via standard mail (ie by land/airmail) or express delivery (eg. by Fedex) and applicable charges are displayed here. (See the Delivery section below for more information.)

Finally, you can choose to subscribe to Lonely Planet promotional emails or monthly newsletter. You can subscribe to either, neither or both - it's entirely up to you.

STEP 2: Payment
First up, review the details of your order. Have you given us the right addresses? Have you selected the exact items you want? Do you have a promotional code that you'd like to use? If any of these details are incorrect, just click back to the shopping cart and start again.

Once you're ready to pay, enter your credit card details, including the verification code (also known as the CVC). For Visa and MasterCard, these are the last 3 numbers as they appear on the signature panel on the back of the card. For American Express, it is the 3 or 4 digit number that appears on the front of the card. (See the Payment section below for more information on payment options.) All done? Click Make payment.

STEP 3: Order confirmation
Confirm your order details on this page. Once your order has been accepted and payment approved, we will send you confirmation by email. You can also print out the order confirmation for your records.

Pre-orders & back-orders

Generally speaking, our guidebooks are reviewed, and updated editions published, once every two years or so (there are some exceptions). These titles will be made available for pre-order up to one month before their release date. Sometimes, for reasons beyond our control, the arrival of these new books can be delayed for short periods, but rest assured that we will get your order out to you as soon as possible!

If a title has a back-order status on the site, this means we are out of stock but expecting more soon. Go ahead and place your order and we'll ship it out as soon as stock is available.

You will not be charged for your pre-order or back-order until the stock leaves our warehouse.

Changing/cancelling orders

If you've made a mistake with your order you'll need to call your nearest Lonely Planet office as soon as possible – click here for contact details. We'll do everything we can to fix the problem, but please understand that your order may have already left the warehouse. If this is the case, your purchase can be returned or exchanged as per our returns policy.

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Promotional codes & special offers

Promotional codes and how to use them

Promotional codes are like digital coupons. If you receive a promotional code from Lonely Planet or one of our partners, it means you'll score a discount or a special gift with your next purchase from our online shop.

Simply enter the code on the shopping cart page (before you proceed to checkout). Enter your promotional code exactly as it appears in the offer, including upper and lower case letters.

Things you need to know about promotional codes

  • Lonely Planet promotional codes can only be used at the time of order and are only valid on our online shop.
  • They cannot be used towards payment after you've submitted and paid for your order. If you forgot to use your code, then you can either use it on your next order or give it to a friend.
  • Promotional codes are not valid with other offers or promotions and you can't use more than one promotional code for a single order.
  • Each promotional code can only be used once unless otherwise stated.
  • Promotional codes can't be used to buy goods that are already discounted (such as guidebook packs) unless otherwise stated.
  • You don't need to have a customer account to use a promotional code.
  • Promotional codes are only valid for a limited time and expire on the date specified in the offer.
  • Promotional code discounts don't apply to delivery charges unless specified.
  • Promotional codes can't be used to purchase 3rd party or digital products unless specified.

Bonus offers

These are promotional freebies or discounts - free t-shirts, free books, that kind of thing. No codes are required here – just do what you need to do to qualify, and the offer appears in your shopping cart automatically.

Unfortunately these offers will not work together with promotional codes, so you'll need to pick one or the other. Offers apply for a limited time and are subject to availability, so get in while the going's good!

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Payment

What forms of payment does Lonely Planet accept?

We accept the following credit cards: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Visa Electron, Eurocard and Solo (UK only).

Credit cards: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Visa Electron, Eurocard and Solo

Credit card verification codes

The Card Verification Code (or CVC) is a number that appears on your credit card, and we request it so that we can verify that the person placing the order has direct access to the credit card being used.

For Visa and Mastercard, this is the last 3 numbers as they appear on the signature panel on the back of the card.

For American Express, it is the 4 digit number that appears in the top right corner on the front of the card.

How safe is it to use my credit card?

We've made it as safe as we can. When you make a purchase via our online shop you are transacting via a secure server, which means your credit card and personal details are encrypted before being sent over the internet. Your card details are removed from our online server a matter of seconds after they arrive and then stored on a separate secure server which is not accessible via the internet.

International transaction charges on your credit card statement

In around 2005, both VISA and MasterCard introduced an International Service Charge for cross border transactions (i.e. where the retailer and shopper are in different countries). All transactions submitted through the Lonely Planet online shop are processed centrally in the UK, so all orders placed outside this region may be subject to these charges depending on the credit card issuer. Please note that not all card issuers have implemented this charge, and the amount of the fee is subjective (between 1-3% of the purchase total). Lonely Planet does not take receipt of these fees, and therefore we are unable to refund any amount of them.

International sales taxes

Depending on where you are in the world, your internet order may be subject to a sales tax that is calculated up-front as part of your purchase. However, delivery to some regions may incur a customs/sales tax that is payable on delivery of the goods. Please be aware that Lonely Planet does not receive any amount of these additional taxes. So far we've learned that these areas include parts of Central & South America, the Caribbean, Quebec and Mexico, so if you're located in these areas, check out the local tax laws before placing your order. If you aren't sure, contact us and we'll do our best to help you. Being aware of your local sales tax legislation is the responsibility of the consumer, and we are unable to refund any amount charged at the point of delivery.

Maestro Card no longer accepted online. Phone payments available.

As of April 1 2009 our online payment gateway provider no longer supports this card. To provide you with the best service we can, we can offer to take payment using this card over the phone, so please call us on 020 7106 2167 during business hours and we'll process your order. Alternatively, please use another card to make payment.

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Delivery

Instock, pre-order & back-order items

Items in stock are shipped immediately. If any of the items in your order are not in stock (ie. on pre-order or back-order), we'll send them via standard post as soon as stock arrives in the warehouse. We will only charge your card for the goods once they have been dispatched.

Shipping charges

Lonely Planet distributes orders from 3 major warehouses across the globe - Melbourne (Australia), London (UK) and Oakland (California, USA). Shipping charges from these locations are based on weight and distance and costs are made clear before you finalise your purchase. In selected regions Lonely Planet offers free standard shipping on orders over UK£25 / US$40 / AU$60 / EU€35! (Excludes the Caribbean, Asia & the Pacific, Central and South American deliveries and 1st class mail deliveries shipped to the Americas or the Armed Forces.)

FedEx Brokerage Fees

When you have something shipped from the US to Canada, Central & South America, you're essentially hiring FedEx to represent you to bring goods across the border. The brokerage fees are usually a percentage of the shipment's value or a minimum fee. These may be requested up front when you sign for the goods, if not Fedex will send you an invoice in the mail. Lonely Planet receives no part of these funds and therefore cannot provide a refund on the costs incurred.

How long will your order take to arrive?

View delivery times here. Most orders sent via standard mail to metropolitan areas within the UK, Australia and the US will arrive within 3-7 business days after dispatch. Please allow extra time for delivery to regional and remote areas, and those places where your order travels by standard sea/air. Due to inconsistent postal standards across international regions, we are unable to guarantee delivery times, however we do work closely with all our couriers to make sure all issues are resolved as quickly as possible.

Orders sent by express delivery will only be dispatched same day from our warehouse if they are placed before midday. If you're in a hurry, check the time zone of the Lonely Planet warehouse closest to you before placing an order - it will be either Melbourne (Australia), London (UK) or San Francisco (US).

Tracking your order

Only parcels sent via express delivery can be tracked and traced. If we are shipping your order to the Americas or the Caribbean using FedEx, simply email us and we can send you your tracking number. You can then track your order through the FedEx website.

Return to sender & lost parcels

The shipping address details you provide are the exact ones we put on the label, so it’s really important that you enter them correctly. If your parcel is taking longer than expected to arrive, the first thing to do is check at your local post office. If you have addressed the parcel delivered to your work, check with everyone in reception or your company mailroom. If you have no luck there, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

If your parcel is returned to us, we will get in touch with you straight away. If you supplied us with the complete and correct delivery address, we will resend the parcel free of charge via the standard shipping method only. We are happy to arrange the resending of your parcel by an express postal service, but please be aware that the additional costs are to be covered by the customer.

If the Shipping Address details you provided are incorrect or incomplete in any way, we may have to bill you for an additional freight charge. Lonely Planet does not take responsibility for parcels that are incorrectly or insufficiently addressed, but we will do whatever we can to recover the parcel on your behalf.

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Returns policy

Damaged or defective products

If a product you've purchased from our online shop is defective in any way or has been damaged prior to reaching it's destination, please contact us straight away and we will either refund you in full or send you a replacement product.

Oh dear! You're unhappy with your Online Shop purchase

If you're unhappy with your purchase (other than where the product is damaged or defective), you must contact us within 30 days of receiving your goods. We will review your request and do our best to respond within 3 working days. (Note that you may have other rights under your local laws).

If a book is wrongly described or different than it appears on the site we can offer an exchange or refund depending on the severity of the complaint. Please note that where the products were purchased as part of a promotion (eg. 3 for 2, percentage discount), the refund amount will be calculated against the terms of the offer.

Change of mind returns

We understand that things don't always go according to plan, so we are happy to provide an exchange on guidebooks should your travel plans change. Please contact us within 30 days of receiving your goods and we will arrange the return and the re-ordering of your revised selection. Normal shipping and handling fees will apply and we will let you know what they are before the exchange is arranged. Please note that we are unable to provide 'change of mind' exchanges or refunds on delivered digital products.

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Guidebook packs

What are they and what makes them so damn good?

First and foremost, we put these packs together so that you can get the most out of your trip, but they are also designed to save you a few extra bucks. Each pack pulls together a fantastic collection of Lonely Planet titles according various themes like region, special interests (walking & hiking) or local cuisine. Browse our complete list of tried and true guidebook packs and save 30% off the RRP.

Can you make your own guidebook pack?

Our team is working hard to make this option available, but for the time being guidebook packs are only available as they appear on the site.

How much does it cost to ship a guidebook pack?

This will vary depending on how you choose to ship it, but the shipping fees are based on the number of items in the guidebook pack. In other words, when you order a pack including three books, we calculate shipping as if you were ordering three separate books.

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Pick & Mix digital chapters

What are Pick & Mix digital chapters?

Over the years many travellers have told us they'd like to take just the parts of our books they really want and need. Pick & Mix allows you to do just that - you can buy, download and print the individual chapters you need in digital (PDF) format. Please note that these chapters are digital only, and they will not be sent to you in the mail. If you have any feedback we'd love to hear it.

How do you download a Pick & Mix chapter?

Pick & Mix chapters come as downloadable PDF files, so you'll need Adobe Reader software, available from Adobe for free.

On your order confirmation screen you'll see a link to your download page. Clicking these links activates the download; you can open a chapter directly, or save it to your computer. You'll also receive a confirmation email with a link to the download screen that you can access at any time (Tip: check your spam folder if it's not in your inbox). You can download each chapter up to five times, and remember, some files can be up to 10MB in size, so they may take a little time to download.

You're having trouble downloading a Pick & Mix chapter. What should you do?

Try downloading the chapter onto your desktop, then double-clicking it on your desktop. Certain web browsers have trouble opening PDF files (not just ours), and opening it from the desktop often gets around this problem.

If that doesn't work, try downloading the file in a different web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape, etc) , if you have one available. If this doesn't do the trick, contact customer service with your order number and system details (ie. what kind of computer and web browser you are using). If possible, don't use all of your 5 downloads – it will be much easier and quicker to help if you have a few downloads left

Using Firefox or Safari browser on a Mac and can't open your file? Your attention please...

When the file is downloaded using Firefox or Safari, it might incorrectly add the extension .html at the end of the file name, which causes the chapter to open as gobbledygook (a technical term). One of the two solutions above generally resolves the problem. If not, here's another option:

  1. Download the file to your desktop (or downloads folder)
  2. Click on the file once to highlight it only (i.e. do not open it) and 'get info' by hitting the Apple key + "I".
  3. Remove the ".html" from the end of the file name. In other words, change filename.pdf.html to filename.pdf.
  4. It will then ask you if you would like to "keep as html" or "Use PDF". You need to select "Use PDF".
  5. You should see the thumbnail of the chapter change to a viewable file. PDFs can then be opened in Adobe Acrobat or Preview.

Again, if you are still having trouble, contact customer service and we'll get onto it right away.

A tip about printing your chapters

The settings on our PDF files will allow you to print chapters out at a good and legible resolution. For copyright reasons we are unable to provide the password-triggered high resolution printing option, but if you have any queries or difficulties please don't hesitate to contact us.

Pick & Mix pricing structure. Buy more, save more.

The price of a chapter is determined by the price of the book it comes from, and the length of the chapter. In other words, longer chapters cost more than shorter ones, but most fall within the US$2-5 range. Buy 3 or 4 chapters and save 25%. Buy 5 or more chapters and save a minimum of 45% on the total sum of the chapters. Please note that these discounts will only apply to the Pick & Mix chapters and exclude physical products in your cart.

Will Pick & Mix chapters work on a phone, an iPod, or handheld device?

Any device that can view PDF files should be able to handle Pick & Mix chapters. If you are having trouble, please contact customer service.

Are there any restrictions or limits to accessing your Pick & Mix chapters?

To make them easier to use, access to Pick & Mix chapters is not digitally restricted. You can download each chapter up to 5 times, and printing is unlimited. In return, we think it's fair to ask you to use it only for personal, non-commercial purposes.

Pick & Mix chapters contain a tool (which you'll see as a dialog box that appears when you open your file) that allows us to track when and where each chapter is opened and printed. This may involve your computer sending your IP address back to Lonely Planet. Don't worry, we're not going to do evil cyberspace things with this information. It will only be used to track when you open, print and save your Pick & Mix chapter, and will help us to understand how Pick & Mix files are being used. You can block the tracking mechanism by clicking 'stop' on the dialog box.

Can you send digital products to a few of your mates?

No, you can't send it on to your nearest and dearest! Digital products are protected by the same copyright that applies to books. Sending it on is not only against the law, it's not a very nice thing to do to us. You can download a maximum of 5 copies of each digital product you buy, and you can store your digital product on up to 5 devices (eg your PC, PDA, laptop etc). Lonely Planet reserves all rights to its digital content and no part of these products may be copied, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise (except as permitted here), without the written permission of the publisher. This means don't copy or transmit your digital product (except as allowed above). If you like us, love that we do this kind of stuff, and want to support us, please make sure you do the right thing by us.

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General

When are new editions of Lonely Planet guidebooks published?

Generally speaking, our guide books are reviewed and updated editions published every two years or so (there are some exceptions). All publishing dates for the current editions appear in the product information, so this may be of some help. It's also a good idea to check the Coming Soon/Hot Off the Press section, but if you don't have any luck you can always contact us and we might be able to give you the inside word.

www.lonelyplanet.com/upgrades (RIP)

In the past, some of our activity books have directed travellers to www.lonelyplanet.com/upgrades for new and updated information. This service has been temporarily deactivated, but keep your eye on our new digital department for some exciting new developments.

Cookies - what they are and why we use them

Like many websites, Lonely Planet uses 'cookies'. Think of these as little ID cards that help you make your internet purchase with a minimum of fuss. Cookies can remember your name when you log-in to your account, switch you to the correct currency or, importantly, they remember what items you have added to your Shopping Cart as you browse the store. For this reason you need to have cookies turned on when using our Online Shop.

We do not match cookies to your registration details (if you are registered with us) and we do not use cookies to track your movements after leaving this website. Most browsers allow you to turn cookies on and off, and the help menu on your browser should tell you how. Remember, switching off cookies will restrict your use of our website.

About your privacy

Sleep easy, we will not sell your contact details to marketing companies for spamming! But we may disclose information about you to business partners who help us provide these services, such as credit card payment processing companies, and other companies in the Lonely Planet family. When ordering online, you may choose to set up a customer account with us. You can access and change the information we hold about you in your account at any time. If you'd like to find out more, please read our privacy policy.

Feedback

Whether you want to blast us or bless us, ask what happened to your book order or join our team, this is the place to start – contact us.

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