Frequently Asked Questions

New Customers

What exactly does Mallory for Schools do?

We are an export bookseller and reseller of educational materials to International Schools. We can deal with almost anything you might need to purchase for your school from the UK, Europe, US, Singapore, India, Australia and globally. All sorts of service comes with this, the most appealing are reducing work and reducing costs in terms of freight and clearance. We manage the supplier relations, you have 1 contact person for all your purchases, all shipments come from us and all invoicing is done by us. It means you do not have to work with lots of different publishers and suppliers and make lots of separate payments both to supplier and through customs. We also deliver door-door in most places, meaning you do not need to deal with customs.

Who will be my contact at Mallory?

See our Mallory Team pages for an idea of who might be your main point of contact. The key is that you will have 1 designated International Account Manager looking after your account, who will be specialised in your area. You will not be passed between departments.

Where is the best place to start if I would like to make contact?

Please email schools@malloryint.co.uk and you will be passed to the relevant International Account Manager from there. Please also request a login to our portal at https://portal.malloryint.co.uk/.

What suppliers do you work with?

Please see here our list of suppliers, however we can work with almost everyone, and have over 5000 publishers and suppliers on our database that we have grown over our 40 years of trading.

Do you have a catalogue?

We have an online portal, a digital catalogue that can be filtered and searched. However, we can supply anything that your school may need, regardless of whether it is one of our standard products. Please register here: https://portal.malloryint.co.uk/.

When should we send you our quote requests?

This depends on your desired delivery date. Most of the schools we currently work with are aiming for goods to be with them by August, in time for a September start. Our peak ordering period is April-June, so receiving orders before then enables us to prioritise your order.

When should we place our orders?

If you have a relatively small order, then we can turn things around quite quickly, though even for a small order we do need 1-2 weeks for despatch. If we are required to use a courier company such as DHL or DHL express then we will charge for that service. It heavily depends on the item(s) you are ordering and where we are sending. If your order is large, it is best to place your orders well in advance of your desired delivery date and discuss at length the variables with your account manager. Our Account Managers are specialised in the area where they work and will be able to advise you on the time and the contingency needed to meet your deadline.

Do you have a local office?

We have offices in Exeter (UK), Prague (Czech Republic), Limerick (Ireland), Selangor (Malaysia), Southland (New Zealand) and in 26 countries within Africa: Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. We also have International Account Managers based in Spain and Mexico, as well as Prague, who are more than happy to visit customers in those areas.

Do you have a minimum order value?

No.

Can I order an item that is not listed on the portal?

Absolutely, you can order anything available on the market as long as it is exportable and the supplier is willing to work with third parties. There is rarely an item we cannot supply.

Are you dealing with online products/subscriptions even if they are not listed on your portal?

We are, and as long as the publisher is willing to work with a third party then we are happy to supply. We also host ebook titles on our own platform, Mallory for School eBooks. (Baobab)

Can I use and amend lists from last year in order to reuse them this year?

You can, in particular if you created these lists on the portal. Any availability information will be updated when you copy your list.

Pricing

Do you charge for consolidating?

We do not charge for consolidating, instead we have trade discounts with suppliers and publishers and so our margin is incorporated into retail prices. We do sometimes need to add small handling charges, in certain situations, but everything is quoted upfront and there are never any surprises in terms of charges. We tend to charge freight, clearance and customs at cost.

How do you charge freight?

We charge freight at cost depending on school requirements.

Can I see the possible discounts beforehand or are they based on volume?

We are able to provide discount lists by publisher and supplier on an ex-works level. Discounts are based on the discount given to us by the publisher or supplier and this is rarely based on volume. We also believe that any school, large or small, should be able to benefit from any discounts we receive. However, if the order is unusually large, and we are able to negotiate a better discount for you, we will.

Can I see the possible discounts beforehand or are they based on volume?

We are able to provide discount lists by publisher and supplier on an ex-works level. Discounts are based on the discount given to us by the publisher or supplier and this is rarely based on volume. We also believe that any school, large or small, should be able to benefit from any discounts we receive. However, if the order is unusually large, and we are able to negotiate a better discount for you, we will.

Can I have a list of suppliers/publishers with breakdown of discount structure?

We are able to provide discount lists for the most common publishers and suppliers on an ex-works level. Equally if you would like to send us a list of the suppliers you use, it is likely we can do this for you.

Payment

Do you offer credit?

We can offer credit in some circumstances, but we also offer incentives for pre-payment.

Can we use our own (local) currency?

We regularly invoice out in EUR, from Mallory International MIE, CZK from Mallory International MIC and GBP or USD from Mallory International Ltd. We have local representatives in 26 African countries and for very small orders can accept local payments, for ease. For anything specific, we may be able to help. Please ask your International Account Manager or write to our Business Development Manager Vic on vic@malloyrint.co.uk if you are new to Mallory.

What are your payment terms?

In order to help customers with budgeting, we offer a range of payment terms. Customers can select one, or, by agreement, choose a combination.

1. Payment or part prepayment. We offer attractive incentives for prepayments.
2. Credit Sales. Our standard terms are 30 days from receipt of goods. Please note that this relates to each receipt, not to final completion of supply. It is quite common for a few items to be temporarily unavailable from suppliers, and this is not an acceptable reason for delaying payment for items which have been delivered.
3. Extended Credit. Any credit beyond our standard terms must be negotiated in advance, but we can help you to spread the costs at a very competitive rate. For payment in three equal installments at the beginning of each term (say September, January and April) the cost is around 5%, but the specific quotation may take account of a range of factors, and will be specifically tailored to your needs. Credit references and a binding contract are naturally required.

Is there any benefit if I prepay the order?

Yes, you can get various incentives including discounts.

Delivery

Can you label the boxes with teacher names?

We can label the boxes however you like, as long as we have the information in advance, at quotation stage. Most popular choices are by school (Nursery/Primary/Secondary), department and sometimes teacher.

Can you hand deliver to certain parts of the school?

This will depend on where you are and how we have arranged delivery. It would most likely be chargeable, but please ask your International Account Manager and we will look into it.

Can you do door-door delivery?

In most places, yes.

What are your delivery times?

This will depend on your country, your deadlines, the order and the mode of transport. However, as a general idea, we allow 2-6 weeks for arrival into our warehouse, depending on order size, plus transit time, clearance and local delivery. For container orders or whole school procurement we advise placing the order well in advance and this would be something you would discuss at length with your Account Manager. It is never too soon to get in touch!

Shipping and Customs

Can you handle customs in Europe post-Brexit?

Yes, we do this all the time. We have companies within the EU and so can invoice out from our relevant EU company. We set up our EU branches the day after the referendum and have been using them ever since.

Can you handle customs in Africa?

Usually, yes. We have local representation throughout Africa and our reps help us facilitate door-door delivery, in Africa our door-door service is by far the most popular and we have regular consolidations to some countries.

Can you handle customs in places where you do not have a base or a local representative?

Usually, yes. In all the places we work we have established relationships with clearing agents and/or customs. We are completely used to the nuances of this and know how to manage door-door delivery. If, by chance, we do not have an established relationship in your location we would look to establish one. We are very experienced at this, know what questions to ask to create the most economical and streamlined solution available, and are constantly building up our network of trusted agents.

Who is your shipping agent or freight forwarder?

We do not tie ourselves to one agent and use various depending on their strengths. We do not contract out exclusive arrangements to freight companies, so can move between them depending on circumstance. Equally, if you have your preferred freight forwarder, we can deliver to them, or work with them for your delivery.

Expertise

How long have you been exporting?

We have been reselling and exporting for almost 40 years. That said, some of those directing the company have been doing so for longer.

Can you make book/product recommendations?

Yes, we can. Both for books and educational materials. We have a catalogue of experience in the book trade which makes us unique in the sector. Tell me more about your specialism with books. We are particularly strong in our sector when it comes to book recommendations. Julian Hardinge, our Chairman, has been the bookselling representative on the international board of the UK Publishers Association and is an honorary vice-president for life of the Booksellers Association. Mallory has been in the book trade for 40 years, but some of our employees and directors have been in the sector for a lot longer. Mallory International, our parent company, also supplies to universities, colleges, specialist educational institutions and Ministries of Education as well as bookshops, so our relationship with publishers is strong in all areas. In terms of schools, we have strong relations with publishers, have regular meetings with their International Sales Managers and go to the London Bookfair every year. We also have connections with CAIE, and information concerning the titles and new releases for the CAIE syllabus. We also have staff who are trained in teaching, who have either worked as teachers in the past or have been involved in the education sector. ISBNs to us are not just numbers we use to identify a book, we will pick up on inconsistent requests, old editions, strange editions and make sure we are quoting you the most up-to-date and suitable title.

What do you do when an item is discontinued or out of print?

The first thing we do is locate the new edition or new release of the product by talking with the publisher, supplier or manufacturer. If there is no new release we would talk to you and see if you would like a recommendation. If you do, we would find you a substitute item, or various to choose from.

Could we order covers for our books?

Yes, you can either order and purchase the covers to then process on arrival to your school or you can ask for a quotation for us to supply the books covered. We offer covers, lamination and paperback re-binding.

Do you offer book processing / bar-coding?

Yes, there a variety of book processing procedures and bar-coding we can offer, please speak to us for specifics.

Extras

Can we get samples?

If the publisher offers samples we are able to arrange this, plus freight cost. More often than not, sample books now come in a digital form. We would offer whatever the publisher is comfortable or set-up to offer.

Can we return unused books if students number is lower than expected?

Returns in this way is not something we encourage, but if you require a bespoke returns policy please let us know and we will see what we can do. We are actively reducing our carbon footprint and we prefer not to ship titles backwards and forwards. We would encourage, instead, that they are saved for next year, or that you order what you are sure you need and then order an urgent top-up order once numbers are confirmed.

Do you offer any loyalty programme for schools?

We don’t have any loyalty programmes as such, we find that our good service and personal touch is enough to keep customers loyal! We thrive on giving a good service.

The Environment

Are your processes meeting green approach, are they eco friendly?

We have been consistently taking steps to reduce our waste and carbon foot print. We have moved from physical catalogues to digital catalogues, we reuse decent supplier packaging and when we need extra we use 100% biodegradable packaging. Our cardboard, tape, bubble wrap and other protective packaging is all the best biodegradable we can find. We are part of the DHL GoGreen initiative and in 2022 offset a total of 131,058.26kg CO² emissions with them. We think about the environment when carrying out daily actions and you can see this influence as we promote sea freight over air, try to discourage returns and look out for eco-friendly suppliers.

Is your packaging biodegradable?

It is, but we prefer to reuse. If we receive any good quality packaging we will reuse it for forwarding. The next best thing is using biodegradable packaging, and our own packaging is 100% biodegradable. It is also strong, and decent, which we hope will encourage reuse at destination.