We accept Euros (€), US Dollars and Pounds Sterling (£). Although all our shells are priced in Euros, we are equally happy to accept any of these currencies. We can sometimes accept Australian Dollars or Philippine Pesos too – please enquire.

Please see our Payment page which lists the various options. If you are transferring funds directly to our bank accounts we will supply you with the full details that your bank will need (including the IBAN and Swift number). Many of our customers outside the EU and USA prefer to send cash by registered mail (Euros, US Dollars or Pounds Sterling), but we cannot really recommend this method except for small payments – there is inevitably some risk of it being lost in the mail.

We accept PayPal payments in Euros, US Dollars or Sterling, and the account is the same as our E-mail address (simonaiken@ukonline.co.uk). However, we now discourage our customers from using PayPal, because of the complex PayPal fee structure. We regret that we must ask buyers to pay all PayPal fees. Please note that our PayPal account does not accept payments made via credit card – only payments directly from your PayPal account.

We are very pleased to be able to accept Mastercard and Visa.

Only very rarely do we trade with collectors, and only for specific items from parts of the world where we don't have good sources of supply. Almost all of our shells come direct from their source.

Please see our Payment page. We charge the actual cost only – there is never any mark-up on the postage costs. International postage from the UK is in fact very reasonably priced, and the cost of sending parcels within the UK is minimal.

No. There are no hidden charges of any kind – just the actual cost charged to us by the post office.

We ask that you make payment within 10 days of receiving your shells. For your first order we normally ask that you pay in advance, although we can sometimes bend that rule for a small order if you provide references from internationally recognised shell dealers.

We use the official interbank rate on the day of the invoice, as quoted on the Universal Currency Converter. You are not charged any commission or any fee for the conversion. Should you ever have a query on the exchange rate used for your order, you can check historical data at Oanda.com.

Payment must be made at the rate on the day of your invoice. For tax purposes we are obliged to report the company's theoretical loss/gain due to currency fluctuations between the date of invoice and receipt of payment, and we have to use the official rates.

Our PayPal account does not accept payments linked to a credit card. We regret that any PayPal payment made through a credit card will be rejected. The money will be refunded to your account and PayPal will notify you by email that your payment was refused. You will need to deposit funds in your PayPal account and then make the payment. Alternatively, you may prefer to use your credit card to pay for your shells directly, rather than using PayPal – please ask for details.