Shipping & Returns

Important Shipping information, terms and conditions. Important - please read thoroughly.
We will endeavour to get your order to you within 2 to 3 working days (with the exception of freezer boilies – see below). Orders received one day will be despatched the following working day on an overnight courier service. Please remember that the goods will need to be signed for so please make sure someone is available at the delivery address.

All orders over £89.50 are sent post free (UK Mainland only).

All delivery prices on website are for mainland UK only. For non-mainland postage costs please enquire.

Freezer boilies (Please allow sufficient lead time)
These are not sent out frozen but are made fresh to order and sent out on an overnight courier as soon as they are made, thus ensuring maximum freshness. They are delivered fresh to your door for you to put in the freezer as soon as you receive them.

Due to the fact that they are made to order, you will need to allow sufficient lead time for us to plan them into our rolling schedule. Delivery days are Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and as a general rule, orders received one week will be sent out for delivery the following week. However, this can often increase depending on 'seasonal demand' and can at times be 4 to 6 weeks. It is VERY important to leave your mobile number so that our courier can send you an SMS message the day your goods leave so that you know exactly when to expect delivery, but please feel free to phone us for an update at any time.

If the boilies are urgently required it might be worth contacting us via telephone to see if we can fit them in at short notice. This will depend on how busy we are at the time with the rolling schedule, but we promise that we will try our best to do so.

The goods will need to be signed for so it is very important someone is at home to take delivery. If there is no answer the goods will be taken back to the depot and the customer will have to arrange an alternative delivery date. Essential Baits cannot accept any responsibility for any ‘freshness’ issues if no one is available to sign for the goods.

VERY IMPORTANT: You will receive an SMS message the day your goods leave Essential HQ, followed by another the following morning to give you a one hour 'delivery slot'. It is strongly suggested that someone is available to sign for the delivery during this one hour window. If you contact our courier (DPD) and request a different delivery address, this will often delay the goods for at least 24 hours and we take no responsibility for the freshness of the goods if this happens. We feel the above notifications give enough notice of delivery and for you to arrange someone to sign for them. It may also be worth noting that if you contact our courier AFTER you have received a delivery notification SMS message, asking for the goods to be left in a safe place, it is down to the drivers discretion as to whether he/she considers it to be safe and in some cases, the goods are taken back to the depot. Once again, Essential Baits take no responsibility for this.

When ordering, you can always have the goods delivered to an alternative address such as work, friends, family, neighbour etc. Alternatively you can instruct the goods to be left in a safe place such as a garage or shed, however, the recipient must accept full responsibility for the goods if you choose this option.

Courier delivery charges to mainland UK

Small Mail Pack Next day delivery (up to 1kg) £5.00
Large Mail Pack Next day delivery (up to 5kg) £6.50
Orders over 5kg Next day delivery £8.00


All orders of £100 or over are sent ‘post free’ (with the exception of ‘special deals’)



European and Non-UK delivery charges
We provide a very efficient courier service to most European destinations. If your country is not listed below please email us for a quote at mike@essentialbaits.co.uk We also supply our baits to a small number of EU countries, therefore we would suggest making contact with these companies first if you live in these countries.
Click HERE for our EU stockist list.

 

 

Delivery destination up to 29kg
Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Germany £15.00
Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Slovakia and Austria £20.00
Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Portugal and Slovenia £25.00

Note: Each additional box is the same price, for example, if you wanted two boxes sent to Germany (up to 58kg) this would be £30.00 shipping costs.


Unfortunately we are unable to send our freezer bait range to non UK destinations, however, many overseas customers use our ESL (extended shelf life) boilies with fantastic results. These can be put into your freezer on arrival and treated in exactly the same way as our freezer bait range.

 

Returns
If not entirely satisfied, all goods (other than perishable items) can be returned to Essential Baits within 14 days of receipt, providing the products have not been opened and all packaging is sealed and in the same condition as when sent out.

Perishable items such as fresh/frozen boilies cannot be returned or refunded unless wrongly supplied or if they were not delivered within 48 hours of leaving Essential Baits.

Shelf life products such as boilies, pellets, pop-ups, wafters etc are guaranteed for 9 months from date of purchase, providing they have been kept in a dry place and away from direct sunlight.

All returning postage costs will be the responsibility of the buyer except if goods are faulty or wrongly supplied.

All goods are packaged in good order and double wall cardboard is used on our boxes, as well as extra packaging if required. Therefore, goods can only be damaged during shipping if the box has external damage. It is very important that if your goods arrive showing signs of 'external damage', you must sign for them as 'damaged' (next to your signature). If this is not carried out, we will be unable to replace goods because we have no proof to claim from our shipping agents.

Returned postage charges are only refundable where the goods are faulty or wrongly supplied.

If returning goods, it is the buyer’s responsibility to track and insure them.

 

Refunds
Any refund due will be credited to the original card (or original payment method) within 5 working days of us receiving the goods.

If returned goods are lost in the post, you must agree to our reasonable requirements for tracking the delivery (such as showing us the proof of posting) before we can give you a refund.

 

Damaged goods
All items that leave Essential Baits will be securely packed and in good order. We employ a third party courier to ship the items to you. If the parcel(s) arrives showing external damage, it is the buyer’s responsibility to sign for the goods as ‘damaged’. If goods arrived 'damaged', proof of such damage must be supplied by way of an image clearly outlining this.

 

Goods not received
If you request your goods to be left in a safe place, this must be done so at the buyer’s risk and Essential Baits take no responsibility unless a recipient’s signature is received.

Hard Hook Baits (Mike's view)

There are often times throughout the season when I find myself having to use hard hook baits. There’s nothing worse than reeling in after you’ve seen a frenzied amount of fishing activity over your baited area, only to find that your hook baits have been nibbled away by nuisance fish! Some venues are obviously more prone to nuisance fish activity than others, but it’s not just nuisance fish that can be a problem. Diving birds or even pick ups from swans will often result in ‘missing hook baits’!

Hard hook baits will alleviate this problem, in fact, I actually think it’s advantageous when a diving bird picks up my hard hook bait. It gives me confidence that my presentation is good, and as the bird drops the rig, I actually believe it straightens everything out and gives me a better presentation that I can achieve via casting. I can remember fishing at Frampton some years ago, when the only time I could seemingly get a bite, was after a coot had picked up and dropped my hard hook bait!
 

Top Tip

After you’ve made a batch of hard hookers, leave them out on a towel to air dry for at least ten days, preferably in a warm dry place. Once they have sufficiently dried out, put them in a polythene bag and add a small amount of ‘Boilie Glug’ or ‘Liquid Food’ and shake well. For extra convenience transfer them to an empty pop-up jar or similar before placing them in the fridge or the freezer until needed. If keeping in the fridge, make sure you give them a good shake every few days and top up the liquid if and as required.