Pricing & Shipping: How It Works
Shipping costs are real, and someone always pays them. Here's exactly how pricing and shipping work at Irolita Books, depending on where you are.
Shipping to Canada
For Canadian buyers, shipping is always included in the listed price. There are no additional charges at checkout. What you see is what you pay.
Shipping to the United States
Most US orders include shipping in the listed price as well. For heavier books, a small additional shipping fee may apply, which is calculated and shown before checkout. US shipments go via USPS Media Mail, which charges a flat rate regardless of destination, so where you are in the country makes no difference.
International shipping
International orders typically carry a shipping fee that reflects the difference between the shipping cost already included in the price and the actual cost of delivery to your country. This varies by destination and is calculated and shown before checkout.
Why prices differ between marketplaces
If you've found the same book on AbeBooks or Biblio, you may notice prices are higher there than here. That's because selling on those platforms involves listing fees, commissions, and currency exchange costs that have to be factored into the price. Buying directly from irolitabooks.com means you're not paying those overhead costs. The book is the same; the price reflects where you're buying it.
Combined shipping discounts
When you order more than one book, they ship together in a single package (which costs me less than shipping each one separately). I pass that saving along as a discount on each additional book: $5.00 CAD for Canadian orders, $3.00 USD for US orders, and $2.00 for international orders. These amounts reflect actual postage savings, not a promotional gimmick.
Currency, payment, and automatic calculation
Prices and shipping discounts are calculated automatically as you browse. Canadian buyers see prices in CAD and are charged in CAD, with no currency conversion happening behind the scenes and no surprise charges when your statement arrives. US buyers see prices in USD and are charged in USD. If you're ordering multiple books, the combined shipping discount is applied in the cart before you pay, with no codes, no requests, and no back-and-forth.
Card payments are processed through Stripe, a secure payment platform used by businesses worldwide. I never see your card information; it goes directly to Stripe and nowhere else.