How We Work
Hours of Business
Monday to Friday 9:00am - 5:00pm
We supply trading businesses and buying groups only and reserve the right to refuse trade to any customer or potential customer.
Orders for Delivery
This service is free of charge provided our minimum order values are met. Orders must be placed by 11:00am on the weekday before delivery. We reserve the right to refuse delivery if our terms of trade are not met. Deliveries are made throughout the day and specific times cannot be provided. Delivery times may vary from week to week. If you will not be available to receive your order on the arranged date then you must make adequate provision and inform us of the alternative arrangements. Failure to do this will result in a 20% cancellation fee as laid out under the heading - late cancellation - below.
Priority Service
Priority service orders are placed before close of business, two working days before the day of delivery. Priority Service enables us to call customers with shortages and possible substitutions. Orders placed on the day before delivery are subject to our Standard service. Details of Priority service versus Standard service are published towards the beginning of this Information section.
Orders for Collection
The minimum order value for trade collections is £100 and for Buying groups £300. We require at least 24hrs notice on all orders; this applies to the main order and any additions. We cannot take any additions after the 24hrs deadline, only substitutions for out-of-stocks or shortages. Collection time is between 9:00am and 4:30pm on weekdays. Please note that if you arrive outside of those times, we will not be able to accommodate you. We require that orders be collected within 5 working days of being placed. If you find you cannot collect within 5 working days, please contact us to make other arrangements. Orders that are not collected within 5 working days and where other arrangements have not been made are subject to a cancellation fee of 20% of the order value.
Discounts
Our discount scale is based on invoice value and whether the order is delivered or collected.
Payments
We are no longer able to accept cash payments for delivered goods. Please pay by cheque or card upon delivery, unless prior arrangements have been made. Returned or represented cheques are liable to a minimum charge of £10.00. Payment by Bank transfer, Debit card, Credit card or Direct Debit may be arranged through Customer Accounts, please call 0845 458 1460 for further details. All goods remain the property of Essential Trading until paid in full.
Price and Size Changes
Prices and pack sizes are correct at the time of going to print and are subject to market change without notice. The most up-to-date information is available through our website: essential-trading.coop. Login to see details.
Invoice Signing
All orders must be checked and signed for at the time of delivery/collection by the customer or their agent and an Essential Trading member of staff. Any errors will be noted at the point of delivery/collection. Please note that once a signature has been received we will not accept liability for errors.
Credit Claims
By prior agreement with our credit claim department only. We reserve the right to dismiss claims. We do not give cash refunds. Please refer to the claims procedure described in the previous pages.
Returns
By prior agreement with our credit claim department only. We do not offer goods on a sale or return basis. We reserve the right to dismiss requests for the return of goods.
Late Cancellation
In the unlikely event that you find you no longer require your order and you wish to make a cancellation, please be aware that we reserve the right to charge a cancellation fee. The fee is only applicable on orders cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice from the date of delivery or collection. The cancellation charge levied will be equivalent to 20% of the order value to reflect our lost time in collating and loading the order. Where more than 24 hours' notice is given then we may be able to cancel an order without charge.
Special Order Items
We can obtain items for you which are not part of our normal stockholding. However, if goods are ordered in this way, we ask customers to guarantee the purchase of the goods once they have arrived at our depot. We cannot accept the return of Special Order items. Please note these items are subject to availability and lead time - please enquire for details on specific products/brands.
Terms and Conditions Governing the Use of a Customer Account
- We are Essential Trading Co-operative Limited (“we” and “us”), a registered society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. Our registration number is 23234R and our registered office is Unit 3, Lodge Causeway Trading Estate, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JB. Our registered VAT number is 303067304. We operate the website www.essential-trading.coop.
- These terms and conditions (“Terms”) govern your registration for and use of a customer account with us. By registering or continuing to use a customer account with us you accept and agree to abide by these Terms.
- All customers will be given access to a customer web portal, specific to each customer, on our website, accessible by means of a username and password.
- We may amend these Terms, and the terms and conditions on which we supply our products (“Terms of Supply”), from time to time and will not necessarily give notice to holders of customer accounts. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have read and understood the current version of these Terms and the Terms of Supply. Continuing to use a customer account after the Terms have been amended constitutes acceptance of the amended Terms.
- The versions current from time to time of these Terms and the Terms of Supply will be available on your customer web portal. The Terms of Supply available on your customer web portal shall apply to any order which you place with us.
- To register for or use a customer account you must be at least 18 years of age; by registering for a customer account you warrant that you are at least 18 years old.
- If you are registering for a customer account as a Community Buying Group you warrant that your Community Buying Group consists of at least 4 households.
- In our absolute discretion we may decline a request to register a customer account, or to trade with, or accept an order from, any customer or prospective customer, without giving any reason for doing so. Without limitation to the generality of the foregoing, this may be because the business model, practices, ethos, or activities of such customer or prospective customer conflict with our core principles and aims, or because the customer is a Community Buying Group which is in our sole opinion situated too close to an existing retail customer.
- In our absolute discretion we may at any time suspend or delete an existing customer account for operational, legal, regulatory, or other reasons, and shall not be obliged to give any reason for doing so.
- You warrant that all details and information provided by you on registration for a customer account are true, up to date, accurate, and complete to the best of your knowledge, information and belief. You shall ensure that such details and information as we hold about you remain true, up to date, accurate, and complete by informing us immediately should any such details or information change.
- Changes to your details, including but not limited to your delivery address and contact details, may affect any minimum order value which we impose upon any order placed with us or which we stipulate as a condition of free delivery, and may affect the day on which we deliver to you. You acknowledge that changing your details may result in a delay in the delivery of your order.
- In registering and communicating with us, whether in person or through any media, written or oral, you shall not impersonate any other person, organisation, or entity.
- You must treat your customer account log-in details and password as confidential, and you must not disclose them to any third party. You must notify us immediately of any unauthorised use of your customer account, or if you believe that your username or password are no longer confidential, and you accept full responsibility for any activity undertaken and orders placed using your account log-in details and password prior to your informing us of any such suspected security breach.
- We may, but shall not be obliged to, send you our seasonal catalogue and/or price list. If we do so, we shall be entitled to stop sending these to you at any time and without giving any reason.
Essential Trading Co-operative Privacy and Data Protection Policy
- Policy Statement
Every day our business will receive, use, and store information about a range of data subjects, including but limited to customers, suppliers, job applicants, and general enquiries. This policy sets out how we ensure that this information is processed lawfully and appropriately, in line with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (collectively referred to as the ‘Data Protection Requirements’).
We take our data protection duties seriously, because we respect your privacy. We will not sell or otherwise transfer your information to third parties for marketing purposes without your explicit consent.
- About This Policy
Essential Trading Co-operative is responsible for ensuring compliance with the Data Protection Requirements and with this policy. Any questions about the operation of this policy or any concerns that the policy has not been followed should be referred in the first instance to your usual contact at the Co-op; if you are unsure who to contact then write or call the HR team: hr@essential-trading.coop, 0117 9430 830.
- What is Personal Data?
Personal data means data (whether stored electronically or paper based) relating to a living individual who can be identified directly or indirectly from that data (or from that data and other information in our possession).
Processing is any activity that involves use of personal data. It includes obtaining, recording, holding or transferring data; organising, amending, retrieving, using, disclosing, erasing or destroying it.
- Data Protection Principles
As your data controller, we will ensure that your personal data is:
- Processed fairly, lawfully and in a transparent manner.
- Collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and any further processing is completed for a compatible purpose.
- Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the intended purposes.
- Accurate, and where necessary, kept up to date.
- Kept in a form which permits identification for no longer than necessary for the intended purposes.
- Processed in line with the individual’s rights and in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures.
- Not transferred to people or organisations situated in countries without adequate protection and without firstly having advised the individual.
- Fair and Lawful Processing
The Data Protection Requirements are not intended to prevent the processing of personal data, but to ensure that it is done fairly and without adversely affecting the rights of the individual.
In accordance with the Data Protection Requirements, we will only process personal data where it is required for the following lawful purposes: where the processing is necessary for performing a contract with the individual, for compliance with a legal obligation, in the legitimate interests of the business, or where the individual has given their consent.
- Processing for Limited Purposes
We have in place detailed policies and procedures for all categories of data subjects. These will be kept up to date with all Data Protection requirements and are available to data subjects upon request.
- Accurate Data
We will ensure that personal data we hold is accurate and kept up to date. We will check the accuracy of any personal data at the point of collection and at regular intervals afterwards. We will take all reasonable steps to amend or destroy inaccurate or out-of-date data.
- Timely Processing
We will not keep personal data longer than is necessary for the purpose or purposes for which it was collected. We will take all reasonable steps to destroy, or erase from our systems, all data which is no longer required.
- Processing in line with Data Subject’s Rights
We will process all personal data in line with data subjects’ rights, in particular their rights to:
- Confirmation as to whether or not personal data concerning the individual is being processed.
- Request access to any data held about them.
- Request rectification, erasure or restriction on processing of their personal data.
- Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.
- Data portability.
- Object to processing, including for direct marketing.
- Not be subject to automated decision making including profiling in certain circumstances.
- Data Security
We take appropriate and adequate security measures against unlawful or unauthorised processing of personal data, and against the accidental or unlawful destruction, damage, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of or access to personal data transmitted, stored or otherwise processed.
We have in place industry-standard procedures and technologies to maintain the security of all personal data from the point of the determination of the means for processing and point of data collection to the point of destruction. Additionally, we use a secure connection when collecting personal financial information from you, which conforms to PCI standards. All forms which request credit card or bank details use the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocol for encryption.
Wherever possible, we will store all personal data inside the European Economic Area (EEA). Any time that data is transferred outside the EEA, we ensure that exactly the same provisions on data security and processing are applied.
- Changes to this Policy
Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time. The amended version will be published on our website and any significant changes will be communicated to you either on the website or directly. This will replace any previous privacy policy. Last Updated: 18 May 2018.
Disclaimer
This is the official website of Essential Trading Ltd. By using this website, you accept the full terms of this disclaimer. All the copyright, contents and other intellectual property rights on this website are reserved, and owned by Essential Trading Ltd, their producers, suppliers or stockists.
Essential Trading Ltd is a registered company in United Kingdom since 1971, with registered number IP23234R; and registered office Unit 3 Lodge Causeway Trading Estate, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JB.
As an Essential Trading website user you must not carry out any action that may hinder or impair the performance, availability or accessibility of this website, nor use or share any hidden or displayed contents on this website for any purpose but the one these contents were intended for.
While all reasonable efforts have been taken to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the information provided on this website, such information is given with no warranty of any kind, whether express or implied.
In using this website, you assume the risk that the information presented may include pricing or technical inaccuracies, may be incomplete, inaccurate or out of date, and may contain typographical or other errors. Essential Trading Ltd takes no responsibility , and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
Although through this site you are able to link to other web pages, Essential Trading Ltd. has no control over the nature, content and availability of these sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
In order to ensure continuing improvement, Essential Trading Ltd reserves the right to alter any or all of the web services, revoke the access to any pages or sections, or make any changes without notice, when needed.
Finally, Essential Trading Ltd does not accept or will not accept any responsibility for any loss, disruption or damage to user data, software or hardware which may occur whilst using material downloaded from this website.
If any single, or multiple, item in this disclaimer is determined by a competent authority to be unenforceable, all the others will continue in effect.
Any disputes relating to the terms of this disclaimer shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the British courts.