Legal

Terms and Conditions of Sale

Draft of 20 August 2026

1. These terms

These terms apply to every order placed through this website. Please read them before ordering — by placing an order you agree to them.

The seller is J K Thomson LLP [TO CONFIRM: legal entity name and registration number — the footer currently says “Ltd”, the Stripe account says “LLP”] of Inveresk Mills Industrial Estate, Musselburgh EH21 7UQ. [TO CONFIRM: VAT registration number.]

2. Trade and consumer customers

This website sells to smaller trade customers — delis, farm shops and the like — and to households. Supermarkets, restaurants and other volume buyers are supplied directly by our sales team, on separate arrangements, and these terms do not govern those orders.

So both businesses and individuals buy through this site. Where a term applies only to one or the other, it says so. If you are buying in the course of a business, the statutory rights that consumers have — including those described in section 8 — do not apply to you.

Because this site sells to consumers, the consumer provisions in these terms are not optional. Section 8 in particular, on cancellation and the perishable-goods exemption under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, applies to every household order placed here and must be reviewed on that basis.

[TO CONFIRM: whether volume customers supplied direct should be put on separate written trade terms with credit accounts. That is a separate document from this one, and does not change these website terms.]

3. The products

We sell fresh, smoked and frozen seafood. It is perishable, and much of it is chilled.

Products are sold by case. Case sizes and unit counts are stated on each product page. Weights given for individual pieces are nominal — natural products vary, and a reasonable tolerance applies. [TO CONFIRM: the tolerance you want to state, for example ±10% on nominal piece weight.]

Photographs are illustrative.

4. Ordering

Placing an order is an offer to buy. A contract is formed when we send you an order confirmation email. If we cannot fulfil an order — for example because of a landing shortfall or a failed catch — we will tell you and refund you in full.

We may refuse or cancel an order where the product is unavailable, where there is an error in the price or description, or where we cannot deliver to your address.

5. Prices and payment

Prices are those shown on the site at the time you order. [TO CONFIRM: whether displayed prices include or exclude VAT, and whether trade and retail see different prices. Most seafood is zero-rated, but not all — this needs to be stated explicitly.]

Payment is taken in full at the time of ordering, by card, through Stripe. We do not see or store your card details.

6. Delivery

These are the rules the site actually enforces at checkout:

• We deliver on Tuesdays and Thursdays only.
• Orders must be placed by 3pm, and we need two clear working days between your order and your delivery. So an order placed before 3pm on a Monday can be delivered that Thursday; an order placed after 3pm on the Monday counts as a Tuesday order, and the earliest delivery becomes the following Tuesday. The checkout calendar does this arithmetic for you and only offers dates we can actually meet.
• You may book a delivery date up to 30 days ahead.
• Choosing a delivery date is required — an order cannot be placed without one.
• We cannot currently deliver to the Western Isles (HS postcodes). The checkout will tell you if your postcode is outside our delivery area.

[TO CONFIRM: delivery charges, any minimum order value, and whether a courier has been appointed — the courier is not yet chosen, and its cut-off times may require the rules above to change.]

Risk in the goods passes to you on delivery.

7. Failed delivery and chilled goods

This section matters more than most, because of what we sell.

Someone must be available to accept the delivery on the date you chose. Chilled seafood cannot be left in a porch, in an outbuilding, or with a neighbour unless you have agreed that with us in advance and accepted responsibility for it.

If delivery fails because nobody was there to accept it, or because the access information you gave us was wrong, the goods will in most cases be unfit to re-deliver and we cannot refund them. This is not a penalty — it is that a chilled product which has been out of temperature control is no longer safe to sell or eat.

If delivery fails because of something we or our courier did wrong, you will be refunded in full or the order re-sent, as you prefer.

Please check your order on arrival and refrigerate or freeze it immediately.

[TO CONFIRM: the exact position you want to take on unattended deliveries, and whether a “safe place” option should be offered at all. Also whether a re-delivery fee applies.]

8. Cancellation — and why the usual 14 days does not apply

This section applies to consumers, not to business customers.

For most things bought online, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 give consumers 14 days to change their mind and return the goods for a refund.

That right does not apply to the food we sell. Regulation 28 removes the right to cancel for, among other things, the supply of goods which are liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly, and for sealed goods which are not suitable for return for health protection or hygiene reasons once unsealed. Fresh, chilled and frozen seafood falls squarely within this.

So once we have accepted your order and begun to prepare it, it cannot be cancelled for a change of mind.

What this does not take away:

• your right to goods that are of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described, under the Consumer Rights Act 2015;
• your right to a refund or replacement if what arrives is faulty, damaged, short, or not what you ordered;
• your right to a full refund if we cannot deliver.

If you need to change an order before it is prepared, contact us as soon as you can and we will help if we still can. You can also change your delivery date yourself from your account, up to the cut-off.

[TO CONFIRM — LEGAL REVIEW REQUIRED: the drafting of this section. The exemption relied on is real and well established for perishable food, but the wording, the point at which cancellation closes, and how it interacts with the pre-contract information the Regulations require you to give must be checked by a solicitor.]

9. Problems with an order

If anything is wrong with your order, tell us as soon as possible — and for chilled goods, on the day of delivery if you can, so we can act on it. Email sales@jkthomson.com or call 0131 653 6999. A photograph helps.

Where goods are faulty we will refund or replace them. We may ask you to dispose of the product rather than return it; that is normal for food and does not affect your refund.

[TO CONFIRM: the reporting window you want to state. A fixed period such as 24 hours from delivery is common for chilled produce, but it cannot be used to cut across statutory rights for consumers.]

10. Our liability

[TO CONFIRM — LEGAL REVIEW REQUIRED: this clause has deliberately been left unwritten. Limitation of liability is the clause most likely to be unenforceable if drafted badly, and the limits that are reasonable for a trade sale are not the limits permitted against a consumer. It should be written by a solicitor once section 2 is decided.]

Nothing in these terms will limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else which cannot lawfully be limited.

11. Your information

We handle your personal data as described in our Privacy Policy, and use cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

12. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of Scotland, and the Scottish courts have jurisdiction. [TO CONFIRM: correct for a Musselburgh business, but confirm it suits any customers elsewhere in the UK.]

13. Contact

J K Thomson, Inveresk Mills Industrial Estate, Musselburgh EH21 7UQ · sales@jkthomson.com · 0131 653 6999