Here's some information you might find useful....

Q.What's the ethos behind Norman Records?
A. To support quality independant/ alternative music and hopefully sell it to you!

Q. Do you sell new or used records?
A. We sell both new and used records. The vast majority of what we sell is new though We like the idea of you being able to get new records even if you don't have the cash to buy them just by trading your old ones in.

Q. What genres of music do you stock?
A. We try to stick to the leftfield side of music where possible cos there's not much point selling chart crap which is available everywhere at prices we can't compete with. But we cover a mixed range of genres covering electronica, indie/ alternative, americana, folk and psych folk, experimental, avant garde, noise and everything else around and in between. We deal with all the main UK indie and major label distros as well as loads of small labels direct. So there's masses of stuff we can get which we don't stock. If you can't see what you want then feel free to ask!

Q. I have a label/ am in a band and would like you to stock my releases.
A. Lovely. Send us a CDR down and we'll check it out. If we can sell any we'll be in touch. We get sent a lot so bear with us!

Q.Why do I see releases on other shops websites and then see them on yours later a week later? Why don't you list them at the same time?
A. Well we only list items we physically have here. We don't put catalogues of titles up there which we can get that aren't in stock. When we receive a new release it goes on the site and not beforehand. There's nothing more frustrating ordering something thinking it's available when it actually isn't!

Q. I notice you stock a lot of titles on vinyl but not on CD. Why is that?
A. Basically because we can't compete with other shops who buy in enormous quanitites (like Amazon and Play) and we don't have the same buying power they have for us to compete. Often it works out cheaper for us to buy the CD's from them, rather than from the official distributor. We can get in anything that is in currently in print and we will always try to sell it as cheaply as possibly but we can't compete with these places so we don't bother. If you want to support an indie and pay a little bit more then good on you!

Q. I noticed the prices on certain titles change a week or 2 after the release. Why is that?
A. Because we get get special deals on our pre orders which enable us to sell things cheaper initially. Once we have sold out of those initial copies we can't always get the same deal hence the prices rising!

Q. Why do you list certain titles as only one copy per person? Why can't I buy more??
A. A lot of the titles we sell are very limited and go up in value almost immediately. A sad sign of today's times is that people are buying things to sell on ebay rather than for the enjoyment of the music itself. If we had 40 copies of something we'd much prefer they went to 40 different people rather than them all going to one dealer. It would be easier for us to send them all to one person but it doesn't sit right ethically with us. So that is why we limit certain titles so the music can be spread to as many people as possible.

Q. So do you not sell things on ebay?
A. Actually we do. I sell some of my old records on there, we sell some of our 2nd hand items on there and we also sell some of the tastier items which people have reserved and then not bought (you'd be surprised how much it happens).

Q. When do you update the site?
A. We update it Monday to Friday throughout the daytime with new additions and deletions. New items come in constantly and on friday we do a general update which encompasses all the weeks new titles along with our hilariously informed reviews. If you don't want to check the site regularly we have a weekly e mail which lists our album, single of the week, reviews, new and used in so it's reasonably comprehensive!

Q. How do I know if something is in stock?
A. If the item states it's available to be despatched in one day then it's in stock. If it says 2-5 days then we have to order it in. Note that is an average. Many titles we can get in next day. Some can take a week and other import titles can take weeks/months so please bear that in mind when ordering imports!

Q. Why do you have a 25 pence surcharge on all card orders under 5 pounds?
A. Because otherwise we would end up losing out on smaller orders. That is what the credit card companies charge us for transactions and unfortunately we have to pass this on. I'm sure you can understand that our profit margin is tiny on a 99p 7". After staff costs, general running costs, tax, vat etc we can't afford to swallow the 25p charge as well. Once an order hits the 5 pounds mark we can afford to swalllow it.

Q. I want to pay by Paypal but I can't pay automatically by paypal. How do I do it?
A. Place your order through the cart, select the paypal options and make sure you include your shipping address! We'll get back to you with a confirmation of the totals and give you a paypal e mail address to pay with. The reason why it's not done automatically is we don't want people to pay for things which have since sold out (which does happen) and it stops it all from getting a bit messy.

Q. I placed my order through Musicstack or gemm and you charged me more for postage. Why is that?
A. That is because they take a cut of the postage which we feel is unfair so we have to up the prices to compensate for this. If you place the order through our site you will be charged the regular amount.

Q. I searched through your reviews and thought they were rude sometimes. Why do you say things are rubbish? Are you not worried about upsetting fans and losing customers?
A. Well yes we are but we believe we have to be honest in our reviews and regular readers will understand where we are coming from. We don't want to say everything is 'killer' when it clearly isn't. In the hundreds of records released every week we feel some duty to try and inform and help along the way. We write our own reviews each week as well for the new releases. We don't cover everything but we try to review a reasonable cross section of the weeks new tunes. We do not cut and paste from press release sheets (which often misinform and mislead). We try to be as honest and entertaining as possible without offending. Bear in mind its one persons' opinion and not necessarily the view of the whole team here!

Q. Your prices on the website are cheaper than most shops. Are they copies or do you sell shoddy goods??
A. No we aim to be as cheap as possible and we do NOT sell shoddy goods or copies. Everything is totally 100% legit here!

Q. Your site is pretty lo fi..... There's no sound clips. Why is that?
A. If we did this we'd have to employ someone to do this permanently and thus put our prices up. We believe cheaper prices are what people are looking for! You can often find all of the information you need by searching on the internet. Try discogs.com for info on tracklistings and bands/ labels websites are a good start! Also we can help with catalogue numbers and if you info need info regarding a certain release, if we have time we'll do what we can to help! Though we are starting to put track listings up when we get time!!

Q. I've noticed you've put some pictures on the site. Will there be pictures for everything at some point?
A. Yes! It's a time consuming process. We have 30000+ items on the site so that's a lot of pictures. It's an enormous mountain but we'll get there . The pictures are just general release pictures rather than actual pictures of the release.

Q. Why should I buy from this site?
A. We try and offer a unique service by being friendly and personal. If you have a problem you can phone or e mail us and we'll respond appropriately. Also you'll get free stuff with each order (be it just a postcard, badge or sweet but that's all we get free!). All this coupled with same day shipping. We firmly believe that getting stuff out to people is the most important thing. We all buy stuff mail order ourselves and when companies drag on it's most frustrating. So when we say an order is shipping on a certain day it will do. Then you'll have a rough idea when to expect it. Also we use strong packaging and don't charge for it. The postage you pay is for the weight of the order including the weight of the packaging. Also you'll be supporting a whole DIY ethos as we support labels/bands directly and without that the music scene would be much more worse for wear.

Q. What returns policy do you have?
A. If you get sent the wrong item or there is some thing wrong with the order get in touch and we'll sort out a replacement/ refund etc. We treat every different instance as fairly as possible and whenever we are culpable we take full responsibility for our actions. Everything on the site is guaranteed though!

Q. The item I bought is damaged. What do I do?
A. If it's damaged in the post then you'll need to claim from Royal Mail as it's happened whilst being in their possession. If it's a pressing fault then we ask you to send it back and we'll send you replacements. In this case each party pays the return postage. If it's our fault in any other way we'll happily swap it and refund return postage costs. I can't stress enough that we always try and package things as well as possible in the first case!

Q. I placed an order over the weekend and haven't heard anything yet aside from an automated repsonse?
A. We work monday to friday and sometimes we have someone here on saturday morning for a few hours. If you place an order we'll deal with it in turn as soon as physically possible. Mondays are always very busy here as we're catching up with the weekends orders so please be patient!

Q. I placed an order and haven't received all of it, but I asked for it to be shipped all at once. Will the rest of my order be sent seperately?
A. No.If you requested we ship everything together then that's what we do. But given the nature of what we sell (a lot of limited editions and imports) they do not always come back in to stock. We normally wait a week or 2 and if an item hasn't come in we'll ship without that item and should that title come back in to stock you can then re order it if you still want it. We do not have a back order system set up here!

Q. I placed an order weeks ago and haven't heard anything. How can I check what is happening?
A. E mail us and we'll tell you! We don't have a fancy log in and online order tracking system (there ain't the cash!) but we're an e mail/ phone call away!

Q. I placed an order with a pre order in it and I still haven't received it?
A. Release dates often change and if a release you've ordered has been delayed, and you're feeling impatient then get in touch and we'll do as you wish.

Q. What if my parcel goes missing in the post??
A. Check out our shipping pages but basically if you value the items you're getting sent then request some sort of insurance in the special requests section at the end of the order process. Otherwise we are not responsible for the mail services inefficiencies.

Q. You haven't sent me everything I ordered! Why?
A. The bottom line is that if we could we would. We're in the game of selling records! Sometimes a record will have ran out at the distributor (it happens to all of them at some point) and they sometimes do not come back in. Other times they come back in but months and months later. We dont keep records here on back order for you so if you receive an order with something missing then we've cancelled it and do not expect it from us. The reason being that you may want to get it somewhere else and we don't want you to feel tied to buy it from us in case you want it urgently. If you still wish to buy the title from us then you can do so when it is relisted and marked available again on the site.

that's about it. More questions and answers to be added as and when issues arrive. If there's anything you think needs to be added here please let us know!
Thanks for reading
teamNORMAN xx