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Help Centre - Buying Back Issues - About the Items for Sale

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Buying Back Issues Guide - Table of Contents

  • About the Marketplace
  • About the Items for Sale
  • Delivery Rates & Info. (Quick Start Guide)
  • Ordering & Payment
  • After Ordering - Payment Status
  • After Ordering - Account & Feedback
  • (Click links above to jump to that page)


    About the Items for Sale

    The Magazine Exchange marketplace contains thousands of back-issues magazines from hundreds of different Sellers; by definition all back-issue magazines are 'old' and indeed the vast majority of items offered for sale on this website are second-hand, and will reflect that in their condition.

    Some magazines however are "New Unsold Stock" meaning that they are magazine copies that, for whatever reason, were never sold when they were new and have been kept in storage ever since - so while these examples are still technically 'old' magazines they are likely to be in almost as-new condition. Generally these new-unsold-stock items will only be sold by trade sellers - typically publishers, importers or distributors.
    Condition Descriptions

    The service Magazine Exchange offers is aimed primarily at customers who read magazines rather than those that collect them - as such, the system we use to describe the condition of magazines is very simple:

  • Poor - Generally we don't encourage Sellers to offer items that are in poor condition on the site unless they are particularly rare or unusual.

  • Fair - More magazines fall into this category, which usually just means that the cover or internal pages are loose or slightly tatty.

  • Good - The vast majority of magazines on the website are in 'good condition' in all respects.

  • New Unsold Stock - As the term suggests, these are magazines that have never previously been sold to a customer.

  • The descriptions above are by necessity general and deliberately do not relate to the systems used by book collectors to describe condition (FN/FN, VG/FN etc). We have many regular & repeat customers who are magazine collectors but we nontheless stress that all our stock should be considered to be 'reading copies' only. We will not enter into any correspondence with customers about the condition of magazines supplied UNLESS the magazine in question is found to have pages missing or other significant damage that affects it's readability.

    Supplements and Extras

    Occasionally magazines when originally sold will include supplements or free gifts, such as calendars, posters, DVDs, model plans and the like. These items were intended to be removed from the magazine by the original purchaser and in most cases will have been - but occasionally such items will remain with the magazine when it is offered for sale on this site.

    When we know that a magazine issue originally contained a particular supplement or free gift it will usually be mentioned in the "Contents Listing - Articles & Features" section of the website page for that issue, plus often also in the front cover image.

    If we do not know that a magazine originally included a supplement or gift, or if the contents listing for that magazine has not yet been added to the website, then naturally no mention of the extra item will be made.

    If a copy of a magazine that is being offered for sale still contains the supplement or gift then we encourage the Seller to mention that fact in the "Sellers' Description" area for that copy. If no mention is made of the supplement or gift then you should assume it is not included with that particular copy, but customers wishing to double-check either way are welcome to contact Magazine Exchange who will pass the query on to the Seller in question.

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