Delivery and returns

Rates and times

Lanthorn sells online only. Every candle is poured, cured and packed in our workshop on Chandler’s Close in Edinburgh, and posted from there; the workshop isn’t a shop and isn’t open to visitors.

Where we deliver

We deliver to the United Kingdom, the 27 countries of the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. We don’t yet send to Switzerland or Norway: their import VAT schemes need a local registration we don’t have.

The table above gives the price of each service in the currency it is charged in. Your order is always charged in the currency of the country it’s going to (pounds for the UK, euros for the EU, US dollars, Canadian dollars, Australian dollars for Australia and New Zealand, and yen), so the tax on it is always right for its destination. If you have been browsing in another currency, the checkout switches when you choose the delivery country, and tells you.

Dispatch times

Orders placed before 1 pm, Monday to Friday, leave the workshop the same day. Orders placed after 1 pm, at the weekend or on a Scottish bank holiday go out on the next working day. Delivery times count from the day the parcel leaves us.

So a next-working-day order placed before 1 pm on a Thursday arrives on Friday. One placed after 1 pm on a Friday leaves on Monday and arrives on Tuesday.

Free delivery

Standard delivery is free when your subtotal reaches the amount in the table for your destination. The subtotal is the value of the items in your bag after any promo code has been taken off. The free threshold applies to standard delivery only; express delivery is always charged.

Import duties and taxes

Nothing is ever due on the doorstep. We ship delivered duty paid.

• United Kingdom. Prices in pounds include VAT. There are no duties.
• European Union. Prices in euros include VAT. Parcels worth €150 or less travel under the EU’s Import One-Stop Shop, which lets us charge the VAT at checkout. Since 1 July 2026 those parcels also carry a flat customs duty of €3 per item type (Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382), and we pay it. Above €150, import VAT and duty are charged at the border, and our courier pays them for us.
• United States. Prices are shown before sales tax. The US no longer has a duty-free allowance for small parcels: it was suspended for every country on 29 August 2025, US Customs and Border Protection made that indefinite in interim rules published on 24 June 2026, and the law repealing it takes effect on 1 July 2027. Duty on UK-made goods and any sales tax are calculated at payment and collected with your order.
• Canada. Prices are shown before GST/HST. Parcels from the UK worth more than CA$20 pay duty and GST/HST on import (Canada Border Services Agency); both are calculated at payment and collected with your order.
• Australia and New Zealand. Prices are shown before GST. Australia asks overseas sellers to charge GST on goods worth A$1,000 or less at checkout, and we do; New Zealand’s GST is handled the same way. It is calculated at payment.
• Japan. Prices are shown before consumption tax. Parcels with a customs value of ¥10,000 or less are exempt from duty and consumption tax (Japan Customs); above that, both are calculated at payment and collected with your order.

These rules were checked on 22 September 2026 and change from time to time. The checkout always shows whether tax and duties are included or calculated at payment.

Matches

Safety matches are dangerous goods, and Royal Mail won’t carry them at all. An order that includes Long Matches goes by our next-working-day courier, and only within the UK.

The Lamplighter’s Box holds a jar of matches in the UK, so there it goes by courier too. Outside the UK we send it without the matches, and take their value off the price: the checkout shows the adjustment.

Gift wrap and notes

You can add gift wrap in your bag, where its price is shown in your currency. You can also add a handwritten note of up to 200 characters, which we write on a card and put in with the order. We never put prices in the parcel. If you are sending a gift straight to someone else, enter their address as the delivery address. More ideas are on our gifts page.

Returns

If you change your mind, you can return anything unused and unburnt within 30 days of delivery for a full refund of the item.

1. Email support@lanthorn.shop with your order number and what you’d like to return.
2. Pack the items securely, in their original box if you still have it. Stoneware is heavy and breaks if it’s knocked.
3. Send them to the address we give you. Unless the item is faulty, the cost of return postage is yours, and we’d suggest a tracked service.

Faulty items

If something is faulty, we will always take it back and replace it or refund you, whenever you find the fault and whether or not the candle has been lit. We pay the return postage. A candle counts as faulty if, for example, it won’t hold a flame with a trimmed wick in still air, it keeps smoking after you have followed the care guide, or the vessel cracks in normal use. This is in addition to your statutory rights.

Damage in transit

If your order arrives damaged, tell us within 7 days of delivery. Send a photo of the damaged item and its packaging to support@lanthorn.shop and we will send a replacement or refund you, whichever you prefer. There is no need to post broken stoneware back to us.

Your 14-day cancellation right

As with any online order, you have a legal right to cancel within 14 days, starting from the day after your order is delivered, for any reason.

1. Tell us within those 14 days that you want to cancel. An email to support@lanthorn.shop is enough.
2. Send the items back within 14 days of telling us.
3. We refund the price of the items and the standard delivery charge for your destination. If you chose express delivery, we refund the standard charge and the extra is not refunded.

We may reduce the refund if an item has been handled more than you would need to examine it, for example if a candle has been burnt.

Refunds

We refund within 14 days of receiving your return, to the payment method you used for the order, in the currency you paid in. We will email you when it is done.