Refund and Returns Policy
This Refund and Returns Policy explains when you can return a physical book purchased from Forgotten Rites Publishing, how refunds work, and how we handle damaged, defective, or incorrect items. It should be read together with our Shipping Policy and our Terms and Conditions.
Effective date: August 2, 2026.
Eligibility for Change-of-Mind Returns
If you simply change your mind about a physical book, you may request a return within 30 days after delivery. The book must be unused, unread, and in resalable condition. This section does not apply to Signed Copies, personalized items, or bespoke items, which are addressed separately below.
Return Authorization
Before mailing anything back to us, contact us at [email protected] to request return authorization. Please do not send an item back without first receiving authorization and instructions from us.
Return Window
Change-of-mind return requests must be made within 30 days after the delivery date.
Condition of Returned Items
To qualify for a change-of-mind refund, the physical book must be unused, unread, and in resalable condition. We may decline a refund, or offer a partial refund, if a returned item shows signs of reading, use, or damage that occurred after delivery.
Return Shipping
For a change-of-mind return, you are responsible for the cost of shipping the item back to us.
Original Shipping Charges
Original shipping charges are not refundable for a change-of-mind return.
Damaged, Defective, Misprinted, or Incorrect Items
If your order arrives damaged, defective, misprinted, or is not what you ordered, contact us within 7 days of delivery. Please include your order number, a description of the problem, and clear photographs when we reasonably need them to evaluate the issue.
We pay reasonable replacement or refund costs for a validated production, damage, or fulfillment error. We do not require you to pay return shipping for a validated error on our part or our print partner’s part, unless we provide a prepaid label or otherwise reimburse that cost.
Signed Copies
Signed Copies are final sale, except when the item is damaged, defective, misprinted, or incorrect. An ordinary, non-personalized signature does not remove your right to a remedy under the damage or error exception described above.
Personalized and Bespoke Items
Personalized autographs, personalized inscriptions, and bespoke items are final sale, but they remain eligible for a remedy if damaged, defective, misprinted, or incorrect. If the item matches exactly what you submitted at the time of your order, including any spelling, wording, or personalization you provided, a mistake in your own submission is not treated as a seller error.
Cancellations
A cancellation is different from a return. A cancellation stops an order before it ships, while a return is for an order you have already received.
We accept cancellation requests only before production or fulfillment has begun. Standard BookVault orders that are not preorders may enter production quickly after payment, so a cancellation is not guaranteed once an order has been submitted. Once BookVault has sent an order to print, cancellation may no longer be possible, and production costs already incurred may remain payable. An order that has already shipped cannot be canceled. A preorder may be canceled only before its release processing or fulfillment has begun.
We cannot promise that every cancellation request will be able to be completed, but we will always try to accommodate a request made in time.
Preorders
Payment for a preorder is collected when you place the order, not on the release date. The Bones Beneath the Maple releases September 4, 2026. Standard preorder production does not begin until on or after that date, and we do not guarantee delivery on the release date itself. Production and delivery estimates begin after your order is released for processing.
See Cancellations above for how preorder cancellation works, and see our Shipping Policy for more on preorder fulfillment.
Event Pickup and Missed Events
If you selected Event Pickup, you must collect your order by the end of the event you selected at checkout. If you miss the event, contact us. You may choose a different available future event, or request a refund.
A missed-event refund is not available for an item containing a requested personalized autograph or inscription, unless that item is damaged, defective, misprinted, or incorrect. Please contact us as soon as possible if you need to change your selected event. We cannot guarantee that every future event or location will remain available.
Lost or Undelivered Shipments
If your order does not arrive within a reasonable time, contact us rather than our print partner directly. We will investigate on your behalf.
For an untracked shipping service, our print partner generally cannot make a carrier claim and does not promise a reprint. For a tracked service where tracking shows no updates or the carrier confirms the shipment as lost, a carrier claim and reprint may be available. We will review the shipping service used, tracking information, the delivery address, carrier status, and our print partner’s eligibility rules before providing a remedy. We do not promise an automatic refund or replacement before that review is complete.
Packages Marked Delivered
If tracking shows your order as delivered but you have not received it, please check your delivery address, other household members, neighbors where appropriate, and any safe-delivery location, and contact the carrier when appropriate.
We will review the available tracking and fulfillment information. A delivered scan alone does not create an automatic refund or replacement. Any remedy depends on the carrier’s investigation, our print partner’s eligibility rules, and the circumstances involved.
Address Errors
You are responsible for entering an accurate delivery address. Contact us immediately if you discover an error. Depending on timing, a delivery address or shipping service on a BookVault order may be editable before the order is scanned into dispatch, but we cannot guarantee an address change will be possible once an order has been submitted, and no change is possible once an order has shipped. Additional production or shipping costs caused by a customer-entered address error may be your responsibility.
Refund Method
Approved refunds are returned to your original payment method whenever technically possible. We do not promise a specific number of days for a refund to post to your account, your bank or payment provider’s own processing times may vary. If you paid using Pay at Event Pickup and never completed payment, there is no payment to refund, and canceling that order does not result in a monetary refund.
Items That Cannot Be Returned
The following are final sale except where the damage, defect, misprint, or incorrect-item exception applies: Signed Copies, personalized autographs and inscriptions, and bespoke items.
How to Request Help
To request a return, report a damaged or incorrect item, ask about a missed Event Pickup, or request a cancellation, contact us at [email protected] with your order number and a description of your request.
Contact Us
Forgotten Rites Publishing
Email: [email protected]
For information about shipping times, tracking, and carriers, see our Shipping Policy.