Paying for Orders Online
How to pay for your WHSmith.co.uk orders.
- What are the Ways to Pay?
- Is Payment Secure?
- When Will I be Charged?
- Can I Pay by Gift Card or eVoucher?
- How Does Laybuy Work?
- How Do I Set Up a Credit Account?
- What if I Need to Cancel an Order?
- What if there is a Problem with Payment?
- Do you Store my Payment Details?
What are the Ways to Pay?
You can use credit and debit cards, PayPal, gift cards or a credit account to pay for your online orders. You can pay with a combination of a payment card / PayPal and a Giftcard(s).
We accept the following credit and debit cards:
- Visa
- Mastercard
- American Express
- Maestro
- Delta
- JCB
- Diner's Club
- PayPal
- Laybuy
- Pay by Bank
It's not possible to pay for your online orders using paper WHSmith gift vouchers or paper book tokens. However, you can use them in store.
Your payment to us will show up on your card statement as being made to WHSmith.co.uk
Is Payment Secure?
You can shop with confidence at WHSmith.co.uk. Keeping your information secure is one of our top priorities.
To keep your name, address, credit card details and other information safe, we use the best security software available.
This is called SSL and it encrypts your personal information to make sure it's protected to the highest standard.
How SSL works
When you go to our checkout, you enter a secure part of our website. You'll see a closed padlock icon in your browser - this shows you that the information you give will be transferred securely.
Want to know more?
Comodo is the Advanced Certificate Authority. Comodo has spent millions on research and development to discover new and advanced technologies to make websites safe. WHSmith has undertaken Comodo's certification process before this website was accepted as safe by Comodo. To find out more about Comodo and SSL, and to verify that the WHSmith website is protected, click on the Comodo logo.
When Will I Be Charged?
Your credit or debit card, gift card or Paypal account will be charged when you place your order. If for any reason we are not able to fulfill your order we will refund you. For more details on card payments, see our terms and conditions
Can I Pay by Gift Card?
Yes – simply enter you gift card number and security code found on the back of your gift card in the checkout at WHSmith.co.uk. You may need to scratch off a panel to reveal the security code.
If your gift card does not cover the cost of your order we will prompt you to add another gift card or payment card. Money will be deducted from your gift card as soon as your order is placed. If your order is cancelled or unfulfilled we will issue a refund to your gift card, so please do not discard the card until you are happy with your order.
Paper gift vouchers, paper book tokens and WHSmith Achievement Award vouchers cannot be used online.
e-gift cards bought for other websites cannot be redeemed on the WHSmith website.
Please note that many of our partner websites, including FunkyPigeon.com, will not accept WHSmith gift cards online.
See more in Gift Card help
How Does Laybuy Payment Work?
LayBuy is a third party payment service that allows you to buy items now and pay for them in later instalments. You can use LayBuy to pay for WHSmith orders over £15, excluding gift cards, e-gift cards, stamps and gift experiences. Orders paid for using Laybuy can only be returned by post and cannot be returned to stores. Please be aware that Laybuy may charge fees for late payments.
How Do I Set Up a Credit Account?
Our credit accounts are available for UK-based:
- schools
- colleges
- government institutions
- charities
- companies
How our credit accounts work
Rather than paying by credit card or debit card when you shop with WHSmith.co.uk, we will send you an invoice to be settled within 30 days.
Once you have created a credit account you can place orders with us as normal by logging into your account - you will not be asked for payment at the checkout. We’ll monitor your order and endeavour to ensure that everything runs smoothly.
If you do not have enough credit to cover the total value of your order, the balance will need to be paid by a credit or debit card.
Orders must be placed by the named account holder, or other authorised person within your institution. Please note we cannot include purchase order numbers and other information with the orders.
For all school and business purchase requests, please email us with the full titles, product codes and quantities. You must have a school or business credit account set up for any purchase orders to be accepted.
For all school accounts, we ask that you provide an officially formatted contact email address such as .sch .ac .gov or .org otherwise you may be subject to a credit check.
All business accounts are subject to credit checks.
All terms and conditions will be sent to you and should be referred to.
How to apply for a credit account
Follow these simple steps...
- 1. Create a standard customer WHSmith account in My Account. You'll need to add an email address and account holder details.
- 2. Let us know the name and email address used to set up your acount. You can contact us using one of the following email addresses:
Schools: education@whsmith.co.uk
Businesses: corporate.sales@whsmith.co.uk - 3. We will respond to your email to proceed with your request. Further information may be requested.
Alternatively, you can email us directly and we will help get you started.
What happens next?
You will receive an email from our customer service team letting you know whether your application has been approved or not.
If we approve your application, we will confirm your account details and look forward to your first order.
On rare occasions, we may need to turn down an application. If this happens you can still create a standard online account using a credit or debit card for payment.
What if I need to Cancel an Order?
We charge credit cards, debit cards, gift cards and PayPal when you place the order, so if you cancel we will refund you to the card or account you used to pay. View our Returns and Refunds page for more information.
What if There is a Problem with Payment?
If your bank doesn't authorise your payment, a message will appear on the order placement page in checkout telling you what to do next. Please note that only your bank can tell you why your card has been declined.
Do You Store my Payment Details?
You enter your payment card details in checkout. After you've checked out you can choose to create an account so that we remember your details for next time. When you create an account your card details will be saved and should be able to view in your account after 24 hours.
You can save several credit and debit cards and pick the one you want to use.
We don't store your details on our systems, we pass them to our secure payment provider and refer to them by a code number when you next make an order.
Read more about payment security here
My Question is Not Answered Here. What Do I Do?
We may have the answer on another help page - you can check our FAQs here.
Still need help? Contact our Customer Services team