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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)


What is the freight cost?

Australian Freight Rates:

Sydney area

  • $8.95 for orders up to 25kg

Rest of Australia (all States and Territories)

  • $8.95 for orders up to 1 kg
  • $9.95 for orders up to 6 kg (up to 3kg for rural areas)
  • $18.95 for orders up to 18 kg (except rural areas)
  • larger/rural orders charged based on weight and destination

National, under 500g:

  • $3.95 for DVD
  • $4.50 for thin book (less than 2cm)

Note that we cannot use couriers to deliver to a PO Box and Australia Post charges can be significantly higher for some areas.

New Zealand Freight Rates:

  • $12.95 for orders up to 1kg
  • $16.50 for orders up to 2kg
  • $7.40 + $4.90/kg for orders 2kg+ to 20kg
  • Deliveries are tracked
  • We can quote you on an untracked economy service at your request & risk

Rest of World:

  • We will quote you on the cheapest available tracked service before processing your payment.

Why don't you offer free shipping?

“Free shipping” or heavily discounted shipping is always a deception. Shipping is never free and the cost has to be recovered by hiding it in the prices you pay for the items you purchase.

Australia Post, couriers or other freight companies do not provide their services for free, nor should they, as the prices they charge cover the wages of the people who deliver your parcels. We charge $8.95 or $9.95 for typical Australian deliveries and that often does not even cover the actual cost, particularly for deliveries to regional or rural areas. When you think about the wages, trucks, trains, sorting machinery and all the other costs involved in delivering your parcels it is miraculous that it can be done for such a small amount.

Do you have a shop as we'd like to view titles before purchase?

We do not have a shopfront, however you are welcome to visit our Sydney premises by appointment: please contact us and we would be happy to arrange a time with you. Ph: +61 (0)2 8090 5395.

If there are specific areas or titles you are interested in, please let us know, so that we can ensure you don't waste your time visiting us if titles are temporarily out of stock or at a conference, etc.

We attend several conferences during the year and are happy to arrange to meet and/or bring specific titles requested: so ask and its possible we will be near you before too long. Last, but not least, look closely on the website as we are putting more and more information on-line such as sample pages. If you can't see enough information for the titles you are interested in, please ask us and we will do our best to provide more information by email or mail.

How can I get a Quote for my school?

You can request a Quote on our website:

  • add the items and quantities you'd like to your Shopping Cart
  • Checkout, then login or register
  • check/update or add your details, including the delivery address
  • click "Pay with", then "School or Business", then "Quote" and confirm the name of the school/organisation

Do you send titles out 'on approval'?

We can send titles out on 14 day approval to account customers for regular stock items. We cannot send out on approval DVDs, non-stock items or items where we consider the risk of damage to be too high.

Where we do provide items on approval, if you decide to return them within the 14 day period, we must receive them in "as new" condition: you are responsible for packaging to ensure they reach us in this condition. Postage for items provided on approval must be paid by the customer both ways.

Can I purchase your resources using NDIS funding?

We are not currently NDIS registered but you can still purchase resources if the NDIS participant's plan is Self Managed or Plan Managed:

  • Self Managed. You pay our invoice directly and then get reimbursed by NDIA, or you may apply to the NDIA for funds which you can then use to transfer payment to us.
  • Plan Managed. We send an invoice to your Nominated Plan Manager. You or your plan manager can request a quote from us to facilitate this process.

If the resource(s) you require is a part of a service being provided to you by a registered NDIS provider (eg. an NDIS registered speech therapist), then you may want to seek their assistance to purchase the resource(s).

Our resources would typically be purchased using NDIS consumables funding.

Can you recommend a resource(s) for me?

Our skills are in sourcing the best available resources for the target groups we service. We maintain a carefully curated range - every resource is individually selected based on our own knowledge of authors, publishers and subject matter plus recommendations from people we trust. For some of our more popular categories we are now starting to show on our website curated lists of "Essentials" and "Next Steps" resources.

We are happy to help you by suggesting a selection of relevant titles (a "Wish List") based on your needs, but we will not recommend a specific resource(s) for your needs - the choice about what is best for you or your child/student is always yours.

How can we pay for an order if we don't want to give credit card details over the internet?

It is quick, easy and secure to pay by EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer): just select the EFT payment method at checkout and we will email you instructions to make payment directly from your bank account. We currently accept EFT payments from Australia, New Zealand, United States, United Kingdon and Canada, with more to come.

For Australian customers we also accept OSKO/PayID payments which are almost instant and so avoid the typical 2 to 3 day delay with bank transfers.

Please note that all credit/debit card transactions and personal data entered on our website is encrypted using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) security. Your web browser should display a padlock when you transact on our website. Silvereye does not store your credit/debit card details - we use a third-party specialist card processing service which has the highest level of PCI DSS certification (the industry standard covering online payments processing).

How long will it take to get my order?

We process and dispatch Australian and New Zealand orders daily and most orders are dispatched within 14 days. We hold extensive stock and so can dispatch many orders directly. For items temporarily out of stock or which need to be specially ordered, there is usually only a short wait - we have quick turnaround from local publishers and we restock from US and UK publishers every couple of weeks.

Backordered titles may be awaiting a reprint or not yet published. We also work with a wide array of publishers, some of whom have longer lead times for delivery. If there is going to be a longer than usual delay, we will let you know.

Are you open during school holidays?

We dispatch orders all year round except over the Christmas Holidays and on Public Holidays. During holiday periods response to emails and phone messages may be slower than normal due to staff holidays, however we will endeavour to get back to you as soon as possible.

We can be contacted in our Business Hours Monday - Friday 9am-5pm on +61 (0)2 8090 5395 or by email using the enquiries page on this website.

How are hi-lo readers "levelled"?

Hi-lo (high interest, low ability) readers are specially designed books where short, sharp, unpatronising content is appropriate to the age of the reader but the text is edited to suit a lower reading age.

The Interest Age is the age that the book was written to appeal to. All our h-lo readers have Interest Age range assigned. For ease of navigation we have also split our Hi-Lo Fiction readers into Primary and Teen categories - these are broad guides only, based on interest age.

A book's grade or age based reading level is an approximation of the skill level a reader will need to understand its contents, or in the case of students learning to decode or sound out a book phonetically, the level of phonics decoding ability. Our hi-lo readers are mostly assigned either (not both):

  • Grade Readability - indicates that a student reading within the skill level for that grade should be able to read the book(s) independently and successfully. Most US publishers use Grade Readability and Australian grades are broadly equivalent to US grades.
  • Reading Age - is a commonly used mode of tracking people’s reading ability and amongst teachers it is understood that a reading age of 9 means that a child can read at the level of an average nine year old. Most UK publishers use Reading Age.

In addition to the above, wherever available, we also list the Lexile measure for hi-lo readers. A Lexile measure is based on two strong predictors of how difficult a text is to comprehend: word frequency and sentence length. Many other factors affect the relationship between a reader and a book, including its content, the age and interests of the reader, and the design of the actual book. The Grade Readability and Reading Age measures both attempt to take these other factors into consideration to provide a more holistic indicator of readability.

Please note that as books are either classified by Grade Readability or Reading Age you will not find all books at a similar reading level in a single search/filter. For example if you filter by Grade Readability you will not see books with a Reading Age assigned and vice versa. Similarly a search/filter by Lexile will only show books that have a Lexile measure assigned.

Do you have a hardcopy catalogue?

We no longer produce regular hardcopy catalogues - our range is too large and we are constantly updating it. Upon request we can send you hardcopy flyers with information on selected titles in any area you are interested in, eg. Social Skills, Autism, Dyslexia, Auditory Processing, etc.

Can I get a refund or replacement?

If an item you receive is faulty, please contact us straight away. Where possible we will provide a replacement for any faulty items or alternatively you can ask for a refund. If you are in any doubt as to your entitlements under this policy, please refer to the Australian Consumer Law which we fully comply with.

Note that we do not offer refunds or exchanges if you simply change your mind. Please choose your order carefully as returned goods will not be accepted without prior authorisation (at our discretion).

If returns are made without authorisation, costs will still be charged to your account and no credit given.

Terms of Trade

Freight and Shipping

  • Postage and Handling costs on all orders are at the customer's expense and are in addition to all indicated prices on this website and in any flyers, price lists, catalogues or any other materials we may produce from time to time.
  • Redelivery charges from our courier partners will be passed on to you - these normally result from incorrect address details being provided or the receiver not being available and/or not responding to courier messages.
  • You must notify us of any losses or damage in transit within 14 days of dispatch. We send you an email with the freight carrier's tracking link on dispatch so that you can follow-up any delays directly. Your failure to promptly notify us of any issues will void our responsibility for any refund or replacement.
  • All Backorders are subject to a Freight Charge unless waived at our absolute discretion.
  • International Orders are subject to freight based on weight and destination.

Prices and Payment

  • All prices on this website are in Australian dollars.
  • If you are in Australia, all prices on this website include GST.
  • NZ Orders can be paid by EFT in NZ dollars or by card in Australian dollars. If you would like to pay in NZ dollars, choose EFT as the Payment Method at checkout. School orders will be processed in NZ dollars if you select Purchase Order or Quote as the Payment Method.
  • Prices are subject to change at anytime. You are welcome to check current prices prior to placing an order.
  • Pre-payment is required for personal and overseas orders.
  • All Accounts are strictly 14 Days from date of invoice and are payable on the invoice. (No Statement will be issued)
  • An Account Administration fee of 10% of invoice value will be charged for outstanding accounts over 30 days (from invoice date) and $2.20 for replacement copies of an invoice. Accounts that exceed ninety (90) days will be forwarded to a legal representative and all additional costs associated are to be borne by the customer.
  • We do not give credits in cheque/cash or credit on credit card. Credits are added to accounts for future purchases.

Changing or Cancelling Orders

  • Changes to orders, including cancelling because of an error or for a change of mind, are possible only for a limited time before your order begins processing.
  • We will make our best endeavours to accommodate requests for changes to your order, but once your order has been processed it will normally not be possible to change that order due to commitments already made to our supplier(s).
  • Other than for defective items a refund is only possible if we have confirmed that your change or cancellation was able to be processed. We may offer a store credit for a cancellation accepted outside of these terms.

Special Orders

  • We are able to order resources which are not listed on our website, but for overseas titles there is a waiting period of up to 8 weeks for delivery. These are classed as Special Orders and are also strictly Firm Sale.

Please understand any credit given is a privilege not a right, not adhering to these terms of trade will result in a loss of credit and Pre-payment required for future orders.