Help

How can we help?

Joining us

Who can join?

We work with UK charitable organisations of all sizes. That includes registered charities, constituted community groups, social enterprises, local authority funded schools and some public sector run projects. If you work overseas, your organisations needs be registered in the UK.   We are unable to work directly with individuals.  

Registering with us

To use our service, register for free onlineWe aim to have you up and running within three working days. You’ll receive a confirmation email with everything you need to get going.  Your organisation’s registration lasts for a yearthen you’ll be prompted to renew for free so we can check if your details  are still correct. We value your privacy, please do  read our Privacy Notice. 

Orders & Invoices

Placing an order
To place orders online you must be registered for free with In Kind Direct and log in to the site using your email address and password.   Add products to your basket, noting that there is a minimum order value of £20 before VAT. Once a product is added to your basket you have 72 hours to complete your order. After that, baskets are automatically emptied. When you are ready, complete your order and choose a payment method. Payment can be made by card or BACS. Here are some tips: 
  • Online payment by card or BACS are the quickest and most secure methods. 
  • You should use a card belonging to your organisation. If this is not possible, we may require evidence of funds being reimbursed to an individual. 
  • Please check the shipping address is correct when completing your order
  • Help us get orders to you by providing a mobile number wherever possible.
Payment options
You can make payments by secure online card payment or bank transfer (BACS). We do not accept cheques. Online payment by card or BACS are the quickest and most secure methods. Orders are only despatched after full payment is received.   If paying by credit or debit card, your payment will be processed by our payment service provider Opayo (formerly SagePay). We accept Visa, Visa Electron, MasterCard, Delta, Maestro and Solo. You should use a card belonging to your organisation. If this is not possible, we may require evidence of funds being reimbursed to an individual.   If paying by BACS, please use your order number (2000…) as a reference.     If payment is not received within seven days, your order may be cancelled. 
Secure ordering
All card payments made on this website are processed by Opayo (formerly SagePay), our payment service provider. In Kind Direct does not store your card details on the site and all transactions are encrypted between your browser and the secure server. No personal or financial details are left unencrypted or sent by email and transactions are completed securely behind protected firewalls. We value your privacy, please read our Privacy Notice 
Delivery options
We aim to despatch all orders within 5 working days; at busy times please allow up to 10 working days. - DPD (parcel deliveries) may deliver at the weekend and parcels may arrive separately. Northern Ireland - Due to the latest information provided by the government around Brexit, we are currently only accepting orders up to a maximum charge of £135, before VAT being shipped to Northern Ireland. Orders above £135 will not be accepted at checkout. Find out more on our delivery information page
Finding an invoice
If you want to find an invoice for an order, log in to your account  and go to My Account – Order History – View Invoice. You will be able to view and print any of your organisation’s invoices.
Tracking a dispatched order
When your order is sent  you will receive an email with a link to track your delivery. You can also track an order once it has been dispatched by clicking “Track Order” on the catalogue site here   If your order is not received, please contact the customer service team via Live Chat or by email. Please have your order number to hand when you get in touch.
Changing delivery details
You can do this directly from the confirmation email you receive when your order is dispatched. For most orders, our couriers DPD will send a text or email confirmation message, which includes your scheduled delivery time and date. This message also has an option to request a change of delivery address if needed. Please use this option directly with DPD
Quantity restrictions on products
To ensure our service benefits as many organisations as possible, we sometimes place ordering limits on some goods. This is stated under each product as ‘Max Qty Allowed’. Once payment is received for a first order, this will be reset to allow organisations to place a further order/s for such goods. 
Charges for providing goods
The charges for providing goods contribute to the total cost of our UK-wide service. This includes sourcing goods, sorting them at our warehousedelivering them across the UK and improving our serviceWe meet the remainder of the costs the same way as other charitiesthrough fundraising and partnership working  How are charges set?  Our general principle at In Kind Direct is to set charges for providing goods as low as we can to ensure both that charitable organisations are getting the best deal we can give while at the same time covering a proportion of our running costsWhen setting charges, we consider:  
  • The amount of work that a donation requires to make it suitable for distribution.  
  • The cost of transportation - bulky or heavy items are generally more expensive to transport.  
  • Supply and Demand - a lower charge may be applied to less popular items to ensure that they move through our warehouse and free up space for new products. 
Minimum order value
Each order must exceed £20 in total before VAT, and after any discount. This ensures the associated charge value makes a contribution towards our overall costs and our service remains viable. We regularly review this and are committed to keeping the charges for individual products as low as possible. 
Unwanted goods
Unwanted products cannot be returned.   If we have delivered the wrong item, or an order arrives damaged, please note you must notify us within seven days of receipt by emailing the team.  
Damaged or faulty goods
 Please check all goods on receipt. Should you receive products that are damaged or not functioning, you must get in touch within seven days. Please email us the order number and details of the damage or fault. Including a photo is also really helpful.
Account Credit
You can add account credit to your order either in the Cart or at Checkout. For a step-by-step guide on how to do this, click here.
Free Gifts
Free gifts available with orders can be found here: https://cat.inkinddirect.org/special-offers/free-gifts.html. Free gifts must be manually added to your basket unless stated otherwise, and are subject to maximum order quantities. This information can be found above the Add to Cart button. Please read the ‘Details’ tab on the product page for specific product information. Free Gifts can not be returned.

Your account

Forgotten password

If you have forgotten your password, you can request a new one by clicking ‘forgot your password?’ link on the log in pageYou will receive an email to reset your password.  
If you do not receive an email, please check your spam/junk folders. If you are still having difficulties, please contact the Charities team.

Adding an additional account user

Once you are logged in, you can add a new account user in the ‘My Account’ section. The new user will be sent an automated email when their individual user account is created.   To add, remove or update other users, you will need to be an Account Controller. To see your access level, visit the “User Accounts” section of “My Account”. 

Managing account users

You can view and manage the account users for your organisation in the ‘My Account’ section. There are two levels of account with different permissions or Access levels:  
 
Account Controllers can add, remove and update any user accounts associated with their organisation. They can also place orders. 
 
Users with Order Authorisation level can view other user accounts but can only update their own individual account information. They can also place orders. 

Renewing your account

Once a year we require all organisations in our network to renew their registration with us. This helps us to keep contact information up to date and accurate and ensure all goods are being used in accordance with our terms and conditionsWe value your privacy, please read our Privacy Notice.   How do I renew my account? 

  1. Log-in using your emailaddressand password.
  2. If your account has expired, or is due to expire soon, you will be prompted to follow the link to Renew Now’. 
  3. Complete our simple renewal form to check that the details we hold are correct.  Please note that you must supply two different and unrelated contacts: Primary contact: This person should be authorised to manage and place orders on behalf of your organisation.Management Representative:  This person should be senior to the primary contact, for example a manager, CEO or trustee and must be different and unrelated to the primary contact. 
  4. We aim to process renewal requests within three working days.

Using products

Fundraising with goods

Many organisations have asked for In Kind Direct to allow goods to be used for fundraisingAt present, goods must not be used for fundraising activities such as raffles or tombola's. On rare occasions where items are identified as suitable for fundraising this will always be clearly marked on the catalogue and will be restricted to raffles and tombola's which take place at events. Goods must not be used for online fundraising such as e-auctions or selling.   Fundraising with goods has not been allowed due to donor company concerns about brand protection and their wish for products to be used directly for charitable purposes. Most donors still feel strongly about this. However, the aim of our service is to help you save money on essential items that can be hard to fund-raise for. This frees up funding which can then be spent delivering your front-line services. You can log in to your account and view the savings you are making at any time. This figure can be helpful for fundraising applications. Last year, average savings for each organisation were £5,692! 

Partner Terms and Conditions

We need your help to protect everyone that uses and benefits from In Kind Direct. Please ensure that your staff, volunteers and service users know the importance of our Terms and Conditions. These are regularly reviewed and are always available on our website.   These Terms and Conditions lay the foundation for our relationship with individual charitable organisations that register for free with In Kind Direct. This includes our obligations to one another, how products may and must not be used to support your work, and how we will process any data you provide through accessing our service.  You will be asked to agree to our Terms and Conditions when registering, at annual renewal and when an order is placed. We take any breaches of our Terms and Conditions very seriously and investigate any suspicion that products are not being used appropriately. Please click here to read our Partner Terms and Conditions. 

Get in touch

Product donation  

If you would like to make a donation or if your organisation is ever offered a donation of new goods which you cannot accept all/part of, please call our Donations team. Get in touch with them on 0300 30 20 200 or send details to donations@inkinddirect.org.  

If you have a question, want to tell us something we’re doing well or highlight an area where we can improve, get in touch! Contact the Charities team with an email to info@inkinddirect.org. 

Contact us

Share your stories 

Stories of the impact your work and product giving can make are vital to our work. We welcome stories, quotes, photos and videos of products in use and having an impact for the people your organisation supports. With your permission, we can use those stories to report the difference product giving makes to our donors and partners.  

If you would like to provide feedback about any part of our service, please send an email to the Charities teams atinfo@inkinddirect.org.  

Sending a photo? Take a look at our handy Photo Guide first. 

You can also help us as well as your fellow users by leaving product reviews directly on our online catalogue (you’ll need to be logged in to do this). Look at our review guidelines for more information.