FAQ

Orders are dispatched on the next working day after they are placed. Working days are Monday to Friday, excluding UK public holidays, so orders placed on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday are dispatched on Monday (or the next working day after a bank holiday). The "Your order is on the way" email is sent when your label is printed; Royal Mail's first scan can follow up to 24 hours later.

Standard delivery is Royal Mail Tracked 48, free on UK orders of £20 or more, with a delivery aim of 2–4 working days after dispatch. Delivery times are counted from the day of dispatch, not from the day you ordered, and Tracked 48 is a delivery aim rather than a guarantee. Full timings for every service are on our Track Your Order page.

Yes. At checkout you can choose Next Day+ Delivery (Royal Mail Tracked 24), which aims for the next working day after dispatch but is not guaranteed, or Guaranteed Next Day Delivery (Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed), which is delivered by 1pm on the next working day after dispatch with a signature. Guaranteed Next Day Delivery is free on UK orders of £175 or more. Prices are shown at checkout. Next-day services are not available for international orders.

It is in the "Your order is on the way" email we send when your parcel is dispatched, and on your order status page. Royal Mail tracking numbers for UK parcels usually look like two letters, nine digits, GB. You can enter it on our Track Your Order page to open the live Royal Mail status.

"Sender has despatched item" is the electronic notice we send to Royal Mail when we print your label; your parcel has been packed and handed to Royal Mail at that point. Tracking only moves on when Royal Mail scans the parcel at one of its hubs, and that first scan is entirely in Royal Mail's control. In our experience the tracking often stays on this line for a while and then updates close to delivery, sometimes jumping straight to "Out for delivery". Nothing is needed from you until the delivery aim has passed. If it has passed and tracking still shows only this line, contact us with your order number and we will check the parcel with Royal Mail.

Check the delivery photo on the Royal Mail tracking page, any safe place you have registered with Royal Mail, and with other people at your address and your neighbours. Look for a "Something for you" card, as the parcel may be at your local delivery office. If it is still missing, contact us with your order number. Royal Mail accepts an investigation into a delivered parcel from 7 working days after the delivery date, and we will open it for you as soon as that window opens.

If your parcel has not arrived by the delivery aim, first check the tracking link and any card left at your address, then contact us with your order number. We will check the parcel with Royal Mail, keep you updated and open an official Royal Mail enquiry on your behalf as soon as the service's lost threshold is reached: 10 working days after the expected delivery date for Tracked 48 and Tracked 24, 5 working days for Special Delivery Guaranteed, 20 working days for International Tracked to Europe and 25 working days for the rest of the world. Full details are in our shipping policy.

Parcels outside the UK leave with Royal Mail International Tracked. The delivery aim is 3–5 working days after dispatch for Europe and 5–7 working days for the rest of the world, plus any customs processing. Royal Mail shows the journey until the parcel is handed to your country's postal service; after that, the same number can be entered on your local carrier's site. Tracking can pause at "Leaving the UK" until your local post or customs scans the parcel on arrival, which can take several days. Each plush is sent as a separate parcel, so a multi-item order may arrive on different days.

You can return any plush within 14 days of receiving it, for any reason. Please email info@essauk.com first with your order number and the reason, so we can log the return and confirm the next steps. Then send the plush back unused, in its original packaging and with the paper tag still attached, to:

ESSA UK
Unit 8, Space Business Centre
Plato Close
Tachbrook Park Drive
Royal Leamington Spa
Warwick
CV34 6YA
United Kingdom

Please put a note with your order number inside the parcel, use a tracked service and keep your proof of postage. The full conditions are in our return and refund policy.

If you have simply changed your mind, return postage is covered by you; Royal Mail Tracked 48 is absolutely fine. If the plush arrived faulty, damaged or is not what you ordered, we cover the return cost. See "My plush arrived damaged, faulty or wrong" below.

We refund to the same card or account you paid with, once the return has reached us and been checked. Once we have processed your refund, it will usually appear within 3-5 working days, although your bank may take up to 10 working days.

Exchanges depend on what is in stock at the time, so the simplest route is to return the original plush within the 14-day window and place a new order for the one you would like. We refund the returned plush once it reaches us.

If your order has not been dispatched yet, email info@essauk.com with your order number and the change you need, and we will cancel the order or update the address for you. Orders are dispatched on the next working day, so please write to us as soon as you can. Once the parcel has been handed to Royal Mail we can no longer change the address or recall the parcel. You can refuse the delivery when it arrives so that it comes back to us, or return it under our 14-day returns.

Please select "Notify when available" just below the "Sold out" button on the product page, and you will receive an email automatically the moment the plush is back in stock. Stock for popular plush toys like Chase and Bella is usually updated a few times a week, although we cannot guarantee a particular day. Gravy is much harder for us to source and has no confirmed date, so the button is the best way to hear about him.

We only sell plush toys that are physically in our UK stock, and we do not set items aside for individual customers, so that everyone has a fair and equal chance when new stock arrives. Please use "Notify when available" on the product page instead.

The main size shown on each product page, for example 16" (41 cm), is the plush's overall size, measured from nose to tail. Some plush toys that sit, such as Argento or Milo, are measured by their sitting height instead; their page says "Tall Sitting". The exact size and weight of each plush is listed under Additional Information on its product page. To give you an idea of how our sizes compare, measured from nose to tail:

• Tiny pocket size, about 13–15 cm: Prince, Mini Goldie
• Pocket size, about 20 cm: Harko, Queenie
• Small, about 25 cm: Chap, Tucker
• Small/Medium, about 23–28 cm: Argento, August, Kingsley, Milo, Herdie
• Medium, about 41 cm: Wolfgang, Chase, Bella
• Large, about 45–48 cm: Dixie, River, Thor
• X-Large, about 58.5–61 cm: Honey, Alps

Our size guide puts them side by side in one table. If a plush you have already received is not the size you expected, you can return it within 14 days (see "How do I return a plush?") and order another.

Our blog has two guides that most customers find helpful: Which Douglas Dog Should I Choose First? and A Parent's Guide to Choosing an ESSA for Your Child.

Our harnesses are one size and are made for medium and large plush dogs, such as Chase, Bella or Wolfgang. They do not fit small or pocket-size plush toys. If you are not sure, email us the name of your plush before you order and we will check for you.

Our care guide explains how to keep your plush clean and looking its best, including what to avoid: How to Wash & Care for Your Douglas Dog.

Yes. Add a note asking for an unbranded box in the note box on the cart page when you place your order, or email info@essauk.com with your order number straight after ordering, and we will send your order in a plain, unbranded box so it is not obvious what is inside. There is no extra charge for this.

When a free gift is included, it is picked at random as we pack your order (it can be a collar, a fidget, a bandana or stickers) and it is attached to the thank-you card inside the box, so please check the card before assuming it is missing. If you have a colour preference for your free gift, the best way to let us know is to write it in the note box on the cart page when you place your order, or to email us with your order number straight after ordering. We will pass your request on to our packing team, although we cannot guarantee a particular colour.

There is no separate personalisation field on the product page. When you order the ESSA UK Personalised Dog Card, please write the ESSA model (which plush), the ESSA's name and the handler's name in the note box on the cart page. If you have already ordered, email the three details to info@essauk.com with your order number.

We are sorry about that. Please email info@essauk.com with your order number and a few photos showing the damage (for a wrong item, a photo of what you received). We will arrange the return at our cost and you can choose between a replacement and a full refund. Please keep the plush, its tag and the packaging until we have been in touch.

Orders with more than one plush are often sent as separate parcels, each with its own tracking number, so please check all of your dispatch emails first. If an item is still missing, email info@essauk.com with your order number, what is missing and whether the box was sealed when it arrived, and we will look into it right away.

Yes, we ship to selected countries with Royal Mail International Tracked; the country list and postage are shown at checkout and in our shipping policy. For international orders, we send each plush toy in its own tracked parcel rather than packing several together, so the postage is charged per plush and a multi-plush order may arrive on different days. Royal Mail International Tracked is currently the only delivery option we offer outside the UK; we do not have a courier option at the moment.

Possibly. Customs duties, import VAT and handling fees charged by the destination country are not included in our prices or postage and are the responsibility of the recipient. Please check your country's rules before ordering.

We work with content creators from time to time. To help us review your request, please email info@essauk.com with: the age range, gender split and countries of your audience (as we are a UK shop, the share of your audience in the UK is the figure we look at most closely); links to your TikTok profiles; screenshots of your TikTok audience analytics for the last month; and what you would be looking for from us. Once we have these, we will review them and come back to you.