Frequently Asked Questions

Can I change my order?

The best way to change your order is to get in touch with the shop who you purchased from. You can find their email address and phone number under the ‘Contacts’ tab.

If you pay for your shopping by cash on collection or make a bank transfer payment to the business then they may allow you to edit your shopping basket for a limited period yourself via your account. You will need to have an account with OFN to be able to do this.

If you visit the ‘Orders’ tab in your account it will appear as:

Clicking on ‘Edit’ next to the order in question will bring up a summary of the order. Here you will be able to change the quantity of each item or delete an unwanted product altogether.

You will not be able to add extra products to this basket though.

BUT you can certainly purchase extra items- how often do we all go to a shop and come away with everything except the item we went in to get?!

Just visit the shop front again and add the vital milk/bread/butter which you forgot to get in your first order and proceed through checkout as normal.

If your local shop charges a small fixed fee per order for delivery/collection then get in touch with them (email and phone number can be found under ‘Contact’). They will be able to remove this fee for your top up second order for you, so that you are not paying twice!

I can’t collect from location A and time B, is there another place/time where I can pick up my shopping from?

If you have a query about collection or delivery services offered by the business you wish to purchase from, the best thing to do is to get in contact with them directly. You can find their contact details (email and phone number) under the ‘Contacts’ tab on the shop front.

It is always worth asking! If there are enough other customers who would like a different delivery or collection time/location it may well be something your local food enterprise will be able to offer.

Do you deliver to…?

If you have a query about collection or delivery services offered by the business you wish to purchase from, the best thing to do is to get in contact with them directly. You can find their contact details (email and phone number) under the ‘Contacts’ tab on the shop front.

It is always worth asking! If there are enough other customers who would like a different delivery or collection time/location it may well be something your local food enterprise will be able to offer.

Do you stock X?

If you have a query about a particular product you would like to buy the best thing to do is to get in contact with your local shop directly. You can find their contact details (email and phone number) under the ‘Contacts’ tab on the shop front.

It is always worth asking! There may well be other customers in your area who are also looking or would like to purchase the same product from the shop. If those who manage the local food enterprise are aware they can investigate finding a local, sustainable, high quality supplier for that item.

I've forgotten my OFN account password.

If you have forgotten your OFN account password choose 'Forgot password?' from the pop out window after you click on 'Login' (top right hand side of the screen).

This will send an email to the address which is linked to your OFN account. If you do not receive an email with a link to reset your password then please try these steps:

• look in your spam or junk folder.

• add 'openfoodnetwork.org' to your safe or trusted list for your email client.

Much of the content on internet is spam. Email clients employ filters to prevent these unwanted emails from reaching you. On occasion they also block emails you would like to receive, such as those from the Open Food Network. If the steps above do not work then please contact your local OFN support team. They will be able to help you.

How do I change the password for my OFN account?

Once you have logged into your OFN account you can update or reset your password at any time by visiting 'Account Settings'.

I didn't receive an account/order confirmation email

Much of the content on internet is spam. Email clients employ filters to prevent these unwanted emails from reaching you. On occasion they also block emails you would like to receive, such as those from the Open Food Network.

If you have just signed up for an OFN account (and are awaiting your account confirmation email) or have just placed an order (and are awaiting your order confirmation email) then check your junk or spam folder to see if the email has been misdirected there.

If you are unable to locate the email then please contact your local OFN support team. They will be able to help you.

One way in which to help prevent further emails from being blocked in the future is to add 'openfoodnetwork.org' to your 'safe' or 'trusted' list in your email client.

What does ‘Bulk’ mean?

Some products may have the label ‘Bulk’ in the top right of the photo. This means that the shop you are shopping with can only supply these products if a minimum threshold across all orders is met.

You will be asked to enter a minimum and maximum quantity of the product you would like to buy. The ‘minimum’ is the amount you would like in an ideal world. By setting the ‘maximum’ higher than the minimum you are agreeing to purchase slightly more if it means that the shop is able to make up a bulk order and everyone get some of what they want.

‘Bulk’ buying is common for shop fronts of buying groups. Contact the business you would like to shop with for more information about how they operate this service and the benefits it can bring you and others in your community.

I would like to order a large number of the same product.

If you would like to buy a large quantity of one product then pop one in your basket by clicking on the orange ‘Add’ button. Then click on your basket icon and select ‘edit basket’. From here you will be able to type in a number into the quantity field and press ‘Update’.

Are all the items I see in stock?

Yes. Only items which are in stock will appear on the shop list. If you try to add more than the stock level available to your basket you will be prevented from doing so.

Can I view out of stock items?

No. If you are looking for a product which you purchased last week but can not find it this week then it might be out of stock. Seasonal produce grown locally will only be in stock as nature dictates. This means the products on offer are likely to change throughout the year. It is best to contact the business who you are shopping with to find out why an item is not available and when they next expect it to be restocked.

Will my basket be saved if I get called away and can’t complete my shopping in one go?

If you logged into your OFN account before you started to shop then the items in your basket will remain there, so you can come back to complete your purchase at any point, if you get called away part way through shopping.

The products in your basket will not be reserved for yourself. If stock is limited on an item then it is the first customers to check that item out to whom it will be assigned. You might get to the checkout and find that you are told one of the items you wished to purchase has become out of stock between you adding it to your basket and checking out.

I’m having difficulty paying: the ‘Place Order Now’ button is inactive

If you reach checkout and have completed all the relevant boxes to finalise your order but clicking on the ‘Place Order Now’ button does not bring you to an order confirmation then there are a few things to check:

• In order for the OFN shop front on your browser to ‘talk to’ payment provider sites (eg. Paypal, Stripe) and the OFN database, it is necessary to ‘Accept Cookies’. Follow the steps outlined here to check you have enabled cookies associated with openfoodnetwork. You can also try deleting any cookies you have for our platform, refreshing your browser and then re-accepting them (the Cookies banner with the green ‘Accept Cookies’ button should appear if you do this).

• On occasion, very high security settings in your browser can prevent all payments to online e-commerce. Visit your browser’s settings and reduce the security level by one notch, refresh the page and try to pay again.

If neither of these steps work then contact the OFN support team in your country.

We will endeavour to help you make your order as quickly as possible. We know how important a source of sustainably produced, local, fresh food is for your physical health and mental well being.

It says ‘Only approved customers can access this shop’. What does that mean?

You might be recommended to visit a local shop on the OFN platform by a friend, but when you land on the page you see this notice:

Some shops opt to operate a ‘members only’ policy. For example a local buying group or collection of friends and neighbours may club together to purchase items in bulk at a discount from wholesalers. Often these shops are more than willing to accept new members. They may ask for a small fee to cover admin costs of their business or ask if you are willing to help with deliveries/collections.

Get in touch with those who manage the business by email or phone (found under the ‘Contact’ tab) to find out how you can become a member.

It says ‘Orders are closed’. What does that mean?

The beauty of buying from local small producers is that you know the food you order will be made/harvested/packaged specially for you by a real person who lives not too far away.

In order for your local bakers, farmers, butchers, florists… etc to prepare orders often a shop will close a day or two before collection.

You can contact the shop (details found under the ‘Contact’ tab) to find when they will be open again.