EMP UK: delivery, Royal Mail tracking, free returns and the Backstage Club
EMP is a mail order shop for band merch, film and series fan items, and alternative clothing. The UK version of the shop works differently from the shops for other countries because it dispatches from Germany and hands the parcel to Royal Mail. This guide covers the UK shop: delivery, returns, payment and the membership that changes both.
Delivery in the UK
Standard shipping costs £5.49. If you join the Backstage Club for £9.95 a year, you get free shipping on all orders for one year. The UK site only dispatches to addresses in the UK. You can enter a different delivery address from your billing address at checkout, so a parcel can go to a friend as a gift.
If every item in your confirmation is marked in stock, the order usually leaves within 3 working days and arrives in 5 to 10 working days. The estimated timeframe is shown before you place the order. You get an email with a tracking link when the parcel is handed to the carrier. Parcels travel from Germany, so Royal Mail tracking may not update for up to 5 working days. If nothing has arrived after 10 working days, use the live chat on the shop.
Orders are processed immediately, so address, payment method or content can no longer be changed afterwards. If you are not at home, Royal Mail may leave the parcel with a neighbour or in a safe place and often leaves a card.
Other countries
Orders to Ireland go through the Irish EMP shop. The international site emp-online.com ships to Portugal and Greece. For other countries the shop points you to the online shop list on its home page, which includes France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Norway, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Belgium and Spain.
Returns
You have 30 days from delivery to send something back, and Backstage Club members have 100 days. Items need to come back in the condition they arrived, with packaging and labels. Masks, selected jewellery and underwear cannot be returned for hygiene reasons. Swimwear is accepted if the hygiene strip is still on.
Returns are free through the shop's returns portal. You need your order number and the delivery postcode, print the form and label, and drop the parcel at a Post Office. EMP does not offer exchanges, so a replacement is a new order. The refund goes to your original payment method, and an e-gift card is reloaded. Processing can take up to 7 working days after the warehouse receives the parcel, and the money can then take up to 10 working days to reach you. For faulty or wrong items the shop offers a full refund and a price match on a replacement order.
Payment
EMP accepts PayPal, Visa and Mastercard, Klarna, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Klarna decides which of its options you see, and its Pay Later and instalment options are for UK residents aged 18 and over.
| At a glance | EMP UK |
|---|---|
| Standard shipping | £5.49, free with the Backstage Club |
| Dispatch | Usually within 3 working days |
| Delivery | 5 to 10 working days, Royal Mail |
| Returns | 30 days, 100 days for members, free |
| Delivery area | UK addresses only |
Using cashback
Open the EMP page at daily cashback, where the current rate (up to 3.5%) and the offers are listed with the date we last checked them. Press the shop button, then shop and pay as you normally would. In your free account the cashback first shows as open and becomes confirmed once EMP has reported the order. A returned item reduces the amount for that item.
Practical tips
- If you expect to order three or more times in a year, work out whether the Backstage Club fee is cheaper than paying shipping each time.
- Do not remove tags or labels while you decide whether to keep something.
- Finish the order in one visit and pause your ad blocker on the shop, because it can break the cashback click.
As of October 2026.