I am a devotee from Overseas interested in reading Sai Literature. I would like to know the International Centres outside India where Sai Literature is available for sale?

The following are some of the contact addresses for Sai Literature in overseas countries.

Sai Books in United States Sathya Sai Book Centre of America
305 West First Street
Tustin, California 92780-3108
Phone: (714) 669-0522
Fax: (714) 669-9138
e-mail: sathyasaibooks@sbcglobal.net.us

Book Centre in United Kingdom info@srisathyasaibooks.org.uk

Japanese Books ssp@sathyasai.or.jp

Sri Sathya Sai Baba Book And Information Centre of Canada
58B Arlington Ave., Toronto
Ontario M6G 3K8, Canada
e-mail: info@saibooks.org
website: http://www.saibooks.org
Phone: (416) 481-7242

Sai Books in German Werner Herzog
Grenzstr.43
D-63128 Dietzenbach
Tel: 06074-3901/ Fax: 06074-309785
e-mail: buchzentrum@sathya-sai.de

Sai Literature in Italy Mother Sai Publications, Italy
e-mail: apsscci@tin.it and
msp@mothersaipublications.it

Sai Literature in Australia: Sai Books Australia, P.O. Box 607
St.Ives, NSW 2075
Tel: 6129988, 4560 / Fax: 612 9449.4086
e-mail: saiboo@hotkey.net.au

I would like to purchase books and audio visual items from your sales centre. How do I proceed about it?

Books and Audio Visual items can be had from our sales centre in Prasanthi Nilayam directly in person or by post. Those who prefer to buy books directly from the Book Stall can do thesame against cash payment. If you find your purchased items bulky to carry alongwith, you may contact the Mail Order section in the 1st floor of Book Trust building to send them by Post to your destination. Books can be sent either by Airmail or by Seamail. Credit Card facility can be availed in the Book Stall; the minimum purchase limit for availing this facility is Rs. 200/-

Those who want to order books from outstation can send their remittances with a list of the books and other items to The Convener, Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust, Prasanthi Nilayam, Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh 515134.

Remittance towards the same can be made thro’ International Money Orders, Bank Drafts, British Postal Orders, Personal Cheques. Rupee Instruments should be payable in India. Instruments in freely convertible foreign currency should be drawn payable in the Capital city, main commercial city of the country, in whose currency it is drawn. Instruments which are drawn payable in other places will attract charges from the overseas bank/postal authorities resulting in insufficient funds for subscription. Please ensure that instruments drawn in convertible foreign currencies are payable without any deduction of charges. (eg., USD instruments payable in New York,, Sterling instruments payable in London, U.K., Euro instrument payable in Hamburg, Germany)

Note: It is always desirable to make payment by Demand Draft. Even though personal cheques are acceptable, for clearing at our end through our bankers, State Bank of India, it takes comparatively more time. This is because our bankers have about 38 overseas branches and any place other than these 38 centres, will take more time for clearance and hence there is chance for delayed clearing of your remittance at our end.

What are the different modes of despatch of books and audio visual items for overseas countries?

Books are dispatched by Registered Book Post either by Airmail or Seamail as per party’s choice. Audio Visual items are dispatched by Registered Book Parcel only by Airmail.

Do you have V.P.P. (value payable post) system of payment against book orders?

We do not entertain V.P.P. system of payment.

Do you accept credit cards against book orders?

At present we do not have credit card or online shopping through our website. Those who prefer to order books can do it through our shopping cart which will give you an-auto reply regarding the remittance to be made.

I have placed an order with you for some books and audio visual items couple of months back. I have received two parcels of audio visual items, but have not received any book items. Please clarify?

We are adhered to the rules and regulations laid down by the Department of Posts in India. As per the postal regulations we are supposed to send a maximum of 5 kg weight of Books in one packet. Any weight exceeding this limit would be treated as another page and so on. …And each of these packets is treated as separate with Separate Postal Registration Number.

As regards to Audio Visual Items you can despatch a maximum of 20 kg weight of materials in one packet. …These items are send only by Air Mail where as Book items are send either by Sea Mail or by Airmail as per party’s choice.

From the above it is apparent that various items booked at a time, to same destination, especially Books and Audio Visual items can reach the destination separately.

In case of non-receipt of ordered books whom should be contacted?

You may write to us about the non-receipt of items dispatched furnishing various relevant details like, bill no., date, postal registration no. no. of packets, date of despatch etc. On receiving the same we will check at our end about the despatch status and if required we will contact the Postal department for further clarification about the status. If we get a confirmation from the Postal Department that the items have already gone out of the country then it is the responsibility of the part at the other end to find out the status of the dispatched items from the Postal Department at your end.

I am a devotee settled in Canada and would like to order for Sai Literature from your book store at Prasanthi? Can I make remittance in Canadian Postal Order? Please clarify.

It is desirable to make remittance through Demand Draft either in Indian Rupees or in Canadian Dollars. For Canadian Postal Orders, the postal department in Canada deduct service charges, minimum of 5 Canadian Dollars and hence we may not be able to meet with your demand fully. See also the Remittance column above.

We are devotees from overseas. We wish to become distributors of Bhagawan’s books/pictures etc. How do we go about it?

We do not entertain distributors for our books and audio visual items for overseas. Various Book Centres in different countries run by the respective Sai Organizational Unit are the authorized bodies for selling Sai literature in the respective region.

We would like to order other than books Baba lockets, vibhuti etc., from your book store at Prasanthi? Please send us a list of items available with us.

We do not sell any other items than Books, Audio Visual items, Photos etc. Any remittance made demanding these items will be returned by the department.

When I order books or audio visual items from your sales centre in Prasanthi Nilayam, how long it takes to reach my destination?

If your destination is within India it should take normal postal delivery time for any Indian Postage depending on your destination in India.

In case of Overseas destinations, American continents should take approximately 2 to 3 months by Seamail whereas European and other parts of the world should take a maximum of 2 months by Seamail. By Airmail, American Continents should take 15 days and Europe and rest of the world a maximum of 10 days. Further, unforeseen delays in transit can cause delayed delivery.

How do you calculate Postal tariff for dispatch of your items from Prasanthi Nilayam?

Our Postal Rates are based on the Rules and Regulations of Department of Posts, India. Normally, books are dispatched by Registered Book Parcel and Audio Visual items by Registered Parcel. As per Postal Regulations, our Post Office at Prasanthi Nilayam is allowed to entertain Book Parcels of maximum 5 kg., including packing weight and any quantity beyond this will be treated as another packet. As mentioned earlier, books are dispatched either by Seamail or by Airmail as per the choice of the party.

In the case of Audio Visual items we are allowed to despatch a maximum of 20 kg. under Registered Parcel Service. Audio Visual Items are not dispatched by Registered Book Post as it is a very costly affair.

Overseas countries are divided into three sections, viz., APPU, UPU and another group of neighboring countries viz., Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. The following countries are coming under APPU (Association of Pacific Postal Union Countries): Afghanistan, Australia, Brunei, Combodia, China, Fiji, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Solomon Island, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

Rest of the world is included under UPU (Universal Postal Union).

The rates for the above three are different. The first set of four countries are enjoying maximum concessions. While for APPU countries subsidized rates are available UPU does not enjoy any Postal Concessions.

The following chart will illustrate the above explanation:
Excel file to be given here.

Air Mail charges are calculated by the following formula:

Sea Mail Charges (+) Rs. 4.00 per every 20 gms. (+) Packing (+) Forwarding Memo.

Registration charges for Overseas is Rs. 15.00, Packing charges per packet is Rs. 20.00 and Forwarding Memo costs Rs. 20.00 for postage

Packing Charges for Audio Visual items vary as we use special packing material as the items delicate which should be protected well during transit.

In case of Inland despatch, for every 100 grams Rs. 1.00 will be charged (+) Postal Registration Rs. 17.00. Upto 3000 gms no Packing Charge is levied. Normal Indian Postal Rate is applicable for Forwarding Memos.

I am a devotee from overseas and would like to place an order for your publications. I would like to use International Money Order but my bank needs some additional information for transaction. They are: Beneficiary Account No. Address and Codes of the Beneficiary Bank.

Name of the Bank: State Bank of India
Branch Office: Prasanthi Nilayam

Bank Address: State Bank of India, Prasanthi Nilayam,
Prasanthi Nilayam P.O., Anantapur District
Andhra Pradesh 515134

Branch Code: 2786

Beneficiary Account: SB5513100

Beneficiary Name: Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust, Prasanthi Nilayam

In the above case, where Overseas Bankers are requesting to furnish full information, devotees are requested to furnish full information regarding the Overseas Banker in turn while making remittance.

I am a devotee from overseas and have placed a bulk order for Sai Publications from Prasanthi Nilayam. I am also in receipt of your Forwarding Memo intimating that you have despatched all these books in 12 packets in time. Now, I have received a intimation from our postal department that they cannot deliver more than 5 packets at a time as per postal regulations in our country. I need your advise as to how to go about with bulk ordering in such cases.

In India as per postal regulations we are allowed to despatch any number of Book Parcels, only conditon being each parcel should not weigh more than 5 kg.

Devotees from different countries, where such postal regulations are implemented may request us in advance, to send parcels of books in instalments of separate consignments containing 5 packets each.

I am a devotee settled in Canada and would like to order for Sai Literature from your book store at Prasanthi? Can I make remittance in Canadian Postal Order? Please clarify.

It is desirable to make remittance through Demand Draft either in Indian Rupees or in Canadian Dollars. For Canadian Postal Orders, the postal department in Canada deduct service charges, minimum of 5 Canadian Dollars and hence we may not be able to meet with your demand fully.