Good morning Christine,
when adding items to your basket you don't necessarily need to be logged in as there is an opportunity to do so during the checkout process, or if you prefer you can complete your purchase as a guest and not login at all.
With regard to keeping items in your basket I'm afraid that we can only hold goods for 1 hour, after which point they must be made available to other customers.
If you would like to give our online team a call on 01384 596001 we would be more than happy to help with the with the difficulties you have been having. Alternatively you can find the number of the bottom of the checkout page.
Regards
Grape Tree
