Postage Advice for PM

[John79]

Hello all,

I mostly sell on Ebay and was looking in the coming weeks to sell on the Forum. What advice on postage would members have RM, UPS etc. Would members advise going to the RM Depot or their local Post Office? I know 90 percent plus of RM workers are honest but that Dispatches programme left an impression on me. Any advice on this or anything else would be welcome.

All the Best,

John.

 

[billysilver]

Hi John,

I've never known anyone to use anything other than Royal Mail for postage on the forum, I have neither sold using any other methods or purchased using any method other than RM.

Note that only special delivery is fully insured for precious metals. Most people will be happy to assume the risk for one or two coins with Royal Mail signed for 1st or 2nd class. You're only obligated to make it clear in your listing, who assumes risk, what postage methods you are offering and who is paying for the postage.

In the unlikely event of something getting lost after dispatch, if you've shipped via 1st or 2nd Class Signed For and it's been agreed at the time of the deal that you(the seller) assumes the risk, then you would be responsible for reimbursing the loss, most often times though, when 1st or 2nd class signed for postage is offered on a listing, it's stated that the buyer assumes the risk if they choose to accept such a means of postage, due to the fact that these services do not cover pm's, even though they are insured up to £50 and if the seller assumed the risk, theoretically, if the "tracking number" didn't update when received, an unscrupulous buyer could say they didn't receive the item and try and get the seller to refund them and the seller would be morally obliged to and would have no means of re-course with Royal Mail. I would be surprised to ever hear of such a thing occurring for two reasons though; 1. I've never had an item lost when selling or buying here and 2. Members here are not the type to behave in such a way as described in the former hypothetical.

If you have access to a depot, you can send via Royal Mail Tracked 24 or 48, which is not a service available at The Post Office, once again though, these services are not insured for pm's, they are insured up to £100 for non pm's but one benefit of these services is they are fully tracked, unlike signed for, where the "tracking number" is updated upon receipt. This means a RM 24/48 item is not going to get lost.

Regarding any option other than Special Delivery, in the event of a loss, you could attempt to claim the item is a collector's piece and you may get somewhere with that, I know I have read a thread that discussed this succeeding when a loss has occurred for them in the past but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work on legal tender bullion, unless you got lucky.

All being said, I don't know what fear-mongering dispatches was alluding to, I haven't seen terrestrial television for a long time, but as long as you are clear in the listing, who assumes risk and what services are available at the time of the deal and it is agreed between the two parties, you will be good to go.

Check out my buying and selling guide, there may be some additional pointers that can help you when you decide to sell on the forum:

 

[John79]

Thanks Billy for the detailed advice. If you were selling one Silver Coin at First class signed post and in your local Post office they worker asked you as they are obliged to what is in the Package. Would you say a Silver Coin? 

[BackyardBullion]

3 minutes ago, John79 said:

Thanks Billy for the detailed advice. If you were selling one Silver Coin at First class signed post and in your local Post office they worker asked you as they are obliged to what is in the Package. Would you say a Silver Coin? 

This is a question to do two things, first just make sure nothing prohibited is being posted and second so that PO staff can upsell a different and more expensive service to you. 

If you feel compelled to be honest then say silver coin but just saying metal medallions or metal tokens. It has no bearing on the insurance cover.

As mentioned above only Special Delivery covers precious metals.

[John79]

Its more a question to yourself or anyone on the thread as to why someone would more likely steal a £30 Coin than say a £30 book? On the few occasions that its occurred I've never been compelled to tell the RM worker. I guess its privacy and perhaps a worry than someone might come to your house. PM even at a small scale are seen as different by some people. That's just my view of course.

[pricha]

In my 35 years at Royal Mail the most common reason for missing items is poor packaging . You would not believe what i have seen . Do yourself a favour and get some decent jiffy bags . Don't scrimp on cheap envelopes. 

[LawrenceChard]

4 hours ago, billysilver said:

I haven't seen terrestrial television for a long time

I'm trying to find a good extra-terrestrial TV! 🙂

[billysilver]

I'm receiving a signal at this very moment.... 👽

[LiquidMetalsUK]

as above I've been using Royal Mail 1st signed and special even first class and second class when customers have asked. at the end of the day anything under special delivery is at the buyers risk. I put this on my sales. in 4 years I've had one £20 package go missing that was sent 1st signed. as most who know me know I package well and always secure with tape to stop any rips or snags.

I use fed ex for usa orders as feel more secure with them for stuff going over seas 

😀

[LawrenceChard]

5 hours ago, Jamesd said:

as above I've been using Royal Mail 1st signed and special even first class and second class when customers have asked. at the end of the day anything under special delivery is at the buyers risk. I put this on my sales. in 4 years I've had one £20 package go missing that was sent 1st signed. as most who know me know I package well and always secure with tape to stop any rips or snags.

I use fed ex for usa orders as feel more secure with them for stuff going over seas 

😀

My / our experience with Fedex is bad.

Although some suppliers use them to supply us, there are often delays, incorrect or omitted customs entries, missing parcels, stolen parcels, refusal by Fedex UK to honour value limits agreed by sender with Fedex International, and probably much more.

Out of all couriers, our insurers offer us the lowest insurance cover on sendings via Fedex. This was also the case with our previous insurers.

From memory, Fedex's own compensation cover is limited to $50, and I think there is also an exclusion on money, precious metals, and valuables.

I'm glad it works for you though! 🙂

[PenguinUK]

Hi folks,

Re the royal mail definition of valuables (money and jewellery) ->

Any item that is:

 

i) precious metal that has been manufactured in such a way as to add value to it, including coins used for ornament; ...

 

I interpret that to include silver bullion coins, but do people think it includes circulated ex currency? e.g. .900 silver US Peace silver dollars say.