Postage costs

[DiegoMartin]

Not been to a post office for a long time! Rather than asking every seller how much the postage is, is there a guide or an estimate as to how much post would be. Looked on the RM website. They've got quite a few different methods. tracks, guaranteed etc. What is the most common method of post sellers use? E.g. 1oz 1st Class

[modofantasma]

This is the Royal Mail website calculator. 

Special delivery is used often as it covers bullion I believe. The others do not insure bullion from my understanding. 

 

https://send.royalmail.com/send/youritem?country=GBR&format&weight=&weightUnit=G

[DiegoMartin]

18 minutes ago, modofantasma said:

https://send.royalmail.com/send/youritem?country=GBR&format&weight=&weightUnit=G

Great! thank you. i'll take a look

[LawrenceChard]

19 hours ago, DiegoMartin said:

Not been to a post office for a long time! Rather than asking every seller how much the postage is, is there a guide or an estimate as to how much post would be. Looked on the RM website. They've got quite a few different methods. tracks, guaranteed etc. What is the most common method of post sellers use? E.g. 1oz 1st Class

 

19 hours ago, modofantasma said:

This is the Royal Mail website calculator. 

Special delivery is used often as it covers bullion I believe. The others do not insure bullion from my understanding. 

 

https://send.royalmail.com/send/youritem?country=GBR&format&weight=&weightUnit=G

It is not exactly user friendly because, for example, you have to selct a "size" before you  select a "service", but I just took a look:

Which makes @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer's fully insured UK shipping look cheap at a starting price of £6 for up to £1000, compared with Royal Mail "from £6.35" for up to £500!

😎

[Silverlocks]

Royal Mail also have prices on their web site - link below for walk-in pricing.  For bullion over £50 use special delivery as it has insurance options up to £2,500 cover and covers bullion.

Our prices (valid from 4 April 2022) (royalmail.com)

[LawrenceChard]

2 hours ago, Silverlocks said:

Royal Mail also have prices on their web site - link below for walk-in pricing.  For bullion over £50 use special delivery as it has insurance options up to £2,500 cover and covers bullion.

Our prices (valid from 4 April 2022) (royalmail.com)

There is a 50 pence discrepancy, and look how much they charge for up to £2500:

£9.85 compared with Chards £8 for the same thing!

and...

Our prices include the packaging, and time!

😎

Edited January 31, 2023 by LawrenceChard

[stefffana]

3 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

 

It is not exactly user friendly because, for example, you have to selct a "size" before you  select a "service", but I just took a look:

Which makes @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer's fully insured UK shipping look cheap at a starting price of £6 for up to £1000, compared with Royal Mail "from £6.35" for up to £500!

😎

[paulmerton]

7 hours ago, Silverlocks said:

For bullion over £50 use special delivery

Why only for over £50?

[Silverlocks]

31 minutes ago, paulmerton said:

Why only for over £50?

1st and 2nd class cover loss up to £50 (from memory); for more than that you need SD.

[paulmerton]

1 minute ago, Silverlocks said:

1st and 2nd class cover loss up to £50 (from memory); for more than that you need SD.

I didn't think 1st and 2nd class (even signed for) covered any amount of loss if it's coins or precious metals.

[GoldDiggerDave]

On 30/01/2023 at 19:43, DiegoMartin said:

Not been to a post office for a long time! Rather than asking every seller how much the postage is, is there a guide or an estimate as to how much post would be. Looked on the RM website. They've got quite a few different methods. tracks, guaranteed etc. What is the most common method of post sellers use? E.g. 1oz 1st Class

I thought everyone on here did free postage on this forum  by the way they have been crying about it......Strange that some expect it for free the second they buy off a dealer but when it's time to sell something of their own...WHAMO! postage charge. 

 

[ShineyMagpie]

7 hours ago, GoldDiggerDave said:

when it's time to sell something of their own

I do understand your point, I myself haven't sold anything on here, but as a buyer I also understand this standpoint. For me personally when I am looking at prices for items I include p&p as part of my total cost for item. So when buying low value singular items the cost can be high, buy a silver 1oz for £30 but then with postage it suddenly becomes £37 with RM SD. Obviously when you buy from a business there is more "cover" if I pay for item with royal mail tracking and it doesn't arrive I contacted the business and come to an agreement. No on here as a private seller people often state (and rightly so) postage at buyers risk. I do understand the hypocritical point you were talking about but I suppose that's just my thoughts behind people's mentality.... maybe I'm making a wrong assumption?

[GoldDiggerDave]

2 minutes ago, ShineyMagpie said:

I do understand your point, I myself haven't sold anything on here, but as a buyer I also understand this standpoint. For me personally when I am looking at prices for items I include p&p as part of my total cost for item. So when buying low value singular items the cost can be high, buy a silver 1oz for £30 but then with postage it suddenly becomes £37 with RM SD. Obviously when you buy from a business there is more "cover" if I pay for item with royal mail tracking and it doesn't arrive I contacted the business and come to an agreement. No on here as a private seller people often state (and rightly so) postage at buyers risk. I do understand the hypocritical point you were talking about but I suppose that's just my thoughts behind people's mentality.... maybe I'm making a wrong assumption?

Just having a laugh mate, buying single 1oz silver and paying for postage is an extremely expensive way to buy silver, add a 50p capsule in the mix and you’d need silver to more than double in price just to stand a chance of breaking even at some point in the future. 
 

What might be a good idea is to find a dealer who allows you to prepay it’s ideal for the smaller bullion buyer as you can use this to save up with them and buy more at better price breaks and postage per coin is dramatically reduced.    Paying RMSD or any postage per  1oz of silver is nuts IMO  when you factor in the crazy spread. 

[Minted]

I'd never pay SD costs for a basic single 1oz silver myself.  I do buy quite a few individually but look for lowest postage available...and often the 'free' postage offered by dealers does work out best for individual coins.  I've got the time to look around though, appreciate many people don't!

I'll either pay £1.05 for 2nd class (non-tracked).  Or £2.70 for second class tracked.  Just have to make sure the package is slimmer than 25mm so it goes as a large letter.  For any youngsters, 1oz is around 30g, so a single coin, even with capsule, wrapping and jiffy envelope should still be well under the 100g limit for that price. 

 

I received a 1oz bar wrapped up in a chunk of toilet paper that took it over the 25mm last year.  Seller agree'd to refund the excess postage fee after I'd paid it.  Irony is, the bar slipped out in transit and the capsule got crushed anyway. 🙄  Win some, lose some, all part of the hobby. 🙂

[sovereignsteve]

15 hours ago, paulmerton said:

Why only for over £50?

 

14 hours ago, Silverlocks said:

1st and 2nd class cover loss up to £50 (from memory); for more than that you need SD.

You can get cover up to £100 if you use 24hr or 48hr Tracked and Signed direct from the RM website, not available in POs for some reason. Whether you would get them to actually pay out on  bullion is another matter of course.😁

[paulmerton]

3 minutes ago, sovereignsteve said:

 

You can get cover up to £100 if you use 24hr or 48hr Tracked and Signed direct from the RM website, not available in POs for some reason. Whether you would get them to actually pay out on  bullion is another matter of course.😁

I don't think that £100 cover includes coins or precious metal either, so SD is the only way to go if you want insurance. But nobody wants to pay that much for posting a 1oz silver, so tracked and signed for are a good compromise. They'll protect you against some false claims of non-receipt, and may even reduce the likelihood of the package going missing compared with normal post, but if the package goes missing entirely then you're shafted.

It's all a gamble really. For cheaper coins, paying for what is essentially uninsured but tracked postage might work out cheaper in the long run even if a few items go missing. I would probably start to consider using SD for anything over £30-£50 if the recipient has a weird address or lives in shared flats or anywhere else where the postie might accidentally hand it to the wrong person.

 

[bluffer]

3 hours ago, paulmerton said:

I don't think that £100 cover includes coins or precious metal either, so SD is the only way to go if you want insurance. But nobody wants to pay that much for posting a 1oz silver, so tracked and signed for are a good compromise. They'll protect you against some false claims of non-receipt, and may even reduce the likelihood of the package going missing compared with normal post, but if the package goes missing entirely then you're shafted.

It's all a gamble really. For cheaper coins, paying for what is essentially uninsured but tracked postage might work out cheaper in the long run even if a few items go missing. I would probably start to consider using SD for anything over £30-£50 if the recipient has a weird address or lives in shared flats or anywhere else where the postie might accidentally hand it to the wrong person.

 

you are right 1st and 2nd doesnt cover coins.  i have been specifically told ( twice by different ) po it doesnt cover coins when getting proof of postage.  so if you lie and say its not coins or just put it in a post box, and it gets lost, then oops here is your postage back as compensation.  contents?  well, should have insured it then through sd!

[Bigmarc]

16 minutes ago, bluffer said:

you are right 1st and 2nd doesnt cover coins.  i have been specifically told ( twice by different ) po it doesnt cover coins when getting proof of postage.  so if you lie and say its not coins or just put it in a post box, and it gets lost, then oops here is your postage back as compensation.  contents?  well, should have insured it then through sd!

Unless it's the post office fault. I once received a damaged parcel with coins falling out of it. It was placed in a plastic bag along with a few loose coins. To be honest it was more the fault of the eBay seller for c**p packing. Any how I made a successful claim and was obvious it was coins. 

 

[Napo]

If sending multiple coins just with 1st/2nd Class Signed For, you can easily fall into the small parcel tier if you don’t pack the coins properly and the parcel is thicker than 2.5cm. Even if the weight is less than 2kg like mentioned in the Royal Mail brochure).

Usually when laid flat in a padded enveloppe / Giffi bag, you will fall into the Large Letter category.

I guess for sending few coins (one or two coins) Signed For is ok?

It’s quite costly otherwise (£6.50 for the cheapest Special Delivery charge) to send 1x standard Silver bullion coin insured. And not worth it.

 

 

[CANV]

messing with the Royal Mail was/should be a capital offence.. then we could send whatever we wanted second class in confidence 

[MonkeysUncle]

22 hours ago, paulmerton said:

I didn't think 1st and 2nd class (even signed for) covered any amount of loss if it's coins or precious metals.

I posted a couple of silver coins to Manchester in the not too distant past using second class signed for. Two separate packages with a Brit in each.

Both went missing (Manchester sorting office is a den of thieves) and both I successfully claimed - I had to evidence the loss with the ebay sales receipts. 

A hassle but no money lost.

[sovereignsteve]

1 hour ago, MonkeysUncle said:

I posted a couple of silver coins to Manchester in the not too distant past using second class signed for. Two separate packages with a Brit in each.

Both went missing (Manchester sorting office is a den of thieves) and both I successfully claimed - I had to evidence the loss with the ebay sales receipts. 

A hassle but no money lost.

That is interesting. I have heard of people being successful with coin claims but also others who were not.

Are you saying you were the ebay seller and you used the actual ebay sales receipt of the coin that went missing as your evidence of value or a previous ebay receipt when you bought the coin?

[MonkeysUncle]

10 hours ago, sovereignsteve said:

That is interesting. I have heard of people being successful with coin claims but also others who were not.

Are you saying you were the ebay seller and you used the actual ebay sales receipt of the coin that went missing as your evidence of value or a previous ebay receipt when you bought the coin?

Exactly this.

I broke up a tube of Brits late 2020 ish and sold all 25 individually on ebay. 2 went AWOL, I claimed, ebay screen dumps showing the item and sale price were accepted. 

Maybe I got lucky?