What service do you guys use for shipping within the UK? I just had a look at the Royal Mail website as I haven't shipped anything in months and prices are scary! The cheapest possible delivery within the UK for a single figure through Royal Mail is £2.60 2nd class and there's no proof of delivery with that (Goes up to £3.70 with POD!)

I think it used to be cheaper to send figures as a 'Large Letter' (Package can be no deeper than 2.5cm) but it doesn't appear to be any more? (Unless I've misunderstood something?) and I never got into that before because I was worried that the figures wouldn't be sufficiently protected.

I notice a lot of ebay sellers are quoting prices of £2 (and less) to ship figures. Are they taking a loss on the shipping or is there a better/cheaper way of doing this? Other courier maybe? Or some kind of account?

Any help would be hugely appreciated!

-Jeremy

For larger items use... http://www.collectplus.co.uk/

Way cheaper then Royal Mail and comeswith insurance and tracking included.

Small items, depending on the figure will go as large letter (less then 25mm deep), this is what alot of ebay sellers are doing. Obviously figures like the gamorrean guard won't fit though and if your figure is worth a bit do you want to risk using an envelope instead of a box?

walkie wrote:

For larger items use...  http://www.collectplus.co.uk/

Way cheaper then Royal Mail and comeswith insurance and tracking included.

Small items, depending on the figure will go as large letter (less then 25mm deep), this is what alot of ebay sellers are doing. Obviously figures like the gamorrean guard won't fit though and if your figure is worth a bit do you want to risk using an envelope instead of a box?

Thanks so much for getting back to me and thanks for the link! That'll definitely help with the larger items.  

The cheaper figures are a real problem. The less something is worth the more of an issue high shipping becomes. There are lots of figures that, even complete and in good condition are still only worth six or seven pounds. When you start adding high shipping costs, it makes it quite difficult to sell cheaper figures individually.

I just double-checked the Royal Mail site and you're right, it's quite a lot cheaper to ship as 'large letter' so I guess I need to find some packaging that qualifies as 'large letter' and is cost effective, but is durable enough to protect the figure. I'll go and have a look.

Thanks again for your help!!  

-J

Found some boxes on ebay and amazon that are 11cm x 11cm x 2.3cm. (2.5cm depth is the max for 'large letter') They'd probably work for a lot of the figures and leave just enough room to wrap them in kitchen roll or something similarly protective I would think? As you said, wouldn't work for Gam guards or Ewoks, or figures like Ree-Yees where the head is deeper.

Anyone used (or received figures packed in) boxes like this? Have any thoughts/recommendations?

-J

If the parcel is large and heavy (AT AT, Rebel Carrier etc) I use Hermes, which can be collected from the door, is tracked and for an extra £1 or so can also be signed for. Usually costing £4.30 or 5.30 depending on weight.

For figures I generally use Royal Mail who have only lost 1 item in hundreds. They have recently made the £2.60 "small parcel" a lot larger to a shoe box sized parcel. If the item is really valuable then surely worth the extra to track it or use a courier.

Section 8 wrote:

If the parcel is large and heavy (AT AT, Rebel Carrier etc) I use Hermes, which can be collected from the door, is tracked and for an extra £1 or so can also be signed for. Usually costing £4.30 or 5.30 depending on weight.

For figures I generally use Royal Mail who have only lost 1 item in hundreds. They have recently made the £2.60 "small parcel" a lot larger to a shoe box sized parcel. If the item is really valuable then surely worth the extra to track it or use a courier.

Thanks for the reply! Yep, Hermes is definitely useful. You're right about Royal Mail being dependable. I've always used them and very rarely had any problems. The real issue for me, is just the base cost of shipping a single figure. The pricing is OK as long as you can ship as 'Large Letter', but if it goes as a small package, even if you send without POD, it still costs something like £2.70 2nd class. (And I really don't like shipping things without POD unless I know the buyer. It's fine if it's through the forum, but not always a good idea on ebay if it can be avoided.)

I think sending as many figures as possible as a Large Letter is what I'll need to do. I'm just not sure what the best/safest way to do it is? Do you ever ship figures as 'Large Letter'? If so, do you use a box?

Anyone have any experience with this?  

-J

If only i had 3 pound shipping rates, Whats that $5 Aus? sounds like a fair price to send a figure or two around the country.

AussieFortuna wrote:

If only i had 3 pound shipping rates, Whats that $5 Aus? sounds like a fair price to send a figure or two around the country.

Absolutely!

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound as though I thought it was extortionate or unfair.  

It's just quite a big spike in quite a small window, so changes things. I sell quite a lot of figures in the £5-£7 range, so adding an extra £1 onto the shipping potentially makes those kinds of figures much harder to sell (individually at least, once you start shipping multiples the whole thing becomes much less of a factor.)

The fact that ebay have doubled the minimum listing fee (for buy-it-now) from 20p to 40p is a factor as well (makes relisting a bigger deal)

Anyway, you're right. It's not a ridiculous amount or unfair, just has practical considerations for people who sell more lower cost items.

-J

The woman who ran Canada Post when the rates began to skyrocket, now runs your Royal Mail service.  She was hired on to make the mail services profitable. It could get a whole lot worse before the price increases are finished with. Check out the link below. Here is a little bit of a conversation in a thread that Dr. Dengar asked about 1 1/2 years ago.

Commander Clint wrote:

Marco

I know shipping is stupid here!

Can't the seller use Canada post International Parcels?  It includes up to $100 coverage.  But with no tracking number.
I've never had a problem with a package not arriving abroad through Canada Post.

I went back in my emails to find the quote I gave you when I sent the custom black cape squid head you won just last year.  It should be about the same now.  I've never had a problem with a package not arriving.

These where the quotes that I got to send a figure to Belgium a couple of weeks ago, so the Netherlands should be about the same.
These are the options that Canada post just gave me (unfortunately shipping from Canada is a little expensive). Shipping to Belgium with $100 dollars insurance (standard), Small Packet Air Int'l = $10, Small Packet Surface Int'l = $8, Surface Parcel Int'l = $38, Xpresspost International = $60.
I think the best value is the Small Packet Air Int'l for $10. It should only take about 2 weeks to arrive.

Hope this helps.

Just a little bit of information.  The woman that ran Canada Post when the prices started going up.  Now runs UK Postal Service!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2010/05/27/greene-royal-mail-527.html

Clint

Hi,

I have sold a few waves of loose figures individually this year. First time around I only offered 2nd class signed for @ £3 which was essentially £2.20 for royal mail and then 80p to cover a padded envelop and wrapping etc. I think £3 postage discouraged a lot of people from bidding. Personally, I don't bother looking at a listing with £3 postage anymore unless it's something I really, really want.

Next time around, I offered 2nd class unsigned at £2 and had a much better response. Seems like people will bid higher when the postage is cheaper which of course makes sense. Given no problems so far, I'm happy to take the risk and do it this way from now on.

If you plan to do a lot of selling, then I'd recommend stumping up and buy a bulk lot of padded envelopes - for example online at Rymans - at once to make it cheaper. You can then offer postage as low as £1.70 or so this way and still not be out of pocket.

Just be aware -- the bigger figures like Gamorrean Guard, Emperor etc have to go as a small package so this will always add a minimum extra £1.50 or so. I got burned a couple of times not taking this into account ...

Hope this helps you decide what to do!

Cheers, Jared.

The one postage item that Royal Mail lost of mine was a recent occurrence. It was just a C.8 loose figure which I posted wrapped in bubble wrap and in a small post pack. Being a B Wing pilot it fitted through the large letter slot, costing just 60p or so for a stamp.

I won the case as I always ask for proof of postage, TYPED in on the receipt at the post office (So i'm told, Ebay won't accept a written address and post code as proof). Postage has to be as low as possible when trying to make a decent profit on a loose individual figure so 2nd class and is all I do, unless it's an expensive item. Sellers on ebay have little protection from con buyers, but if you can prove you've posted it then your safe from those who claim it's not arrived.

Hi guys,

Thanks so much for the input. Sorry for the slow reply. I've been away on my brother's birthday do.

It's definitely true about the higher postage putting off buyers. It's just tricky to keep the costs down without losing out yourself to the extent that makes the whole thing pointless.

I wasn't really considering that if I had proof of postage, I could claim compensation back from Royal Mail for those that didn't arrive.

I guess the key is to use packaging that qualifies as 'large letter' where possible (bought in bulk), to offer 2nd class no signature required post as an option (I can offer 1st class and POD as well and just leave it to the buyer.) and to make sure I get proof of postage.

In the past whenever I've requested proof of postage the P.O. staff always just hand-write on the receipt. Does anyone else know for certain if RM will only accept a typed proof of postage?

Also does anyone either have experience of sending loose figures 'large letter' in boxes? (If so, what kind of boxed did you/do you use and have you had any bad experiences?)

Also, does anyone have any strong feelings against sellers using small boxes like this? Would you be unhappy if a seller posted a figure in a padded envelope or small (less than 2.5cm deep) box? Had any bad experiences with this?

Thanks again guys,

-J

P.S. I had no idea about the new woman in charge. Quite worrying if prices might go up further in the near future.

Royal Mail will accept hand written proof of postage, but Ebay will not pass it as proof if a case is opened against you.

With typed proof, you will win the ebay case of lost post, and also be able to claim from Royal Mail on behalf of the buyer. Or even post the proof of postage to the buyer so he can make his own claim from Royal Mail. Getting compensation from Royal Mail is not easy as they ask for a receipt of cost for the item as proof of it's value. How do you prove to the Royal Mail that a figure is worth this and that etc?

Posting a slim box is fine, so long as the figure is bubble wrapped inside. Again depends on the price of the figure.

Section 8 wrote:

How do you prove to the Royal Mail that a figure is worth this and that etc?.

Several ways...Print out the paypal invoice or the ebay listing to show what the item sold for and the value of the transaction.

Discobob83 wrote:

P.S. I had no idea about the new woman in charge. Quite worrying if prices might go up further in the near future.

Hopefully they don't push the rates to something similar to the rates here in Canada. Based on size and weight. 

Here is a sample of what we have to put up with.
These rates are for Air mail and not the cheaper Surface shipping.  They also have several other types of shipping rates for tracked & insured packages but the shipping becomes very expensive ($40 - $90). 
With Air mail they say should arrive in 6-10 working days.   Surface shipping they say should arrive in 4-6 weeks.   Thankfully the air mail service has been reliable and all my international packages have reached their destination.  The surface shipping has been a different story.  I've had one package not get to it's destination. 
I'm finding that no matter what size the air mail small packet for international destination (as long as it meets the requirements) and is under 250 g (it doesn't matter if it's 1 or 5 figures) = $10 (approx £6.02) the rate seems to be the same.  If it is up to 500 g = $20 (approx £12.04).  This is with no insurance or tracking.

The light packet shipping only seems to be good for really thin items like cardbacks or paper products.

I hope prices don't go up for you to much more.  I really enjoy getting Royal Mail packages because they are still relatively cheap compared to other countries.