Royal Mail Compensation for loss or damage (the lack of)

[big68]

Just so that sellers are aware; in the event of loss or damage of an item you have shipped using Royal Mail they will ONLY compensate you for the cost of the item NOT the sales value so when the Post Office (or where you buy your postage) are asking the value of your item for insurance purposes bear this in mind.

Overall I find their delivery service to be very good. eBay and Royal Mail systems communicate very effectively but losing money (profit + administration to claim) through no fault of my own is really upsetting!

[myriad*seller]

Royal Mail compensate you for your actual loss eg the cost of the item

They do not compensate any "profit" you make or this would lead to lots of fake claims, where people "sold" items for silly money, then sent them to their mate, who says it turns up damaged, and thus a fake claim would be made.

So RM can only compensate your actual provable loss, to prevent fraudulent claims of items artificially inflated by fake sales 

But yes, you are correct, don't let the Post Office sell you the concept of higher compensation levels than you will actaully receive. They will take your money, but won't pay out more than £20 for lots of services, and will only compensate your *actual* loss, (or £20 whichever is the lower amount). 

[technthread]

I decided to send clothing with Evri for that reason. Damage claims are unlikely on clothing and they are consistently delivering in 2 days, I have been impressed with them lately. I can't remember the last time they lost a parcel of mine but when they have they accept the eBay order as evidence of the value and payout the right amount. The only downside is their standard insurance is £20 when you buy direct or £25 via Packlink, but it's a risk worth taking as the savings you make over time vs Royal Mail cover the odd hit you may have to take. 

If Royal Mail start to accept the eBay order value as proof and match their tracked 48 price at £2.99 I'll happily go back to using them but at the moment they are uncompetitive for everyday sales. All they get from me now are letters and parcels to NI and the remote areas of GB. 

[big68]

I appreciate your comments however if EVRI can do it why can’t Royal Mail?

Re fraud/fake claims; surely in this day and age Royal Mail systems can identify “scam” sellers/buyers (particularly when postage is purchased via eBay, as we do). Don't forget RM can aslo see eBay feedback and longevity of account etc.

My absolute anger is based RM only confirming that they compensate at buying-price-level “deep” in their information. If you can’t provide a buying price or have listed an item stating unwanted gift they’ll give zero compensation. How can this be right?

Also, how come the non-delivered item is never returned to the sender?

[myriad*seller]

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@big68 wrote:

Just so that sellers are aware; in the event of loss or damage of an item you have shipped using Royal Mail they will ONLY compensate you for the cost of the item NOT the sales value so when the Post Office (or where you buy your postage) are asking the value of your item for insurance purposes bear this in mind.

Overall I find their delivery service to be very good. eBay and Royal Mail systems communicate very effectively but losing money (profit + administration to claim) through no fault of my own is really upsetting!

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Evri only compensate up to £20/25 which stops fraudulent claims eg I sell my mate a pair of used tongs for £400, with the idea of saying it turned up broken to make a fraudulent claim based on sale price. Evri will only compensate up to £20/25

RM will compensate the full (buy-in) value of higher value products if the correct compensation level is bought, but they won't compensate your "profit" as this isn't your actual loss. You only lose the value you paid for the item, RM do not compensate your profit or this could lead to fake claims as above.

RM won't be changing the system they have used for decades. 

[big68]

Thanks for your reply. I thought RM didn't want the letters business hence their outrageous pricing but now it seems they don't want the "less than 20 parcels a week" business either. £25.00 insurance (based on our selling prices) is of no use to us. We really have to rethink eBay and selling online now.

Much like yourself "it's the odd hit" but that's not the point to us. We really thought we were insuring the sales value, not the buying value and ultimately why can't they do their job seing as its their tried, tested and long standing network? How do items simply disappear once the Post Office accepts them (and the system knows they have them)?

[technthread]

My biggest issue with RM isn't their network losing things, I can't really fault them on that, it's items not being scanned on delivery. Especially when using non tracked services which are meant to have delivery confirmation. 

You can pay for extra insurance with Evri up to the item value. I don't do it now as I have faith in them to deliver. Don't get me wrong I wouldn't send a £100 item with £20 cover but £40 or £50 pair of jeans I'd send it with basic £20 cover and no concerns.

I just had a look and £50 cover would mean an extra £1.44 insurance if you selected it, so your label would cost £4.43 with Evri before any promo codes you may know of or cashback you could get. I do both of those so even insured to £50 it would cost me less than RM 2nd Class Signed For.

I understand though that if people have used RM for a long they don't want to change courier. Have you considered using tracked 48 instead of signed for? You could save 90p per parcel. 

[db_toycupboard]

Not true at all, unless they've changed it since the start of the pandemic. Every single time I've had a parcel go missing, I've gotten compensation for the full value of the contents as I always provide the Ebay sales record which is one of the proof they require for lost parcel claims.

[superchallenge]

Afraid it is true.

I had one item delivered to the wrong address in December and filed a claim. They wouldn't accept the eBay sales record as the proof and instead requested a reciept for my original purchase of the item. I got the item in a joblot purchase. They said the reciept for that wasn't good enough as it didn't specify the exact item name, and so denied my claim entirely.

Fortunately, that's the only claim I've had to file.

[hikiwari]

I have a very small sideline business selling about 1,500 items a year. I have a Mailmark franking machine and send my items Royal Mail second class large letter. I also send some RM small parcel second class when a customer orders two items.

I would say that one in forty items do not arrive so I have to re-send the item again. This costs me the cost of the lost item plus £1.60 postage - about £7.80 in total. I'm really fed up about it.

I read on the Royal Mail website that there is compensation for undelivered second class items up to £20 but it isn't actually specific about whether I need to have proof of postage.

https://www.postoffice.co.uk/mail/postage-compensation 

I'm obviously not able to get proof of postage on everything I post because there would be dozens of people queuing behing me in the Post Office every day!

Does anyone have any suggestions. I'd be v grateful. Thank you

[punzel9072]

Be aware that from the Royal Mail price increases on 2nd April, Signed For (Recorded) delivery compensation is reducing from £50 to £20, meaning that items worth between £20 and £50 cannot be sent by that service and be covered for loss in the post. Royal Mail has not made this widely known and it is an underhand change which worsens the service at the same time as increasing prices.

[punzel9072]

Royal Mail IS changing the system they have used for decades because from 2nd April 2024 compensation is reducing from £50 to £20 on Signed For (Recorded) delivery services, meaning that items worth between £20 and £50 cannot be sent by that service and be covered for loss in the post. Royal Mail has not made this widely known and it is an underhand change which worsens the service at the same time as increasing prices.

[4_bathrooms]

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@hikiwari wrote:

I have a very small sideline business selling about 1,500 items a year. I have a Mailmark franking machine and send my items Royal Mail second class large letter.

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Royal Mail's business account services are not covered by Royal Mail's Retail Compensation Policy. You would need to check the terms of your account with Royal Mail to see what (if any) compensation was available to you. The chances are they will only compensate you for the cost of the postage at most; the time you would spend jumping through all the hoops required to make a claim likely wouldn't be worth it. 

[4_bathrooms]

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@punzel9072 wrote:

Signed For (Recorded) delivery compensation is reducing from £50 to £20, meaning that items worth between £20 and £50 cannot be sent by that service and be covered for loss in the post. 

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Signed For are legacy services; I have no idea why anyone would choose to use them now.

Tracked is cheaper, is actually tracked from acceptance to delivery and a signature is available for an extra 30p (eBay does not require a signature on delivery for orders under £450). Also, non-account Tracked offers compensation up to £150 that covers the market value of the item (not actual loss).

[punzel9072]

I'll tell you why I and possibly others use the 'legacy' Signed For service - I have hundreds of pounds worth of mint postage stamps to use as a result of having to break up my collections of postage stamps and prestige stamp books to remove the old non-barcoded definitive stamps Royal Mail were invalidating.  These can't be used on the Tracked services, so the only way I have of using them up is on regular mail, Signed For delivery and Special Delivery. Hope that answers your question.

[tascio1]

Exactly what I've been doing for the past 15 years!! Touch wood, not had any Recorded go missing in the past 3 years. They may take longer, dependant on the sorting office (and some are pretty bad), but at least they get signed for on receipt. If I can buy stamps at 70% of face, then this compensates for any that may go astray.

[stthom813]

If the item was sent and before today (2nd April) and lost, I assume they would still have to pay up to £50 ?

Also from today, items over £20 can still be sent by the service, but only covered up to £20.  It's not that the case that you won't receive any compensation.

[uglyrobot]

Yeah that's the same with me, any item I've had to claim for I get the full amount back and not just what it cost me to buy it, obviously I get the correct mode of posting so I get the right amount of compensation to cover my item just in case, but this thing people are saying about "just getting back what you paid and not the profit" is not true at all.

[4_bathrooms]

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@uglyrobot wrote:

this thing people are saying about "just getting back what you paid and not the profit" is not true at all.

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It depends what service was purchased.

Royal Mail's retail compensation policy for loss - which covers most VAT exempt retail services like 1st Class & 2nd Class (including Signed For and non-account Special Delivery Guaranteed) only "actual loss" is covered. The policy defines "actual loss" as:

"Where an item is lost or damaged beyond repair then it is the amount it cost the customer to acquire, purchase or manufacture the item subject to adjustment to take account of condition, age and depreciation. Where an item is damaged it is the cost of repair. No additional payment will be made for the reduced value of the repaired item."

However, non-account Tracked services have their own policy (PDF file). Non-account tracked means any Tracked 24 or Tracked 48 service purchased via Royal Mail's website or eBay without using a Royal Mail business account. For those services the compensation available is:

"Subject to clause 11.9 our liability to you will be limited to the lower of:

11.3.1 the market value of the Item (not including the market value of any message or
information it carries) at the time the Item was damaged or lost; and

11.3.2 one hundred and fifty pounds (£150)."

Anyone sending via a Royal Mail business account would need to check the terms of their account - I believe most business accounts offer no compensation at all for VATable services.

[uk_transport_archive]

Royal mail are a joke. So now can't post anything over £20 , if I do & they fail to deliver I only get wot they believe it was worth back. I stopped using parcel force years ago when they failed to pay out on broken item.