Price of Royal Mail Parcel

shirobi_69
Engager

‎30-03-2026 2:39 PM

It’s been sometime since I bought anything at auction and I was surprised to see postage at £3.99 for Royal Mail 48hr tracked. It’s only £3.55 for a small parcel on the Royal Mail online pricing site. I didn’t have the option of another delivery company so I presumed the seller selected just Royal Mail and there are no preferential rates if only 1 delivery option is selected. Am I correct? 
I can’t find anything showing Royal Mail prices in the help pages, but there are prices for other couriers so I can’t check to see if £3.99 is correct.

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jckl1957
Experienced Mentor

‎30-03-2026 2:51 PM

It is what the seller is charging.

I charge £2.05p for a Second Class Large Letter even though the postage cost is only £1.55p

I assume the seller is adding on a small amount for packaging - most sellers use new postage bags or padded envelopes, tape, bubble wrap etc. and they are allowed to pass the cost onto the buyer.

If you don't like what the seller is charging for postage, find a different seller.

"There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”
Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (1813 - 1855)

shirobi_69
Engager
In response to jckl1957

‎02-04-2026 11:23 AM

Thanks for your reply. The parcel arrived and the beauty products were sent in a box which had already been used.

 It came from a private seller who purchased the postage at the Post Office where £3.99 is correct.

 I thought all private sellers had to use simple delivery and EBay worked out the postage cost, so how did the seller manage to change the price? Or have I missed a message about private sellers being able to change postage costs?

 

0 Helpful

jckl1957
Experienced Mentor
In response to shirobi_69

‎02-04-2026 3:03 PM

There are quite a lot of categories which don't use Simple Delivery.  Beauty products are not eligible so sellers can set their own prices and use the service they choose.

 

"There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”
Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (1813 - 1855)

shirobi_69
Engager
In response to jckl1957

‎02-04-2026 3:51 PM

Thanks for confirming this. It explains how the seller can change the postage price. Maybe some seller like to use the Post Office but buyers will pay more than if it was sent by simple delivery.

0 Helpful

jckl1957
Experienced Mentor
In response to shirobi_69

‎02-04-2026 4:30 PM

Sellers can't choose to use Simple Delivery.

Items are either eligible or not.

"There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”
Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (1813 - 1855)