Royal Mail

The 2020 postal rates are available for Second Class Mail and First Class.

If you choose to pay us to use the Post Office and Royal Mail services on your behalf we are contracting with you for us to deliver your goods to the Post Office, who, in turn, contract to Royal Mail, who will undertake to deliver to your address.

Our responsibility for the items ceases once we have entrusted the package to the Post Office. We obtain a Certifcate of Posting (CoP), and electronic confirmation of despatch by the Drop and Go service of the Post Office. If you wish to claim for non-delivery then you must do so yourself, using the form available at any Post Office. We will provide you with any necessary information to assist your claim.

If the above conditions are not to your liking then please choose another service. Extra is charged for tracking and signatures. Most carriers offer these facilities which embrace "guarantees" of some sort. Some carriers include it as part of their standard rate. Royal Mail charges an additional fee. 

We have found Royal Mail to be both quick and reliable. They honour their obligations as regards loss or damage, but the timescale for refund is invariably over two months. Should you require missing goods urgently then place, and pay, for your order again. Your Royal Mail refund will eventually reimburse you for that. We realise that this approach is unpopular with our customers, but we have experienced several dubious claims, to our cost, in the past. Because our margins are low, one spurious or dishonest claim can require twenty or more normal sales to recover the costs to us. If the intended recipient (you) claim for loss or damage then Royal Mail, after investigation will repay the actual cost you have paid. If the claim is raised us then they will only reimburse a portion of our loss.

If you choose to have Royal Mail to deliver items you have bought then we will deliver a package to a branch of the Post Office, normally within 24 hours of your placing the order. They will measure and weigh the package and charge us the appropriate fee for Royal Mail to deliver by the service you choose. We have a contract with the Post Office to charge us for this service, and they provide us with a financial receipt and proof of posting. That is all that we are contracting with you to do, and we make no charge for it other than the actual postage paid to Royal Mail.